We believe, teach, and confess:
The Holy Scriptures are the inspired and inerrant Word of God.
As Lutheran Christians we teach that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God. The Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16; John 10:35; Romans 3:2) in such a way that the holy men of God who wrote the Scriptures wrote only that which the Holy Spirit communicated to them by inspiration. Because they are the word of God, the Holy Scriptures contain no errors or contradictions. We believe that everything taught, preached, and confessed by us must adhere to the word of God. Therefore, the Scriptures are the sole source and norm by which all teachers and doctrines are examined and judged.
The scriptures consist of God’s words of law and gospel to us. The law of God reveals our sin and shows us our need for a savior. The Gospel assures us that God is on our side to save us. The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ for us. It especially emphasizes that Christ’s perfect obedience has been exchanged for our rebellious lives and that on the cross of Calvary Christ exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sin. In this glorious exchange, Christ took our sin, and we took His righteousness, and through His glorious resurrection, we share in His victory over death. John 5:24 assures us that we have crossed over from death to life.
Jesus Christ is the center of all theology.
The totality of God’s Word is focused on Jesus Christ (Luke 24:27; John 5:39, 20:30). We rejoice that Jesus Christ is “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). From a Lutheran Christian perspective, all theology is Christology. That is, we believe that if anyone desires to know the One, True God, then he must know and confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is called “the Son of God” which is a title of divinity. Jesus is God. Romans 9:5 states, “Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.”
The Holy Trinity is the one true God.
The Holy Scriptures teach that the ONE TRUE GOD (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4) is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, THREE DISTINCT PERSONS, but of one and the SAME DIVINE ESSENCE. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the second person of The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our Glorious God, three persons in One God. The ancient Christian Church father Tertullian offered these illustrations to explain the unity and distinction between the persons of The Father and The Son: the rays from the sun, a river from a fountain, and a tree from a seed. These cannot be separated, and yet they are also distinct. Such is the Holy Trinity; the three persons are entirely united, and at the same time, the Son is begotten (eternally related to and uncreated) of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
This is not mere doctrine, but the Holy Bible (which we confess to be the very Word of God) reveals to us that Christians pray to the Father in the Son and by the Holy Spirit. That is, we know that the Father looks over us and lovingly provides for us. The Son came to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil through His sacrificial life and death for us, and through His glorious resurrection He shares His victory with those who trust in Him. The Holy Spirit is responsible for creating within us the gift of faith which clings to the Lord Jesus Christ.
God created all things out of nothing.
The Holy Bible further reveals in accounts of the Creation that God created everything ex nihilo, a Latin phrase meaning “out of nothing,” that God calls things into existence (Romans 4:17; Hebrews 11:3) by the power of His Word, that God is the absolute Creator of everything (Acts 4:24), that the Creation was a Triune act (Genesis 1:1-2; John 1:1-3), and that through Christ who existed before all things, everything was created, whether visible or invisible, and He is the Sustainer of all things (Colossians 1:16-17).
Man is totally depraved.
We believe, teach, and confess that without the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, we would be eternally lost and condemned on account of sin which has entered into the world by virtue of Adam’s fall. We now confess as King David confessed, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Apart from God, we are not only helpless to save ourselves, but our natural way is to rebel against the Living God. Even after conversion by the Holy Spirit working through The Word and Sacrament, we still have a sinful nature that battles against the new creation, our born-again spirit (see Romans 7 and Galatians 5).
The Word and Sacraments are God’s chosen “means of grace.”
Both in order to receive faith (to be converted, born-again) and to retain and nurture this saving faith, we must have The Word of God and the Holy Sacraments which Christ Himself established for His Bride, the Holy Church. The Word and Sacraments are administered through His called servants established by Christ Himself in Christ’s office of the Holy Ministry (Luke 10:16, Matthew 16 and 18, and John 20). Through the Word of Christ faithfully proclaimed by the Lord’s called pastors, the people of God receive the gift of faith (Romans 10:17), and through the Holy Sacraments (Holy Baptism -- 1 Peter 3:21 -- and Holy Communion -- Matthew 26:28 -- rightly administered by the Lord’s called pastors), God’s people are first given and then kept in the forgiveness of sins in Christ and eternal salvation (rescued from sin, death, and the power of the devil).
The Christian life of sanctification is a gift from God.
As those who are now God’s new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), we are called by God to live in Christ every day, to crucify the flesh, and to drown the old Adam in us through daily repentance: turning from sin and heart-felt confession and turning to God. As recipients of God’s gifts of pure grace (God’s free gift of love and mercy to us in Christ), we are recipients of the Holy Spirit given to us in Holy Baptism. This is why St. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 6 that our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Through the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God, we are daily led to know the truth of Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, the life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.” That is, we are set apart not only to believe on Christ (and therefore justified by grace through faith; Christ for us) but also to live in Christ (and therefore sanctified by grace through faith; Christ upon us). In this life of sanctification, we daily confess our sins, and in the forgiveness of sins, we love other people because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). This new life gives us the peace of God which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:9), and in Christ we are led to true joy knowing that God is on our side on account of Christ for us (Philippians 4:4). In this new life, God equips us to not only share the saving Gospel with all people but also to serve one another employing the special gifts given to the members of His body, the Church (1 Corinthians 12).
