Statement of Faith
The Bible
The Bible, including both Old and New
Testaments as originally given, is the verbally and plenarily inspired Word of
God and is free from error in the whole and in the part, and is therefore the
final authoritative guide for faith and conduct
The Trinity
There is one God eternally existent in three
distinct persons in one divine essence, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God the Father
God the Father has revealed Himself as the
Creator and preserver of the universe, to Whom the entire creation and all
creatures are subject.
The Human Race
God created Adam and Eve in His image to live
in fellowship with Him. They fell into sin through the temptation of Satan and
thereby lost fellowship with God. Through their disobedience the entire human
race became totally depraved, that is, self-centered sinners who oppose God,
and who by nature are unable to trust, fear or love Him. They are subject to
the devil, and are condemned to death under the eternal wrath of God.
God the Son
Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son, is the image
of the invisible God. To accomplish our redemption, He became fully human,
being conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus Christ,
who is true God and true man, by His perfect obedience and substitutionary
death on the cross, has purchased our redemption. He arose from the dead for
our justification in the body in which He was crucified. He ascended into
heaven, where He is now seated at the right hand of God, the Father, as our interceding
High Priest. He will come a second time personally, bodily, and visibly to
gather the believers unto Himself and to establish His millennial kingdom. He
will judge the living and the dead and make an eternal separation between
believers and unbelievers. His kingdom shall have no end.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is a divine person eternally
one with the Father and with the Son. Through the Word of God He convicts
people of sin, persuades them to confess their sinfulness to God and calls them
to faith through the Gospel. He regenerates, sanctifies, and preserves
believers in the one true faith. He comforts, guides, equips, directs, and
empowers the church to fulfill the great commission.
Means of Grace
The knowledge and benefit of ChristŐs redemption
from sin is brought to the human race through the means of grace, namely the
Word and the sacraments.
Law and Gospel
Through the Word of the Law God brings
sinners to know their lost condition and to repent. Through the Word of the
Gospel He brings sinners to believe in Jesus Christ, to be justified, to enter
the process of sanctification, and to have eternal life. This occurs as the
Holy Spirit awakens them to see their sin, convicts them of their guilt of sin,
and calls them to repent and believe, inviting and enabling them to accept
GodŐs grace in Christ. Each one who thus believes is instantly forgiven and
credited with ChristŐs righteousness. The Word then teaches and guides the
believer to lead a godly life.
Baptism
In the Sacrament of Baptism, God offers the
benefits of ChristŐs redemption to all people and graciously bestows the
washing of regeneration and newness of life to all who believe. God calls the
baptized person to live in daily repentance, that is, in sorrow for sin, in
turning from sin, and in personal faith in the forgiveness of sin obtained by
Christ. By grace we are daily given the power to overcome sinful desires and
live a new life in Christ. Those who do not continue to live in GodŐs grace
need to be brought again to repentance and faith through the Law and Gospel.
Because the sinfulness of human nature passes
on from generation to generation and the promise of GodŐs grace includes little
children, we baptize infants, who become members of ChristŐs believing church
through baptism. These children need to come to know that they are sinners with
a sinful nature that opposes God. Through the work of the Holy Spirit, they
need to confess their sinfulness and yield to God; and possess for themselves
forgiveness of their sin through Jesus Christ, as they are led from the faith
received in infant baptism into a clear conscious personal faith in Christ as
their Lord and Savior and being assured of salvation, rely solely on the
finished work of Christ, and the power of the Gospel to live as children of
God.
Communion
In the Sacrament of Holy Communion, Christ
gives to the communicants His body and blood in, with, and under the bread and
wine. He declares the forgiveness of sin to all believers, and strengthens
their faith.
Salvation
Eternal salvation is available to every
living human being on earth by GodŐs grace alone through faith alone in Christ
alone. This salvation consists of an instantaneous aspect and an ongoing,
continual aspect.
Justification
Justification is GodŐs gracious act by which
He, for ChristŐs sake, instantaneously acquits repentant and believing sinners
and credits them with ChristŐs righteousness. At that moment, God gives each
one who believes a new and godly nature and the Holy Spirit begins the process
of sanctification. There is no place for human effort in justification.
Sanctification
Sanctification is GodŐs gracious, continual
work of spiritual renewal and growth in the life of every justified person.
Through the means of grace, the Holy Spirit works to reproduce the character of
Christ within the lives of all believers, instructing and urging them to live
out their new nature. The Holy Spirit enables believers more and more to resist
the devil, to overcome the world, and to count themselves dead to sin but alive
to God in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit produces spiritual fruit in and bestows
spiritual gifts upon all believers. He calls, empowers and equips them to serve
God in the home, in the community, and as part of the Church Universal. The
process of sanctification will be complete only when the believer reaches
glory.
The Church
The Church Universal consists of all those
who truly believe on Jesus Christ as Savior. The local congregation is an
assembly of believers in a certain locality among whom the Gospel is purely
taught and the sacraments are rightly administered. The confessing membership
of the local congregation shall include only those who have been baptized into
"the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,"
confess personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, maintain a good reputation in
the community and accept the constitution of the Church of the Lutheran
Brethren. It cannot, however, be avoided that hypocrites might be mixed in the
congregation; that is, those whose unbelief is not evident to the congregation.
Church Governance
The Church of the Lutheran Brethren practices
the congregational form of church government and the autonomy of the local
congregations. The office of pastor and elder is to be filled by men only. The
synodical administration has an advisory function as it relates to the
congregation, and an administrative function as it relates to the cooperative
efforts of the congregations.
Lutheran Confessions
The Lutheran confessions are a summary of
Bible doctrines. We adhere to the following confessional writings: The
ApostlesŐ Creed, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, unaltered Augsburg Confession,
and LutherŐs Small Catechism.