What We Believe
Inviting all people to discover their full life in Christ.
Discover Values
Discipleship is a Priority. Our goal as a congregation is to make disciples. The best definition of discipleship is apprenticeship. An apprentice is someone who studies under a master craftsman to learn a trade by copying his master. Jesus is the Master of Life. We need to be his apprentices, so that we might learn life by copying our master.
Inspired by the Living Word. One of the primary ways we discover who Jesus is, is through the written word. As we study, read, and reflect on the written word, we encounter the living word -- Jesus.
Spirit Charged. We are as a congregation and as individuals, Spirit charged. We look to the Holy Spirit to energize us with gifts for ministry. The Holy Spirit is also in charge of helping us to follow Jesus.
Culture of Forgiveness. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We have all been forgiven through the cross. Forgiveness is not easy. Jesus had to go to the cross to offer forgiveness to us. We need to do the hard work of forgiving one another. We practice 490 forgiveness; forgiving each other seventy times seven as Jesus taught. In other words we need to work hard to go the full circle and truly forgive. We can’t settle for 190 forgiveness which is being nice, nor 290 forgiveness which is breaking off the relationship, nor 390 forgiveness which is pretending to forgive but still holding a grudge. We have to come to 490 forgiveness which is truly forgiving someone to the point that the past hurt actually deepens and strengthens the relationship.
Ordinary People Serving an Extraordinary God. We are a rag-tag lot. As the Apostle Paul said, we all fall short of the glory of God. Yet we serve an extraordinary God who has reached down to forgive us and use us in amazing ways. By ourselves we are as Luther says, “all beggars,” but in Jesus we are adopted children of the King.
Vision for World Mission. Go into all the world and make disciples. We are called to see the world as Jesus sees it and to act. The harvest is ripe. Discover Church has a long history of actively supporting world missions through short-term mission trips, missionary support and our quilting ministry.
Ethnically Diverse. We live in a multi-ethnic context and we are called to reach out to all ethnic groups. Realizing that our ethnicity is important, but not ultimate. What is ultimate is that we believe in Jesus and that we have been baptized into Christ and have been clothed in Christ. We wear the Jesus Jersey. We are on Jesus’ team and have received Jesus’ promises.
Reaching Out to Our Communities. We are called to go - go into our neighborhoods, our places of work, our schools, our cities, and share the gospel in word and deed. In many ways we come full circle because when we go, we end up at the beginning making discipleship a priority.
Discover Values
Discipleship is a Priority. Our goal as a congregation is to make disciples. The best definition of discipleship is apprenticeship. An apprentice is someone who studies under a master craftsman to learn a trade by copying his master. Jesus is the Master of Life. We need to be his apprentices, so that we might learn life by copying our master.
Inspired by the Living Word. One of the primary ways we discover who Jesus is, is through the written word. As we study, read, and reflect on the written word, we encounter the living word -- Jesus.
Spirit Charged. We are as a congregation and as individuals, Spirit charged. We look to the Holy Spirit to energize us with gifts for ministry. The Holy Spirit is also in charge of helping us to follow Jesus.
Culture of Forgiveness. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. We have all been forgiven through the cross. Forgiveness is not easy. Jesus had to go to the cross to offer forgiveness to us. We need to do the hard work of forgiving one another. We practice 490 forgiveness; forgiving each other seventy times seven as Jesus taught. In other words we need to work hard to go the full circle and truly forgive. We can’t settle for 190 forgiveness which is being nice, nor 290 forgiveness which is breaking off the relationship, nor 390 forgiveness which is pretending to forgive but still holding a grudge. We have to come to 490 forgiveness which is truly forgiving someone to the point that the past hurt actually deepens and strengthens the relationship.
Ordinary People Serving an Extraordinary God. We are a rag-tag lot. As the Apostle Paul said, we all fall short of the glory of God. Yet we serve an extraordinary God who has reached down to forgive us and use us in amazing ways. By ourselves we are as Luther says, “all beggars,” but in Jesus we are adopted children of the King.
Vision for World Mission. Go into all the world and make disciples. We are called to see the world as Jesus sees it and to act. The harvest is ripe. Discover Church has a long history of actively supporting world missions through short-term mission trips, missionary support and our quilting ministry.
Ethnically Diverse. We live in a multi-ethnic context and we are called to reach out to all ethnic groups. Realizing that our ethnicity is important, but not ultimate. What is ultimate is that we believe in Jesus and that we have been baptized into Christ and have been clothed in Christ. We wear the Jesus Jersey. We are on Jesus’ team and have received Jesus’ promises.
Reaching Out to Our Communities. We are called to go - go into our neighborhoods, our places of work, our schools, our cities, and share the gospel in word and deed. In many ways we come full circle because when we go, we end up at the beginning making discipleship a priority.
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ is an association of congregations and individuals who are:
We have a great respect for the reality that the church is where the people of God gather together around Word and Sacrament. The local congregation is where the church becomes a concrete reality for God's people.
We believe, teach, and confess the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe, teach, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe in him.
We believe, teach, and accept the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the sole authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith, and life.
We accept the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the scriptural faith we believe, teach, and confess.
We believe, teach, and accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Small Catechism as true witnesses to the Word of God, normative for our teaching and practice. We acknowledge that we are one in faith and doctrine with all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
We believe, teach, and confess the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid expositions of the Holy Scriptures.
We believe, teach, and confess the gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the priesthood of all believers for God's mission in the world.
- free in Christ;
- accountable to one another;
- rooted in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions;
- working together to fulfill Christ's Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations.
We have a great respect for the reality that the church is where the people of God gather together around Word and Sacrament. The local congregation is where the church becomes a concrete reality for God's people.
We believe, teach, and confess the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe, teach, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe in him.
- Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.
- The proclamation of God's message to us as both law and gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ through whom God was pleased to reconcile all things to himself.
- The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God. Inspired by God's Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God's revelation centering on Jesus Christ. Through them God's Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.
We believe, teach, and accept the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the sole authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith, and life.
We accept the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the scriptural faith we believe, teach, and confess.
We believe, teach, and accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Small Catechism as true witnesses to the Word of God, normative for our teaching and practice. We acknowledge that we are one in faith and doctrine with all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
We believe, teach, and confess the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid expositions of the Holy Scriptures.
We believe, teach, and confess the gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the priesthood of all believers for God's mission in the world.
