The Bible is the inspired Word of God, completely true and without error. It is the only source and authority for all matters of faith and life.
There is only one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This revelation of three persons in one God is called the Trinity.
God is the creator of everything that exists. He created all things out of nothing by His all-creative Word, as expressed in Genesis 1 and John 1. The theory of evolution is to be rejected as a false teaching.
All human life is precious to God and should be protected and supported from conception to natural death.
Adam and Eve, the man and woman created by God in the beginning, disobeyed God’s will and brought sin into the world. Since that time, all people have inherited this sinful condition called original sin.
Sin is disobeying God and transgressing His holy will in thought, word and deed.
People cannot save themselves by their good works or restore themselves to a right relationship with God.
God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world. He is both true God and true man. He lived to fulfill God's law for us, died on the cross to pay the penalty our sins deserved, and rose from the dead so that we might have eternal life. He ascended into heaven, where He now sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us.
Because of Jesus' death on the cross, God declares a person righteous and forgiven. This happens not because of human effort, but because the justification won by Jesus is applied to the one who believes in Jesus alone as Savior from sin.
God moves the heart of the believer to repent of sin, to trust in Jesus as Savior, and to receive Him by faith. Faith in Jesus is solely a gift of the Holy Spirit.
We receive God's grace and forgiveness personally by the means of grace: God's Word and Sacraments (Baptism and Holy Communion). By these means, God applies the merits of Jesus' atoning death to all who believe in Jesus as their Savior.
Jesus will come again on Judgment day. The dead will be raised, and those who are still alive will be bodily transformed. After this, the final judgment will take place. Unbelievers will go into eternal damnation in hell, and believers into eternal life in heaven.
The true Christian Church is made up of all believers of all times who believe in the Triune God and in Jesus Christ as their only Savior.
Christians are called to tell others that the only way of salvation is by faith in Jesus Christ, and to show their faith by deeds of love toward others.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried. And the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father. And He will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And I believe in one holy Christian and apostolic Church, I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever.
Amen.
