Our Beliefs
Prince of Peace is associated with the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS) . The LCMS teaches and responds to the love of the Triune God:
The Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; The Holy Spirit, who creates and sustains faith through God's Word, Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal and co-equal, one God.
Being "Lutheran," our congregation accepts and teaches the Bible as God's Inspired and Infallible Word. All our teaching is governed by Scripture. It should be noted that Lutherans do not worship Luther. We worship none other than the Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access to the Father by the Spirit. Christ alone saves us and is worthy of our adoration and praise. Neither do we follow every word of Luther. We cling to Christ's Word, the same standard that inspired the teachings of the Christian Church expressed in the 16th century. The teachings of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three short phrases: Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.
Grace alone (Sola Gracia)
God loves the people of the world, even though they are sinful, rebel against Him and do not deserve His love. He sent Jesus, His Son, to love the unlovable and save the ungodly.
Faith alone (Sola Fide)
By His suffering and death as the substitute for all people of all time, Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe it have the eternal life that it offers. God creates faith in Christ and gives people forgiveness through Him.
Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura)
The Bible is God's inspired and infallible Word, in which He reveals His Law and His Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is the sole rule and norm for all Christian doctrine and life.
These three "Solas" all point us to Christ Alone...His life, death, and resurrection for you!
Described another way...Imagine a church that is both evangelical—proclaiming the free forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ—and sacramental, centering its spiritual life in the regenerating waters of baptism and the real presence of Christ in Holy Communion. Imagine further a church that is strongly grounded on Scripture, but yet avoids the solipsism of individual interpretation in favor of a comprehensive, intellectually rigorous and imminently orthodox theological system. Imagine a worship service that features both strong preaching and the historic liturgy. Imagine that this is a historical church with a rich spiritual tradition, but without legalism. Imagine, in short, a church that has some of the best parts of Protestantism and the best parts of Catholicism. Finally, imagine that this church body is not some little made-up sect, but one of the largest bodies of Christians in the world. Such a church might seem like what many Christians, disaffected by both the vacuity of liberal theology and the shallowness of American evangelicalism, are dreaming of. Such a church exists. It goes by the admittedly inadequate name ‘Lutheran.’ [Gene Edward Veith, Jr., The Spirituality of the Cross: the Way of the First Evangelicals (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 114.]
The Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; The Holy Spirit, who creates and sustains faith through God's Word, Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper. The three persons of the Trinity are co-eternal and co-equal, one God.
Being "Lutheran," our congregation accepts and teaches the Bible as God's Inspired and Infallible Word. All our teaching is governed by Scripture. It should be noted that Lutherans do not worship Luther. We worship none other than the Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access to the Father by the Spirit. Christ alone saves us and is worthy of our adoration and praise. Neither do we follow every word of Luther. We cling to Christ's Word, the same standard that inspired the teachings of the Christian Church expressed in the 16th century. The teachings of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three short phrases: Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.
Grace alone (Sola Gracia)
God loves the people of the world, even though they are sinful, rebel against Him and do not deserve His love. He sent Jesus, His Son, to love the unlovable and save the ungodly.
Faith alone (Sola Fide)
By His suffering and death as the substitute for all people of all time, Jesus purchased and won forgiveness and eternal life for them. Those who hear this Good News and believe it have the eternal life that it offers. God creates faith in Christ and gives people forgiveness through Him.
Scripture alone (Sola Scriptura)
The Bible is God's inspired and infallible Word, in which He reveals His Law and His Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is the sole rule and norm for all Christian doctrine and life.
These three "Solas" all point us to Christ Alone...His life, death, and resurrection for you!
Described another way...Imagine a church that is both evangelical—proclaiming the free forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus Christ—and sacramental, centering its spiritual life in the regenerating waters of baptism and the real presence of Christ in Holy Communion. Imagine further a church that is strongly grounded on Scripture, but yet avoids the solipsism of individual interpretation in favor of a comprehensive, intellectually rigorous and imminently orthodox theological system. Imagine a worship service that features both strong preaching and the historic liturgy. Imagine that this is a historical church with a rich spiritual tradition, but without legalism. Imagine, in short, a church that has some of the best parts of Protestantism and the best parts of Catholicism. Finally, imagine that this church body is not some little made-up sect, but one of the largest bodies of Christians in the world. Such a church might seem like what many Christians, disaffected by both the vacuity of liberal theology and the shallowness of American evangelicalism, are dreaming of. Such a church exists. It goes by the admittedly inadequate name ‘Lutheran.’ [Gene Edward Veith, Jr., The Spirituality of the Cross: the Way of the First Evangelicals (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1999), 114.]