Our Faith -- what we believe

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod accepts the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and the LCMS subscribes unconditionally to all the symbolical books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God.

We accept the Lutheran Confessions as articulated in the Book of Concord of 1580 because they are drawn from the Word of God, and on that account we regard their doctrinal content as a true and binding exposition of Holy Scripture and as authoritative for all pastors, congregations and other rostered church workers of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod.

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Martin Luther wished people would not be called Lutherans.  But his enemies persisted, and so we eighty million Lutherans worldwide are identified this way.

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We really don't mind.  Just as a rose by any other name is a rose, a Lutheran by any other name is still a Lutheran.

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Here is why:

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• We Lutherans believe, teach, and confess

  • that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, yet one God​

  • that God is Creator of all things, Preserver, and Sovereign

  • that the Bible is God's Word to call people to Jesus Christ and to correction in righteousness

  • that the Spirit of God stirs people to believe in God

• Thus, we Lutherans believe, teach and confess

  • that all men, good and bad, are debtors to and "beggars before God", that man cannot make himself right with God by better behavior because no human behavior is ever perfect in thought, word, and deed​

  • that God by grace, in mercy, and moved by His perfect love created a plan to save his separated creatures

  • that all who repent and believe that Jesus Christ by His perfect life and His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead restored them completely to God's food favor and automatically are God's people

  • that the lines of this one and only true Church cannot be drawn clearly because "the just shall live by his faith", and only the individual knows his faith

• As to faith really working, we Lutherans believe, teach, and confess

  • that faith permeates the whole person and is therefore active in love toward others especially the poor, the needy, and my neighbor​

  • that faith delights in God's Ten Commandments as a way of life

  • that faith has the built-in urge to multiply itself

  • that faith accepts government as God's ordained representative, and that obedience and taxes are God-pleasing and vital to civility, but that none of these may encroach on obedience to God

• Finally, we Lutherans believe, teach, and confess

  • that the world will come to an end​

  • that Jesus Christ is comaing again to judge the living and the dead, and that those who did not believe in Jesus Christ for whatever reasons will perish in hell eternally

  • that those who did believe will live "life after life" forever with God in heaven

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For more information, you can visit the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod website at:  https://www.lcms.org/