OUR LUTHERAN
BELIEFS
With the universal Christian
Church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod teaches and responds 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 the Sacraments. The
three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.
Being "Lutheran", our
congregation accepts and teaches the Bible-based teachings of Martin Luther
that inspired the reformation of the Christian Church in the 16th
Century. The teachings of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three
short phrases: Grace alone, Scripture alone, Faith 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.
Scripture
Alone
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.
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.
Visitors to this page may have
heard this summer that the Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) voted to open the ministry of the ELCA to gay and
lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in "committed relationships." The two largest Lutheran church bodies in
the United States are the ELCA and the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod
(LCMS), of which Immanuel Lutheran Church is a member. These recent decisions by the ELCA have
saddened us as Immanuel Lutheran Church and the LCMS. For further information, we encourage
you to take a moment and visit the following:
Statement of the president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod in response to these actions by the ELCA
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=15620
LCMS address
to the ELCA Churchwide Assembly
http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=15618
The International
Lutheran Council (ILC) statement on homosexual behavior
http://www.lcms.org/pages/rpage.asp?NavID=15814
