Inspired by the Holy Spirit we share the message of Jesus Christ as together we grow in Faith, Love and Grace.
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- What’s the Big Deal about God?
All of us have a god, for our ‘god’ is whatever it is we “fear, love and trust above anything else.” Our god may be money or power, our families or our selves. The question is not “whether or not” we have a god, but “who” our god is. As Christians, we confess that the God attested to in the Bible, the One revealed most fully to us and all humanity in the person of Jesus Christ is Lord. We believe that One to be God the Creator, God the Redeemer and God the Sustainer of all that is. And we believe that God is worthy of our thanks and praise.
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not useful - What’s the Big Deal about Jesus?
The New Testament is the only document that gives us a reliable picture of Jesus of Nazareth, who he is and what he means for humankind. The New Testament describes Jesus as the One who is fully human and fully God, the One whom God resurrected from the dead. We believe that – in this Jesus – God reveals to us most supremely who God is, how God relates to us and the world, and the depths to which God will go for our salvation. And we believe that this same Jesus Christ invites each of us in our lifetime to “Follow me.”
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What’s the Big Deal about the Bible?
The Bible is a collection of 66 books that tell the story of God and God’s people. The 39 books of the Old Testament speak of God’s revelation to and relationship with a particular people – the Jewish people. The 27 books of the New Testament speak of God’s revelation to and relationship with all people in and through Jesus. We believe that people meet God in these Holy Scriptures, for they are where God’s heart, mind, relationship to - and intention for - humankind are revealed.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What’s the Big Deal about Church?
“Church” is not some place people go. “Church” is not something people do. “Church” IS something people are. The word “Church” – which means gathering – is the community of people throughout the world who worship the God revealed in the life and teachings, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. A local church (sometimes called a congregation or parish) is a particular local community of God’s people who gather together to worship and grow, to learn and serve, to strengthen and support one another.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What is a Lutheran?
Martin Luther (1483-1546) is known as the Father of Protestant Christianity. As a young man, he studied to become a lawyer before becoming a monk in 1505. Over the next decade, while studying to become a professor of theology, he discovered significant differences between what he read in the Bible and the theology and practices of the church of his day. In 1517 he challenged the church to reform its practices and preach in ways more consistent with the Word of God as contained in the Bible. Sadly, what resulted from Luther’s challenge was not a reformation of the church but a division within the church. Lutherans are Christians who hold to the basic theological principles espoused by Luther:
“By Grace Alone” … We are saved by the grace of God, not by anything we do.
“By Faith Alone” … Trust in Jesus Christ is at the foundation of our restored relationship with God.
“The Word Alone” … The Bible is the standard by which teachings are to be judged.
100,00% of 5 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - Are Lutherans Christians?
Absolutely! In fact, Martin Luther himself said that those who sided with him in the conflicts of the Reformation should simply call themselves “Christians.” (The label “Lutheran” was first applied to Luther and his followers as an insult, but it was adopted as a badge of honor by them.) Our Confession of Faith says “This church confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.”
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - Why Should I Get Involved in a Church?
A number of years ago now, Paul Simon penned the lyrics to the song “I Am a Rock,” and facetiously asserted “I have no need of friendship; friendship causes pain. It's laughter and it's loving I disdain. I am a rock, I am an island.” Yet in our daily living, many of us act as if life is to be lived in isolation. God didn’t create us to live alone, but to live in community with one another. We get involved in church – a local community of faith – to live life as God intended it. Supporting one another. Being supported by one another. Living together in the awareness that God is God, that we are not and that God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - Why Should I Get Involved in This Church?
Martin Luther once said that evangelism is simply “one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.” We buy that. We’d invite you to join us because we find ourselves fed as part of this community, and trust that you might experience the same. Our church is neither the largest in town nor the smallest, but we trust it could be a community in which you find yourself nourished by the Word and supported by your neighbors.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - Why Should I Worship?
The old saying “first things first” pretty well sums up why Christians worship. We gather for worship to express our thanks and praise to God. We gather to listen to the Word of God. We gather to be reminded – on the first day of the week – that God is God and that we are not. We don’t gather because we are perfect. We gather to acknowledge our imperfections before the Perfect One, and to line up our lives and our values with the cross and empty tomb of Jesus Christ. We gather to be fed by the One who is the Bread of Life, and to share that feast with one another.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - Why Should I Give?
“Giving” is what Christians call “stewardship.” It is grounded in the awareness that all we are and all we have is a gift from God. We are called by God to give precisely because we have received. We are “blessed to be a blessing.” Christian stewardship isn’t about “paying dues” or even “paying one’s fair share.” It is about living in the awareness that all that we are and all that we have is a generous gift from God, and that – in the words of Jesus – “to whom much is given, much will be required.”
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What are Sacraments?
Sacrifices are things we do for God. Sacraments are things God does for us. The Sacraments of the Church – which Lutherans believe to be Holy Baptism and Holy Communion – are ways in which the love and grace of God are made real to God’s people. Sacraments are events which link the command, the promise and the presence of Jesus with earthly stuff (water in the case of Baptism / bread and wine in the case of Communion) as God’s way of giving good gifts to those who are God’s children.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What’s the Big Deal about Baptism?
God – whose grace is big enough for all – is the one who acts in Baptism. Baptism isn’t something that we do for God, but rather something which God does for us – giving us new birth, delivering us from evil, adopting us into God’s household of grace, making us members of the Body of Christ. In our church, candidates for Holy Baptism are people of all ages. Some are adults or older children who are responding to the loving call of God. Some are younger children or infants, for whom members of the congregation assume sponsorship. But – whatever the age of the baptismal candidate – she / he is baptized in the awareness that Baptism is only the beginning of a life-long journey with God
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What’s the Big Deal about Communion?
Holy Communion is one of the two sacraments of the Lutheran church. It is the family meal of the family of God. The outward elements of the sacrament are bread and wine (or perhaps grape juice). Yet in conjunction with the promise of Jesus, they convey the presence of Jesus Christ to us. Martin Luther said that Jesus is present “in, with, and under” the bread and wine, even though we can’t fully explain how that happens, because Jesus says it is so. As we eat this bread and drink this wine, we experience love, forgiveness and the promise of life in Christ.
0% of 0 voters found this FAQ useful, I found this FAQ useful not useful - What Flavor of Lutheran is Holy Shepherd Church?
It is a sad admission of our brokenness as human beings that the one universal Church (the “Church catholic”) has bifurcated itself again and again and again. Christianity in the United States is marked by umpteen “denominations” and “confessional groupings,” all of who claim to be closest to the truth. Even among Lutherans (even “especially among Lutherans!”) there has been a tendency to subdivide over theological differences and say “We’re not like them!”
Holy Shepherd is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest of the Lutheran denominations in the United States, but we have been privileged to welcome many different flavors of “Lutherans” into our community. More importantly, we want to welcome spiritually curious and “not-yet-Christians” into our midst.
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