Confession of Faith
As Lutheran Christians, we confess our faith in Jesus Christ and celebrate God's saving love and forgiveness. In the worship life of God's people, we proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ and give central importance to the Scriptures and the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. We join Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians around the world in confessing our faith in the Triune God and in being God's caring servants in the world.
The Vision Statement of the ELCA reads:
"The ELCA is a church so deeply and confidently rooted in the Gospel of God's grace that we are free to give our lives joyfully in witness and service."
The ELCA is in a relationship of full communion with the following churches:
The Lutheran World Federation
The Episcopal Church, USA
The Moravian Church in America
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
The Reformed Church in America
The United Church of Christ
Confession of Faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America from the Constitution of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- This church confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
- This church confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe
- - 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 through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
- - The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written 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.
- This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.
- This church accepts the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of this church.
- This church accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it In faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
- This church accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.
- This church confesses 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 Church for God's mission in the world.