OUR STATEMENT OF FAITH

What We Believe

 

Know Jesus. Live Changed. Share Hope.

At Peace Lutheran Church and School, Shelby Township, our mission is “Reaching out to help people experience a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” We believe that knowing Jesus changes everything—transforming our lives through His grace and empowering us to live differently. As we Know Jesus, Live Changed, and Share Hope, we invite others to experience the love, forgiveness, and hope found in Christ.

 

All of our beliefs are drawn from the Bible which is God’s eternal Word. Please read on so that you may know those beliefs as God’s Word teaches us. (We’ve included references for passages in the Bible of those teachings.) 

 

GOD - God is three persons in one: the Father, who created and sustains the world; the Son, who lived as a human being, died, and rose from the dead; and the Holy Spirit who works God’s will in the world. These three persons are co-equal and are one God. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Luke 3:21-22, Matthew 28:19-20) 

 

HUMANITY - All people are created in the image of God and are intended by God to be in an eternal relationship with Him and to be like Him in character. But sin, disobedience to God, separates people from God. All people are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness. (Genesis 1:27-31, Psalm 53:1-3, Psalm 51:5, Romans 3:23) 

 

JESUS CHRIST - Jesus Christ is true God and true Man at the same time. He lived a sinless life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice and ransom for our sins by dying on the cross. He rose from the dead on the third day, victorious over sin, death and the devil. He ascended into heaven where He reigns as Lord of all. He will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. (John 3:16-17, Luke 19:10, John 19:1-42, John 20:1-31, John 19:31, Luke 23:1-24:53, Mark 15:1-16:20, Matthew 28:1-20, 1 Corinthians 15:1-8) 

 

GOOD NEWS - The Good News is that God has reconciled the world to Himself through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Sin, death, and the devil have been defeated. Forgiveness, eternal life, and peace with God are freely offered by God and received through faith in Jesus Christ. (Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:36, Mark 16:16, Acts 16:30-31) 

 

THE CHRISTIAN LIFE - Jesus calls those of us to follow Him in a life of faith, service, witness and obedience. The strength to follow Jesus in this way is a gift of the Holy Spirit. We are not perfect; we stumble and fall in our daily walk with God. But our forgiveness has been won and paid for by Jesus Christ, who calls us to repent, to receive forgiveness from Him, and to continue following Him. The Ten Commandments serve as a guide to God’s will for our lives. (1 Timothy 6:18, Galatians 5:13, Galatians 6:9-10) 

 

THE MISSION OF GOD - God’s mission is to reconcile all people to Himself through faith in Jesus Christ. All believers in Christ are called as God’s partners in this mission. We seek to grow as disciples so that we grow as witnesses and models to others, that they might come to know and follow Jesus as well. (John 3:16, Matthew 28:18-19) 

 

THE BIBLE - The Bible is the Word of God. God was at work in the lives of the human writers so that the final product is exactly what God wants it to be for us. It is true in all of that it says. The purpose of the Bible is to reveal Jesus Christ to us as our Savior, so that we might believe in Him and follow Him.  We use words like “Inspired” (the Holy Spirit led those who wrote), “Inerrant” (because the Bible is God’s Word to us – all it says is true and without error) to describe the very words written. (John 17:17, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:21, 1 Corinthians 2:13, Psalm 119:160) 

 

WORSHIP - Worship is the meeting place of God and His people. God gathers us into His presence that we might celebrate His goodness to us in Jesus, and receive from God gifts of His grace. We make use of historical forms of worship that have benefited Christians throughout the ages, as well as worship forms as new as today. (Acts 2:42) 

 

SACRAMENTS - Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are gifts from God to the Church, through which God is present and actively at work. God gives His grace in the Water of Baptism (Matthew 28:18-19). Jesus gives us Himself, His body and blood, in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion). (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26) 

 

MARRIAGE - Our faith statement, consistent with Scripture, is that marriage is a covenant relationship designed and ordained by God from the very beginning of creation as a union between one man and one woman (biologically born male and female gender) (Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19:4-6; Ephesians 5:22-33). God instituted monogamous marriage between male and female as the foundation of the family. 

 

GENDER - The Bible teaches that we are created by God only as male and female (Genesis 1:27, Matthew 19:4) and upholds that definition.  As followers of Jesus and the Word of God (the Bible) we believe, teach, and confess that biblical truth.  We acknowledge no distinction between biological sex and gender.  Therefore, especially in our school ministry we use pronouns, dress codes and restrooms that only correspond with the biological sex of each person. 

 

SANCTITY OF LIFE - All human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life. (Psalm 139:13-18) 

 

WHAT IS “LUTHERAN”? - Lutherans take their name from Martin Luther. He was a German priest who was expelled from the Roman Catholic Church in the early 1500s. Luther’s writing and teaching sparked the Protestant Reformation. Through his study of the Bible, Luther helped the Christian Church rediscover the truth that God is loving and that He offers forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift because of Jesus Christ. Luther taught that people – no matter how hard they try – cannot earn God’s forgiveness or a place in heaven. It is a gift that people receive through faith in Jesus Christ.  Peace Lutheran Church and School is a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod church body (www.lcms.org).