What We Believe

As a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, Risen Savior holds the Holy Scriptures to be the inspired, inerrant Word of God — the only rule and norm of all doctrine and life. We confess the three Ecumenical Creeds and the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord (1580) as a faithful exposition of Scripture.

What follows is not a list of opinions we happen to hold. It is what we believe God has said, and therefore what you can expect to hear preached from our pulpit every Sunday.

The Bible alone is the inspired and inerrant Word of God, the source and norm of all Christian teaching. It is not a record of what people once thought about God; it is God’s own address to us, and it does not fail. Every doctrine we hold must be drawn from it, and nothing may be added to it.

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine.” — 2 Timothy 3:16

Salvation is entirely God’s gift. It is not earned by human merit, not achieved by sincerity, and not awarded to those who try hardest. God justifies the ungodly for Christ’s sake, freely. The whole weight of your salvation rests on what Jesus has already done, and not one ounce of it rests on you.

We are justified before God through faith in Jesus Christ, who died for our sins and rose for our justification. Faith is not a work we contribute; it is the empty hand that receives what Christ gives. Good works follow faith as fruit follows a living tree — they are the result of salvation, never its price.

Jesus Christ is true God and true man, crucified for sinners and risen bodily from the dead. There is no other name given among men by which we must be saved, and no other mediator between God and man. He is the entire content of our preaching.

“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said.” — Matthew 28:6

Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are means of grace — not symbols of what we have decided about God, but instruments through which God truly delivers forgiveness, life, and salvation.

In Baptism, God washes, names, and claims a person as His own, infants included. In the Lord’s Supper, Christ gives His true body and blood, in with and under the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of sins. We celebrate the Sacrament of the Altar every Sunday.

How we practice Holy Communion

We confess the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as faithful summaries of Biblical doctrine. When we speak them on Sunday morning, we are saying what the Church has said in every century and on every continent — a reminder that the faith is not ours to invent.

We subscribe to the Book of Concord (1580) — including the Augsburg Confession and Luther’s Small Catechism — as a true and binding exposition of Holy Scripture. We hold these documents not because they are Lutheran, but because they are Scriptural. They keep us honest, and they let you know in advance exactly what will be taught here.