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 in 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.