We believe, teach, and confess that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Lord, and that through faith in Him we receive forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation. Our Saviour is a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. What follows is a short summary of our confession. Where a longer article on the site treats a subject in more detail, we link to it.

The Holy Trinity

We worship one God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We confess this faith in the words of the three ecumenical creeds (the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds), which the whole Christian church has used for centuries. With them we confess that the eternal Son of God became man, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered and died for the sins of the world, rose bodily from the dead, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Holy Scripture

The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). With the Formula of Concord, we confess that “the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments” are “the only rule and norm according to which all teachings, together with all teachers, should be evaluated and judged” (FC Ep, Rule and Norm 1).

Sin and grace

Since the fall of Adam, all people are born sinful and cannot free themselves from sin and death. God saves us by His grace alone, for the sake of Christ alone, through faith alone. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). The Augsburg Confession teaches that “our works cannot reconcile God or merit forgiveness of sins and grace, but that we obtain forgiveness and grace only by faith” (AC XX 9). Christ is the only mediator and the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and for His sake the Father is reconciled to us.

Law and Gospel

God speaks two words in Scripture. The Law tells us what God requires and shows us our sin. The Gospel tells us what God has done for us in Christ and gives us His forgiveness. Lutherans read the whole Bible with this distinction in mind, and our pastors preach both, so that sinners hear their sin plainly and hear Christ’s forgiveness more plainly still.

The Means of Grace

God gives His gifts of life and salvation through the means that He has chosen: His Word and His Sacraments. The Augsburg Confession teaches, “Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given” (AC V 2). He offers these gifts to us each week in the Divine Service, and He strengthens our faith through them as we live in the world. You can read more on our Worship page. In Holy Absolution, the pastor forgives sins in Christ’s name and by His command (John 20:23).

Holy Baptism

Baptism is not a work that we do for God; it is God’s work for us. The Small Catechism teaches that Baptism “works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.” We baptize infants, since the promise of Baptism “is for you and for your children” (Acts 2:39), and Christ welcomed little children into His kingdom (Mark 10:14).

The Lord’s Supper

In the Sacrament of the Altar, Christ gives us His true body and blood under the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of sins. With the Small Catechism, we confess that the Sacrament “is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the bread and wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us Christians to eat and to drink.” For this reason, we practice closed communion.

The Office of the Holy Ministry

Christ established the office of the ministry to preach the Gospel and administer the Sacraments (AC V). No one should publicly teach or administer the Sacraments in the church without a regular call (AC XIV). In keeping with Scripture (1 Corinthians 14:33-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-14), the Missouri Synod calls only qualified men to the pastoral office.

The Lutheran Confessions

Holy Scripture alone is the rule and norm of our faith. The Book of Concord (1580) is the authoritative statement of Lutheran doctrine. Our Saviour accepts the Lutheran Confessions without reservation, since they are a faithful exposition of the Word of God. Our page on confessional Lutheranism explains what that commitment means.

The Church

The Augsburg Confession defines the church as “the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered” (AC VII 1). Christ will keep His church until He returns. We pray for the day when He heals its divisions, and we confess the truth of His Word until that day comes.