Christ Centered
We believe faith is an ongoing journey.
We are all children of God. We respect each person’s integrity in their relationship with God and each person’s unfolding journey of spiritual growth and do not demand adherence to a particular understanding of creed.
Lutheran Theologically
As Christians with roots in the Lutheran tradition, we are Christian first and Lutheran second. Lutherans have a lot of freedom - in how to structure themselves into a church (for example, bishops or no bishops), how to put together a worship service, what kind of music to use. Over time, as is true of any church, certain ways of doing things become the norm. And while our mission and calling to deliver the good news of what God is doing in Jesus Christ is foundational and constant, HOW we do this is ever-evolving to reflect our timeless and endless pursuit of embracing diversity. Typically, Lutherans are known to be people who embrace a "both and" approach. For example, each Christian is both saint and sinner (both completely forgiven and still in daily need of God's grace), we hear God's word to us as both law and gospel (both an accusation of where we fall short and a word of unconditional gift of love and blessing).
Disciples of Jesus
We know God as Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier (as Father, Son and Holy Spirit). We teach that out of nothing God created the world and all that is in it and continues in ongoing creation. Faith and science do not need to be in conflict - the faithful proclamation of the who and what of creation and the scientific postulation of the how of creation ask and answer different questions. In Jesus Christ the human being, God was fully present. Through Christ, God accomplished the salvation of the world and is still working out that salvation. The Holy Spirit is the ongoing presence of God in the world, bringing courage, strength, comfort and inspiration; empowering faithful community; giving gifts of faith, hope, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control and other gifts, bringing together people who would never imagine themselves as sisters and brothers.
Biblically Based
The Bible is a book of many books - including pre-history, history, poetry, letters, visions and accounts of Jesus' life. We read the Bible as the inspired word of God to us. We teach that the Bible was not dictated by God, but that people were inspired by God to write. In reading, we take into account the historical and cultural considerations and issues of translation. We see that some things are descriptive of the times and were written to show us how God was working through the people and circumstances of that time: how people discerned God's will, what happened in their relationship to God as they followed and wandered and as God remained faithful to God's promises. Some of these historically and culturally conditioned things no longer apply today. We also see that some things are timeless and prescriptive of how we can most fruitfully live our lives in any era. It can get pretty tricky to discern which things are culturally conditioned and which things are timeless truth, so we continue to engage in dialogue with Scripture, tradition, scholarship, and one another. We see that reading the Bible breathes God's presence to us, and provides a dependable rule and guide for life. No person or group reads the Bible without filters of culture, social location, historical situation, personality, or need. This means that we must always approach the Bible with a spirit of humility, conscious of the limits we bring as human interpreters while also seeking to be prayerfully open to the truth of God's guidance.