What We Believe

We are Christians:

We stand united with all who believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as our Redeemer, Lord and Savior from sin and death.  We are all called to follow Him and be His disciples in this world.  But all Christians don't hold all beliefs in common, so a little more explanation is needed.

We are Lutherans:

The Lutheran Church was formed in the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.  It takes its name from Martin Luther, who believed that church laws and traditions were obscuring the Gospel of salvation by Christ alone.  So he emphasized the Gospel of Jesus Christ by the slogan "Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone."

We are Missouri Synod Lutherans:

We are a member congregation of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (LCMS), which is a church body that was formed in 1847 and has its headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.  We describe ourselves as "evangelical."  This means we are conservative in respect to interpreting God's Word and liberal in respect to proclaiming His undeserved grace, delivered through faith in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, as our Savior.

Detailed statements of faith and practice, including topical essays and frequently asked questions, can be found on the Synod's website at http://www.lcms.org/belief-and-practice

This statement is from our current constitution:

"This congregation holds all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired word of God and the sole rule of faith and life.

This congregation acknowledges and accepts all the confessional writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, contained in the Book of Concord of the year 1580, as the true and genuine expositions of the doctrines of the Bible.  These confessional writings are the three Ecumenical Creeds (Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian), the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, Luther's Large and Small Catechisms, and the Formula of Concord.

Accordingly, no doctrine which conflicts with or sets aside the foregoing norm of doctrine shall be taught or tolerated in this congregation."

Trinity Lutheran Church, Lockport, NY, Constitution and Bylaws, January 22, 1984.

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