We Believe and Teach
MANKIND and SIN: God created Adam and Eve “in His image” (Genesis 1:27). Therefore they were perfect and without sin. However, they lost this perfection through their willful disobedience of their creator. (Genesis 3:1-15). Because of that sinful rebellion, every human being is now born with this sinful condition, which is also called “original sin”. (John 3:6)
THE GOSPEL: Despite our sinfulness, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son (John 3:16). God loves us so much that He laid our sin, guilt and punishment on His very own Son, Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 5:21) Jesus Christ is both true God and true man in His one person. Through His bitter, innocent suffering and death on the cross He paid the price for all of our sins. By His glorious resurrection on the third day He gained the victory over sin, death, and Satan. (I Corinthians 15:3-5)
BECOMING A BELIEVER: God reveals Himself and His will for us through His Word of law and Gospel in the Holy Bible, which is God’s inspired inerrant revelation. God convicts us of our sin when we hear His Law read to us in the Bible. God then, by His grace, now offers freely to us the gifts of “forgiveness, life, and salvation”. God enables us to receive these gifts as the Holy Spirit creates faith in our hearts through the power of the Gospel (from the Word of God). (Ephesians 2:8-9) The chief teaching of our church is faith. The Bible tells us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” Romans 10:17.
THE BIBLE: The entire Scripture, both the Old and New Testaments, is the source and authority for all of our teaching as it relates to faith and life. They are infallible and without any errors in all that they speak about.
TEACHINGS ABOUT GOD: God is the Creator of all things and He continues to preserve and provide for His creation. God is one God but three persons; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the teaching of the Holy Trinity. God’s Grace is the center and starting point of all theology and understanding of God’s Word. The highlight of weekly worship is the proclamation of God’s Word, especially His Law and Gospel, as found in the Holy Bible. The chief teaching of the church is faith. This faith grasps and believes in God’s Gospel message, which speaks to us of His forgiveness of our sins, and our salvation, won for us on the cross by Christ Jesus, our Lord.
THE CHURCH: The church includes all those who believe and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. The church of Jesus Christ will always be found where God’s Word is taught in its truth and purity and the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper) are administered according to Christ’s institution. These are called the true marks of the church. The church does not save us, rather we are saved by God’s grace through faith.
WORSHIP: Our weekly worship is historically called the “Service of the Word.”
Worship services are conducted each Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. and Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. During Lent, midweek worship is on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.
You are invited and urged to bring your children with you to any and all services of worship. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
LAST DAYS and the JUDGEMENT: Jesus Christ will come again on the last day to judge the living and the dead. Those who have rejected God’s grace in Jesus Christ will receive the sentence of everlasting condemnation. Those who by God’s grace trust in Christ as their Lord and Savior will receive the inheritance of everlasting life.
Our Motto: Our core beliefs are summarized briefly in the Lutheran adage; “Sola Gratia, Sola Fides, Sola Scriptura” or “Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.”
Our Overarching Purpose
The purpose of Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church is to commit ourselves to the…..
Word of Christ John 8:31-32
Body of Christ Romans 12:4-5
Mission of Christ Matthew 28:19
….through a life of worship, study, witness, fellowship and service
Discipleship: As Christ’s body we follow His command “to make disciples”. This is done as we worship together praising our Lord as His family, through Christian Education and the study of His Word as it relates to our daily lives, through witnessing of God’s love in word and deed, through Fellowship as a Christian family working together in Christ’s church, and through Service in meeting the needs of people.