First Lutheran Church is a theologically conservative congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Missouri Synod was established in 1847 and today has almost two million members. We are proud of our affiliation with this historic denomination and proud to stand against the theological liberalism which has infected most of the so-called “mainline protestant” churches, including the Evangelical Church in America, with which we are not affiliated.
We are a trinitarian church–for there is no other kind of Christian church than one that worships and confesses the One True God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe that God the Father sent His Eternal Son into the world to become human, that he was truly conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, that after dying for us He truly rose bodily from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and since then has been living and reigning over all things. We believe that there is salvation in no other than this Jesus Christ. We at First Lutheran, along with all other Christians, are waiting for His glorious, visible return on the Last Day.
We are a confessional church, which means that we adhere to certain written doctrinal statements contained within the Book of Concord (1580). The most foundational documents in the Book of Concord are the Apostles’ Creed (second century), the Nicene Creed (fourth century) and the Augsburg Confession (1530). These documents, together with others in the Book of Concord, clearly articulate what we believe God has revealed to us in Holy Scripture.
We are an evangelical church, which means we believe and teach that a person is made right with God not by their own deeds but solely on account of our Lord Jesus Christ. The power of God to save sinners is the Gospel, which is the message of the forgiveness of sins on account of the death and resurrection of Jesus. By faith alone in the Gospel a person is forgiven all their sins, adopted by God as his own child and grafted into the Holy Christian Church.
We are a catholic church–but not a Roman Catholic church. By this we mean that we share with the Roman Catholic Church a long history, beginning with Christ and the apostles’ themselves. This heritage is as much ours as theirs. In fact, it is the heritage of all Christians. Therefore we are a conscientiously liturgical church. Our Divine Services and other rites follow worship forms which have arisen in the Church over its twenty centuries of existence. These have been handed down from generation to generation, continue to enrich our lives with Christ now, and which we earnestly desire and intend to hand down to the next generation. We are also a conscientiously sacramental church, which means we believe that God, though the Holy Spirit, in order to bring us life and salvation, works through certain physical instruments, namely, the preached Gospel, Baptism, Holy Communion, and Absolution, and that apart from these physical, tangible means we cannot come to know God, experience Him, or be saved. For that reason, and others too, we insist upon the baptism of all who would be saved, including infants, and Holy Communion is celebrated at every Sunday Service.
First Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod) 