The Apostles’ Creed:

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From there He shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the Communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the Resurrection of the body, and the Life everlasting. Amen.

We confess that, in order to rescue fallen mankind, God the Father sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. Throughout the Old Testament era God promised to send a Savior who would crush Satan’s power over the human race, and this promise was fulfilled through the incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one Person, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, and He is the world’s only Savior from sin, death, and the devil. Because Jesus was true God, He was able by His divine power to save us all; because He was true man, He was able to be our substitute under God’s Law. Christ was tempted in all things as we are but was in every respect without sin. See John 1:1 and 14, Col. 2:9, Matt. 1:23,1 Tim. 2:5-6.

By His perfect life and His innocent sufferings and death Jesus has redeemed the entire world. God thereby reconciled the world to Himself, and by the resurrection of His Son declared it to be righteous in Christ. This declaration of universal righteousness is often termed “objective justification.” One has this justification as a personal possession and is personally declared by God to be righteous in Christ when he or she is brought to faith in Him as Savior. This is often called “subjective justification”. If the objective fact of Christ’s atonement is not personally received by faith, then it has no saving benefit for the individual. We reject as unscriptural any teaching that people can be saved apart from faith in Jesus Christ. See 1 John 2:2, 2 Cor. 5:19, John 1:29, 2 Pet. 2:1, John 3:16-18, 2 Cor. 5:19, Rom. 4:25, 1:17 and 5:1-2.

We believe the the Bible is the only true authority for all teachings of the church.  The reason we look only to the Bible for our doctrine is because the Bible is entirely God’s Word which He caused to be written though the prophets, apostles, and evangelists.  God uses His Word to create faith in our hearts, strengthen the faith of all believers, and above all show us that Christ alone is the way to salvation.  We reject the modern methods of picking apart the Bible, adding and subtracting teachings, on the basis of human reason.  We hold to what the Bible teaches as the only source and norm for faith and life.

“Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. ” (Romans 6:3–4, NKJV)

Baptism is not a symbol of us becoming God’s child but is a medium through which God blesses His people.  Baptism brings the forgiveness of sins to us just as the Romans passage describes.  However, the Bible teaches that forgiveness of sins comes through faith alone, so God uses baptism to create the faith in us which can receive the forgiveness of sins.  Baptism is not effective because of “Holy Water”, but is powerful because God’s Word comes to the regular water as God commanded us to do.

“And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is My body.’ Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.’” (Matthew 26:26–28, NKJV)

According to Christ’s Word and institution, His body and blood are truly present, distributed and received in the Lord’s Supper, under the forms of bread and wine. This Supper is intended for Christians who know and adhere to the teachings of God’s Word, who are able to examine themselves on the basis of that Word, and who repent of their sins and look to Christ alone for forgiveness. The body and blood of Christ are offered and received in this Sacrament for the remission of sins and for the strengthening of faith. Because of the seriousness with which we take this Sacrament, only those of our confessional fellowship are given the bread and wine. Please speak with the Pastor if you’d like more information or are interested in sharing in this Sacrament.

“Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. ” (1 Corinthians 11:27–28, NKJV)

The Lord’s Supper is not a symbol but a powerful blessing God gives to His people.  Think of the Lord’s Supper like a prescription drug, it is very useful and healing to those who have a prescription, but it can be very harmful to people how are not prescribed the drug.  God tells us that partaking in the Lord’s Supper without proper understanding and faith will cause harm instead of providing benefit.  As a result our Church and Synod practices closed communion to properly prepare people for the reception of the Lord’s Supper.  If you wish to take the Sacrament, please talk to pastor as early before the service as possible.