Simply put...we as Christians believe in Jesus Christ and follow His teachings. We believe Jesus is God’s own Son, sent by God to be both fully human and fully divine. As the Son of God, Jesus is divine, but he was also a human being who lived among us on earth, over 2,000 years ago.  We believe that Jesus was crucified and died on Good Friday, and then on Easter morning, three days later, He rose again from the dead.  

 

We believe that GRACE ABOUNDS!  Grace is God's Riches At Christ's Expense.  

Because of Jesus Christ, we believe that Christians are called and empowered by the Holy Spirit to live our lives in service to the world for the spread of this Gospel, or Good News. Through acts of love and justice, worship and witness, we share God’s boundless love with the world.

 

Here are a couple of readings from the Bible that might clear it up a little:

• John 3:16-17  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.  

• Ephesians 2:8-9  "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--  not the result of works, so that no one may boast."

• Romans 3:23-25  "...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;  they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,  whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith."

• Hebrews 12:15 "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God."

 

We are grounded in the Lutheran tradition of following Christ.  Lutherans are Christians who accept the teachings of Martin Luther (1483 – 1546). Today, nearly five centuries later, Lutherans still celebrate and hold to the basic principles of Luther’s theological teachings, such as Grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. These comprise the very essence of Lutheranism: 

 

We are saved by the grace of God alone -- not by anything we do; 

Our salvation is through faith alone -- a confident trust in God, who in Christ promises us forgiveness, life and salvation; and The Bible is the norm for faith and life -- the true standard by which teachings and doctrines are to be judged.

 

Over the years, different Lutheran church bodies have been established and organized to meet the needs of Lutherans in communities and nations all over the world. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is the largest Lutheran group in North America, founded in 1988 when three North American Lutheran church bodies united: The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America. 

 

Lutherans are part of a reforming movement within the whole Christian church; as a part of practicing their faith, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its predecessors have engaged in ecumenical dialogue with other church bodies for decades. In fact, the ELCA has entered into cooperative "full communion" agreements (sharing common convictions about theology, mission and worship) with several other Protestant denominations, including:

 

• the Moravian Church 

• The Episcopal Church 

• the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 

• the Reformed Church in America 

• the United Church of Christ 

• the United Methodist Church