Trinity Lutheran Church is a Christian congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. We receive the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God and confess the Lutheran Confessions in the Book of Concord (1580) because they faithfully set forth the teaching of Scripture. This statement summarizes the principal doctrines that shape our preaching, worship, teaching, and life together.
God, Creation, and Humanity
We believe in one God, the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is one divine essence and three distinct persons, equal in majesty, power, and eternity. God is the Creator and Preserver of all things, visible and invisible (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; Augsburg Confession I).
Creation is God’s work and gift. Human beings are creatures, not self-originating or self-defining beings. God created humanity in His image, male and female, and placed us within His creation to receive His gifts, exercise stewardship, and serve our neighbors (Genesis 1–2; Psalm 8). Our lives and purpose are received from the Creator who gave them.
Sin and Our Need for Salvation
God created the world good, but humanity fell into sin through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Since the fall, all people are conceived and born in sin. Original sin is a corruption of human nature by which we lack the fear and trust in God that His creatures owe Him and are inclined toward sin. From this condition come the sinful thoughts, words, desires, and deeds by which we violate God’s commands and harm our neighbors (Genesis 3; Romans 3:9–20; 5:12–19; Augsburg Confession II).
God’s Law remains good. It reveals His will, restrains outward evil, exposes and condemns sin, and directs the Christian in God-pleasing living. Yet no one can be justified before God by obedience to the Law; it reveals our need for salvation but cannot make sinners righteous.
Jesus Christ and Justification
We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, true God and true man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived in perfect obedience to the Father, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. In His death He bore the judgment of sin for us. On the third day He rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and reigns at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead (John 1:1–18; 1 Corinthians 15:1–8; Augsburg Confession III).
For Christ’s sake, God forgives sinners and declares them righteous. We are justified by grace through faith in Christ, apart from our merits or works (Romans 3:21–28; Ephesians 2:1–10; Augsburg Confession IV). Faith does not earn God’s favor; it receives and trusts Christ and His promise. His resurrection confirms His saving work and His promise of forgiveness and eternal life.
God’s Word
God makes Himself known by revelation, not by human speculation or by searching within ourselves. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word who became flesh for our salvation. The prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are God’s written Word, inspired by the Holy Spirit and the final norm by which all doctrine and teachers are judged (John 1:1–14; John 5:39; 2 Timothy 3:15–17).
The Scriptures testify to Christ and proclaim God’s Law and Gospel. The Law reveals God’s will and exposes sin; the Gospel announces what God has done in Christ for sinners. Through the public preaching and teaching of this Word, the Holy Spirit creates and sustains faith (Romans 10:14–17; Augsburg Confession V).
Faith and the Means of Grace
The Holy Spirit brings people to faith and keeps them in the faith through the means God has appointed. God does not direct Christians to search for saving grace in private feelings or spiritual achievement; He attaches His promises to external means. The Gospel comes to us through the preached Word, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and Holy Absolution, and Christians also speak this same forgiving and consoling Word to one another. The Sacraments are not merely symbols of Christian commitment; they are acts instituted by Christ through which He gives and confirms His promises (Augsburg Confession V, IX–XIII).
In Holy Baptism, water is joined to Christ’s command and promise. God gives forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit, joins the baptized to Christ’s death and resurrection, and gives the promise of salvation. Because Baptism is God’s work and His promise is also for children, we baptize infants as well as adults (Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 2:38–39; Romans 6:3–4; Titus 3:4–7; 1 Peter 3:21).
In the Lord’s Supper, Christ gives His true body and blood under the bread and wine for Christians to eat and drink, for the forgiveness of sins. We receive Christ’s words as He gives them and confess that the Sacrament is both His gift to sinners and a communion in a common faith (Matthew 26:26–28; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17; Augsburg Confession X). In Holy Absolution, Christ’s forgiveness is spoken to the repentant sinner according to His command (John 20:21–23).
The Church and the Holy Ministry
We believe that there is one holy Christian Church, the body of Christ, which will remain until the end of the age. The Augsburg Confession describes the Church as the assembly of believers among whom the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments are administered according to Christ’s institution (Augsburg Confession VII). True unity of the Church rests in this common Gospel and sacramental confession, not in complete uniformity of human ceremonies.
Christ gives pastors to His Church. Through the call of the Church, pastors are entrusted with the public preaching and teaching of God’s Word, the administration of the Sacraments, and the exercise of the Office of the Keys (Romans 10:14–15; John 20:21–23; Augsburg Confession XIV, XXVIII). They serve as stewards of Christ’s gifts for the forgiveness and care of His people. Congregational membership means belonging to a local communion gathered around Word and Sacrament under pastoral care.
Worship and the Divine Service
The Church gathers because Christ has promised to give His gifts through His Word and Sacraments. Lutheran worship is therefore commonly called the Divine Service: God serves His people first with forgiveness, life, and salvation, and His people respond with prayer, praise, thanksgiving, confession, and service.
At Trinity we use the historic Christian liturgy because its ordered pattern keeps Scripture, preaching, prayer, confession and absolution, and the Lord’s Supper before the congregation. Ceremonies may vary across times and places; they are useful when they serve the Gospel, teach the faith clearly, preserve good order, and do not burden consciences as though human traditions were necessary for salvation (Acts 2:42; Augsburg Confession VII, XV; Formula of Concord X).
The Christian Life
Good works do not cause justification, but faith is not barren. The Holy Spirit renews Christians so that they desire to live according to God’s commands and serve their neighbors. Good works should and must be done because God commands them and because the neighbor needs them, not because they earn grace or complete Christ’s saving work (Ephesians 2:8–10; Augsburg Confession VI, XX).
Christians continue to live in repentance, confessing sin and trusting the forgiveness given in Christ. Because believers remain sinners in this life, God’s Law continues to expose and condemn sin; it also gives concrete direction for Christian living. We understand vocation as the places of responsibility God gives us in family, congregation, work, community, and civil life. In these callings Christians love and serve actual neighbors with the gifts and responsibilities God has entrusted to them.
Christ’s Return, Resurrection, and New Creation
The Christian hope is not simply that the soul escapes the body at death. Death is an enemy brought into creation by sin. We confess that Jesus Christ will return visibly on the Last Day, raise all the dead, and judge the living and the dead. Those who are in Christ will receive eternal life and joy; those who reject Him remain under judgment and eternal condemnation (John 5:28–29; 1 Corinthians 15; Augsburg Confession XVII).
The final hope of the Church is bodily resurrection, the defeat of death, and everlasting life in God’s restored creation under the reign of Christ.
Why We Are Lutheran
We call ourselves Lutheran because we confess the Christian faith as it is taught in Holy Scripture and faithfully summarized in the Lutheran Confessions. Scripture alone is the final prophetic and apostolic authority for Christian doctrine. The Book of Concord does not stand above Scripture or add new revelation; it states publicly what Lutheran churches confess the Scriptures to teach.
The Book of Concord includes the three ecumenical Creeds and the principal confessional writings of the Lutheran Reformation. Trinity Lutheran Church is a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and stands within this historic Lutheran confession as part of the one holy Christian Church.
For more information about our beliefs, visit the LCMS website's Frequently Asked Questions page linked below.
