What We Believe

As a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA),
St. James Lutheran Church confesses the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In our preaching and teaching
we trust the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.

Our teaching or theology serves the proclamation and ministry of this faith.
We are a place for both the everyday questions as well as the probing inquiries of faith.
We do not have all the answers (and probably not even all the questions!)
We support a curious approach to faith and the Christian Life.
A primary goal of all we do is to help our folks be witnesses in speech and action of God’s rich mercy in Jesus Christ.

God

We believe in the Triune God—Father, Son, Holy Spirit—mysteriously three in one.
God created and loves all creation.
We believe that God’s Son, Jesus Christ, transforms lives through
his death on the cross and his new life through resurrection,
and we trust that God’s Spirit is active in our lives and in this world.

Scripture

We believe that the canonical Scriptures of the Old & 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.
The Holy Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and the source and norm for proclamation, faith, and life.

Salvation

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.
We teach that all people are sinners. A person is saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
We live in the true freedom of Christian love and responsibility.

Sacrament

We are nourished in our faith through the sacraments of baptism and communion.
Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, by the power of the Spirit,
comes to us through the reading of the Scriptures, the proclamation of preaching,
the announcement of the forgiveness of sins, through Holy Communion,
and in the gathered community.
By the power of the Spirit active in Holy Baptism,
this Word—Jesus Christ—washes a people to be Christ’s own Body in the world.

  • THE BASIS OF OUR BELIEFS    
    The ELCA’s official Confession of Faith     identifies the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments (commonly called the Bible); the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds; and the Lutheran confessional writings in the Book of Concord as the basis for our teaching.
  • OUR FAITH IN ACTION
    Throughout the week, we strive to live out our faith by serving and sharing with others through the gracious love of God. We trust in God’s free and generously given salvation. In small groups and at sick beds, in private devotions and in daily work, the gift of faith saturates all of life.
  • OUR ECUMENICAL PARTNERS
    The ELCA is committed to fostering unity among the children of God for the sake of the world. We are in full communion with the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Reformed Church in America, the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church, the Moravian Church, and the United Methodist
    Church. We cooperate with the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches.