Beliefs

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.

Synod
The word "Synod" in The Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod comes
from the Greek words that mean "walking together." It has rich
meaning in our church body, because the congregations voluntarily
choose to belong to the Synod. Diverse in their service, these
congregations hold to a shared confession of Jesus Christ as taught
in Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.

The congregations of the Synod are "confessional." They 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.

Links to the full text of all the Lutheran Confessions are listed in the
Related Links section on the left of this page.

Overview
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 Sacraments. The three persons of the
Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.

Being "Lutheran," our congregations accept and teach
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.