Christ
the King Lutheran Church
We Believe
As a congregation of The Lutheran Church--Missouri
Synod, we teach and
respond 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
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 teaching
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.
The word "Synod" in The Lutheran
Church--Missouri Synod comes from the
Greek words that mean "walking together".
Together, with our fellow
congregations, we hold to a shared
confession of Jesus Christ as taught in Holy
Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
The congregations of the Synod are
"confessional." We hold to the Lutheran
Confessions as the correct interpretation
and presentation of Biblical doctrine.
Contained in The Book of Concord:
The Confessions of the Evangelical
Lutheran Church, these statements
of belief were put into writing by church
leaders during the 16th century.
(The simplest of these is Luther's Small
Catechism. The Augsburg Confession
gives more detail on what Lutherans
believe. For a detailed contemporary
explanation, see "What Do Lutherans
Believe?".)
Adapted from
A Week in the Life of The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod,
copyright 1996, Concordia
Publishing House.
