We believe...
Christ came to save the world. We believe the Gospel, that is, the Good News, of Jesus. All humans, men and women, young and old, are rescued from sin only by the mercy of God. Through faith, a relationship that depends on Jesus and is a gift of God, we are forgiven and live a new and everlasting life. God's Word, Scripture, is all about bestowing that faith. It is also how we norm our lives. In the Bible we find the story of Jesus from beginning to end, we are encouraged in our faith, and are shown that a life of humble repentance and seeking God leads to our joy.
We are...
A People of the Word
Lutherans believe that the Word of God, while it is the Bible, is first and foremost a person, Jesus the Christ. He is the Word of God come down from heaven, the Word that takes away the sin of the world, the Word that will endure for all time. He is the Word preached on a weekly basis in the sanctuary and shared during conversations in kitchens and living rooms.
A People of the Sacraments
As we believe that Jesus speaks to us today, He also continues to come to us. In our baptism we were washed into Him, into His death, so that we might also live with Him in His resurrection. But it isn't just in that past event that He came to meet us. We believe that every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper He is truly present in, with, and under the bread and wine.
A People of the Promise
All of this is to say that we are a people who live by the Word of promise. It is one that reminds us that no matter what life brings we have a guarantee that it will not have the final say. Not even death itself can overcome this Word of promise! It is the promise that through His death and resurrection Jesus Christ paid for the sins of the world and brings life eternal. We hear that Word, are washed in it, and taste it. It is the Word that brings us together and the one by which we live.
We confess...
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord:
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into hell.
On the third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty,
from there He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Christian Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.
The words of the Apostles' Creed, along with the Nicene and Athanasian Creed, have served as a summary of Spirit-filled and scriptural belief since the earliest days of Christianity. They summarize what Christians have always confessed when gathered around God's Word in the name of God's Son--and they are the truths that we believe, teach, and confess at Redeemer Evangelical Lutheran Church. Those creeds are not our only confession. We unreservedly avow the Augsburg Confession and its Apology, Luther's Small and Large Catechism, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Epitome and Solid Declaration of the Formula of Concord as they are contained in the Book of Concord. You can read them all here.
We belong...
We are a member congregation of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. To be Lutheran simply means that we confess what has been confessed from the beginning. We uphold an extravagant and mysterious view of God's love: that man is saved purely by God's grace through faith alone, apart from works. We believe that God is so loving and powerful that he is actively working through His Word as well as saving and sustaining sinful men, women and children through his mysterious gifts of baptism and the Lord's Supper. These scriptural truths inspired the reformation of the Christian Church in the 16th century and led to a renewed focus on the Gospel. To be Lutheran is to be embraced by that rich heritage of promise.