What We Believe

Confessing the Holy Christian Faith

With the universal Christian Church, we, along with the congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod teache and respond to the love of the Triune God:

the Father, creator of all that exists;

Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; and

the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God’s Word and Sacraments.

The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.

Being “Lutheran”

Our congregations accept and preach the Bible-based teachings of Martin Luther that inspired the reformation of the Christian Church in the 16th century. The teaching of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three phrases: Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.

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.

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.

Sola Scriptura

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.

Who is Jesus?

For more than 2,000 years, people have asked this question. We were not present when Jesus lived on this earth, but in the Bible we have the record of His birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection. Through the study of the Bible, you can seek the answer to this age-old question: “Who is Jesus?”

What does “Synod” mean?

The word “Synod” in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod comes from Greek words that mean “walking together.” The term has rich meaning in our church body because congregations voluntarily choose to belong to the Synod.

Though diverse in their service, our congregations hold to a shared confession of Jesus Christ as taught in Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

Lutheran congregations are confessional. Our congregations believe the Lutheran Confessions are a correct interpretation and presentation of biblical doctrine.

Contained in The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, these statements of belief were transcribed and shared broadly by church leaders during the 16th century.

Luther’s Small Catechism contains essential summaries of our beliefs, while the Augsburg Confession gives more detail about what Lutherans believe.

The Lord's Supper

The Lord’s Supper is celebrated at this congregation in the confession and glad confidence that, as He says, our Lord gives into our mouths not only bread and wine but his very body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of
sins and to strengthen our union with Him and with one another. Our Lord invites to His table those who trust his words, repent of all sin, and set aside any refusal to forgive and love as He forgives and loves us, that they may show forth His death until he comes.

Because those who eat and drink our Lord’s body and blood unworthily do so to their great harm and because Holy Communion is a confession of the faith which is confessed at this altar, any who are not yet instructed, in doubt, or who
hold a confession differing from that of this congregation and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, and yet desire to receive the sacrament, are asked first to speak with the pastor.

If you are not a member of another LCMS congregation and you have not communed here before and have not spoken with the pastor, we kindly ask you to refrain from communing and to use this time to sing the hymns and thank the Lord for the blessings of your Baptism. Thank you for respecting our position of love in the matter of pastoral care.

We offer both individual cups and the common cup. The individual cups will be served first followed by the common cup. As an option, we offer grape juice to those who cannot, for some medical reason, partake of the wine. The grape juice cups are the colored cups on the server's tray.