WE BELIEVE that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and the only source and norm for Christian faith and practice.
WE HOLD the confessional writings of the Lutheran Church as they are collected in the Book of Concord to be a faithful and true exposition of Holy Scripture and the standard for teaching in the Lutheran Church.
WE BELIEVE that God is one undivided essence eternally existing as three distinct persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
WE BELIEVE that God is the creator of the entire universe including humanity. Although humans were created in God’s image and in a right relationship with Him, the sin that began with the disobedience of the first humans, Adam and Eve, continues in everyone who is born in a natural way and separates us from God and leads to eternal death.
WE BELIEVE that the second person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God, became man to take upon Himself the sin of the world. Jesus Christ is the union of the divine person and human nature such that He is both true God and true man. He suffered and died for the sins of the world, truly rose again on the third day, and now sits at God’s right hand where He rules over the Church. He will return on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead.
WE BELIEVE that people are justified before God by faith alone apart from works when they believe that their sins are forgiven and that they are received into God’s grace.
WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit creates faith in us through the ministry of the teaching of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments. The Holy Spirit works through these definite means of grace to show that the power is from God and not from us. Where the Word of God is proclaimed and the sacraments are given out, there the Church is found.
WE BELIEVE that Holy Baptism is a washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit and that infants may also be baptized.
WE BELIEVE that the true body and blood of Jesus is distributed with the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper according to the words of Jesus, “This is my body…this cup is the new testament in my blood,” and that these are “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”
WE BELIEVE that through the power of the Holy Spirit, those who believe in Jesus are renewed to perform the works God has commanded and prepared for them to do.
WE BELIEVE that Jesus will return on the Last Day to judge the living and the dead and to usher in a new heavens and a new earth. On this day, the Holy Spirit will raise all the dead and give eternal life to all believers in Christ.
