St. John’s Lutheran Church

Being Lutheran means we are rooted in Christ, Guided by Scripture

We teach and respond to the love of the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—coequal, coeternal, one God.

• Grace Alone – God loves sinners and sent Jesus to save us.
• Faith Alone – Jesus won forgiveness; God gives faith through His Word.
• Scripture Alone – The Bible is our only rule for faith and life.

Being Lutheran means holding to the Reformation truths: Bible-based, confessional, and centered on Christ.
The Small Catechism is an excellent way to learn our foundational beliefs.

• God – We teach the doctrine of the Holy Trinity: that the one true God is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These are three distinct persons of one divine essence, equal in power, eternity, and majesty. We believe that faith in God is only possible through His Son, Jesus Christ, who reconciled us to God. Consequently, we uphold the Trinity as essential to the Christian faith and reject any teachings that deny it.
• The Bible – The Bible is a collection of 66 books ranging from Genesis to Revelation. Written over thousands of years in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, it contains various literary forms such as history, poetry, and letters.
  
  While a literary masterpiece, the Bible is primarily the inspired Word of God. It is not a collection of myths, but the actual thoughts and words given by God to human authors. It remains the certain means by which the Holy Spirit communicates God’s Word to the world today.
• Holy Baptism – The Bible teaches that a person is saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Bible tells us that such “faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17). Jesus Himself commands Baptism and tells us that Baptism is water used together with the Word of God (Matt. 28:19-20).
  
  Because of this, we believe that Baptism is one of the miraculous means of grace (another is God’s Word as it is written or spoken), through which God creates and/or strengthens the gift of faith in a person’s heart (see Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Gal. 3:26-27; Rom. 6:1-4; Col. 2:11-12; 1 Cor. 12:13).

Being Lutheran means holding to the Reformation truths: Bible-based, confessional, and centered on Christ. (See LCMS Beliefs for more.)

• Holy Communion – We receive in, with, and under the bread and wine the true body and blood of Christ shed on the cross, Jesus Christ Who is now risen and ascended and sits at the right hand of God the Father.
• He is the same Christ, and when he gave us the Sacrament, as the Lutheran Confessions affirm, "he was speaking of his true, essential body, which he gave into death for us, and of his true, essential blood, which was poured out for us on the tree of the cross for the forgiveness of sins" (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration VII, 49).
• In the Sacrament, our Confessions further teach the same Jesus who died is present in the Sacrament, although not in exactly the same way he was corporeally present when he walked bodily on earth.
• Closed Communion – Closed Communion is the historical practice of taking the Lord's Supper with only those who have been prepared to receive it. This is done out of love for our neighbor to ensure he or she does not "eat and drink judgement upon himself" (1 Corinthians 11:29).
  For people who are interested in receiving the Lord's Supper, they simply need to discuss it with the pastor and set up a time for instruction in this.
• Creeds – Lutherans confess the historic, biblical creeds. The Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed as proper understandings of the Holy Trinity. These help us stand guard against errant Christian doctrine which seeks to steal away our faith.
• Confessions – During the time of the Reformation, Luther and fellow believers were called to stand trial for heresy. These are the statements made in defense of their positions: Augsburg Confession, Apology of the Augsburg Confession (apology here means a reasoned justification), and the Book of Concord.
• Liturgy & The Divine Service – God needs nothing from us. Therefore, we do not go to worship primarily to fulfill some obligation to God. Rather, we go to worship because, there, God has promised to deliver his gracious gifts to us.