What We Believe

1. These congregations believe and confess that the Holy Scriptures, the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments, are the inspired, inerrant and infallible Word of God, revealed for our salvation, and are the only source and rule of faith and life in the congregations.  We believe that the Holy Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, in union with the Word of God, are the means of grace.

2. These congregations accept the Apostles, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds, together with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Small Catechism as true expressions of Christian faith and life, to which all teaching and preaching in the congregations shall conform.

3. Among the strongly held religious beliefs of the Congregations are the following:

Human Sexuality: We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24; Genesis 19:5,13; Genesis 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 5:1,6,9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4).

Marriage: We believe that the only Scriptural marriage is the joining of one man and one woman (Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23).

4. The Declaration of Faith and strongly-held religious beliefs above do not exhaust the extent of our faith.  The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe.  We do believe, however, that the foregoing accurately represents the teaching of the Bible and therefore is binding upon all members.

5. These congregations affiliate with the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations, and endorses its Fundamental Principles and Rules for Work which affirm that the local congregation governs its own affairs, subject to the Word and the Spirit of God alone.

About First American Lutheran Church

About Hope Lutheran Church