Our Beliefs

Faith Lutheran Church, as a member congregation of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod (LCMS), accepts the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God.  We believe that everyone who, by faith, believes in Jesus Christ is a member of His one holy Christian Church.                  We believe that true Christians are found wherever this Gospel of Jesus Christ, specifically his death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sin, is preached. We believe that the true church is the one which adheres in every point to the doctrine of Christ and His apostles, and retains the right administration of the sacraments.

The teaching of our church can be summarized in three short phrases:

-Grace Alone: God loves the people of the world, even though they are sinful, rebel against Him and do not deserve His love. He sent Jesus, His Son, to love the unlovable and save the ungodly.
-Scripture Alone: The Bible is God’s inerrant and infallible Word, in which He reveals His Law and His Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is the sole rule and norm for Christian doctrine.
-Faith Alone: By His suffering and death as the substitute for all people of all time, Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe it have the eternal life that it offers. God creates faith in Christ and gives people forgiveness through Him.

What does this mean?

This means that as Lutherans we believe, teach, and confess the following:

God –We believe that there is only one true God, who is Triune, meaning he is one divine essence in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (The Holy Trinity)

Man – We believe that man is not the product of evolutionary development, but that was created in the beginning by God who formed him from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. Therefore man consists of both body and soul. We were created to be perfect: holy and innocent, however we sinned when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Sin – We believe that sin is every thought, word, and action that is contrary to the God’s law. And that since, Adam and Eve’s sin, all of humanity is corrupted by and born with sin and continues to sin throughout all of their life. As a result of our sin we are subject to the consequences of it, both temporal/earthly consequences: pain, suffering, guilt, sorrow, divorce, jail, illness, disease, and old age, to name a few, as well as eternal consequences: death and hell.

Jesus/Redemption – We believe that God, in His mercy, chose to save us by sending his one and only son who came in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed the law, which we sin against. He suffered and died on the cross so that the penalty and eternal consequence that we deserve for our sin would be paid for in full. Jesus redeemed you from sin, death, and hell, not with perishable things, such as gold or silver but by the shedding of His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.1 Peter 1:18-19 Moreover, after Jesus died, he was taken down from the cross and buried in the tomb. But unlike us, Jesus did not say dead, but He rose from the dead three days later, to proclaim His victory over sin, death and the devil and to give to all who believe in him forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Then He ascended into heaven where He rules in power and glory, until the day when He returns to judge the living and the dead. Those who believe in Jesus will rise to eternal life and live with him, where there will be no more sin, crying, pain, suffering, mourning, or death. 

Holy Scripture/The Bible – We believe and teach that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are in every part without error and the inspired Word of God. It is from God, meaning that the words in it are God’s own words that he has recorded by human authors who experienced these historical events. Scripture’s central message is articulated best in John 20:31, where John says, “These things are written that you may believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing in him, you may have life in his name.”