What Lutherans Believe . . .

• Lutherans place their faith in the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—who has made us, redeemed us, and empowers us for Christian living.
• We believe Jesus Christ is the divine Son of God, who came to earth as a man, suffered and died in our place to win for us forgiveness of sin, and who rose again to life, assuring us that we, too, can live with Him eternally.
• We teach that we come to stand in a right relationship with God not through our own goodness or righteousness, but through faith in Jesus as our Savior. Faith alone receives the full promises of God.
• We believe that the two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, were instituted by Christ and offer forgiveness of sin to all who receive them in faith.
• Concerning Baptism, we teach that infants should also be baptized, since they, too, are sinful and in need of God’s grace. God can work faith in them, even though they are too young to intellectually grasp the Gospel.
• We believe that the body and blood of Christ are truly present in the Lord’s Supper through miraculous means, and that only Christians who share this belief should commune with us.
• We believe that God speaks to the world through His Word in the Bible, which we consider to be entirely accurate and true.
• We believe that God loves every person and intends for all to live a life of dignity and meaning.
• We assert the vital importance of the Christian congregation as the community of believers in which the Gospel is preached and the Sacraments are rightly administered.