We know that following the Lord in this world is difficult, but we pray for His wisdom and know that He shall give it to us when we ask Him in confident prayer (James 1). The Lord has called us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). However, it is in and through the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ Himself that we receive the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1), and it is in Christ Himself that we are sustained and strengthened (Philippians 4:13). In this reliance upon Christ, He teaches us that when we feel most weak, we rely upon Him the most, and that is precisely when we are the strongest. (2 Corinthians 12). By His grace for us in Christ, His commandments are no longer burdensome (1 John 5:3). In the meantime, we desire to go to be with the Lord in heaven which is better than this earth by far, but for now to be here is also a very great blessing that means fruitful labor (Philippians 1).
God has given special vocations to all Christians.
We do not believe in avoiding the world but rather going out into it to love all people as God’s royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and to serve just as Christ came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). While in the world, the Lord grants us all kinds of vocations. As we live in faith, these vocations (husband, father, wife, mother, child, worker, citizen) are made holy, and God chooses to work through His people in all of these capacities. The one who is holy simply lives in faith, and because we know that Christ alone is our life and righteousness, we must always live in humility confessing that we are above no one but servants to all. In such a life, we know true freedom from sin which always tempts people to live for themselves. In order to strengthen faith and equip us to serve in these vocations, we daily recite our faith through such summaries as The Ten Commandments, The Apostle’s Creed, and The Lord’s Prayer.
The Church has a mission in this world.
At Victory in Christ Lutheran Church, Newark, TX (LCMS) we rejoice that in Christ we are now empowered to live in the Great Command to love one another (John 13:34) and to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations/all people through baptism and teaching (Matthew 28). This empowerment is especially given to us as we gather on Sunday mornings to worship the Lord in Spirit and truth (John 4). In this endeavor to share God’s Word with all people, we are aware of the spiritual battle and our enemies: our own sin, the world, and the powers of the devil (and his demons). The holy angels are sent to serve and protect those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14), and the Lord has given to us the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) to thoroughly protect us.
Our Lord will come again.
Furthermore, as we live in God’s Word every day (Colossians 3), we look forward to the great and glorious second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 4). On that day, Christians may lift up their heads to see their salvation drawing near, the dead shall be raised, all people shall be judged, the righteous and the unrighteous will be separated from each other, and the people of God will inherit the new heaven and earth (Matthew 25 and Revelation 21-22). Only those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ shall be condemned. Despite this truth, the Church is commanded to preach, teach, and confess that God loves all people, that Christ died for all people, and that in Christ the sins of all people are forgiven. It is only by rejecting this Gospel that eternal life itself is rejected (John 3). In the meantime, we pray for those who still do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that the Lord would open their eyes to see His amazing grace for them.
This is a short summary of our faith.
We also subscribe to the doctrinal statements of our church body which may be found on the website of
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
As Lutheran Christians we teach that the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God. The Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God (2 Timothy 3:16; John 10:35; Romans 3:2) in such a way that the holy men of God who wrote the Scriptures wrote only that which the Holy Spirit communicated to them by inspiration. Because they are the word of God, the Holy Scriptures contain no errors or contradictions. We believe that everything taught, preached, and confessed by us must adhere to the word of God. Therefore, the Scriptures are the sole source and norm by which all teachers and doctrines are examined and judged.
The scriptures consist of God’s words of law and gospel to us. The law of God reveals our sin and shows us our need for a savior. The Gospel assures us that God is on our side to save us. The Gospel is the Good News of Jesus Christ for us. It especially emphasizes that Christ’s perfect obedience has been exchanged for our rebellious lives and that on the cross of Calvary Christ exchanged His perfect righteousness for our sin. In this glorious exchange, Christ took our sin, and we took His righteousness, and through His glorious resurrection, we share in His victory over death. John 5:24 assures us that we have crossed over from death to life.
Jesus Christ is the center of all theology.
The totality of God’s Word is focused on Jesus Christ (Luke 24:27; John 5:39, 20:30). We rejoice that Jesus Christ is “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). From a Lutheran Christian perspective, all theology is Christology. That is, we believe that if anyone desires to know the One, True God, then he must know and confess the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is called “the Son of God” which is a title of divinity. Jesus is God. Romans 9:5 states, “Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.”
The Holy Trinity is the one true God.
The Holy Scriptures teach that the ONE TRUE GOD (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4) is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, THREE DISTINCT PERSONS, but of one and the SAME DIVINE ESSENCE. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the second person of The Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our Glorious God, three persons in One God. The ancient Christian Church father Tertullian offered these illustrations to explain the unity and distinction between the persons of The Father and The Son: the rays from the sun, a river from a fountain, and a tree from a seed. These cannot be separated, and yet they are also distinct. Such is the Holy Trinity; the three persons are entirely united, and at the same time, the Son is begotten (eternally related to and uncreated) of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.
This is not mere doctrine, but the Holy Bible (which we confess to be the very Word of God) reveals to us that Christians pray to the Father in the Son and by the Holy Spirit. That is, we know that the Father looks over us and lovingly provides for us. The Son came to save us from sin, death, and the power of the devil through His sacrificial life and death for us, and through His glorious resurrection He shares His victory with those who trust in Him. The Holy Spirit is responsible for creating within us the gift of faith which clings to the Lord Jesus Christ.
God created all things out of nothing.
The Holy Bible further reveals in accounts of the Creation that God created everything ex nihilo, a Latin phrase meaning “out of nothing,” that God calls things into existence (Romans 4:17; Hebrews 11:3) by the power of His Word, that God is the absolute Creator of everything (Acts 4:24), that the Creation was a Triune act (Genesis 1:1-2; John 1:1-3), and that through Christ who existed before all things, everything was created, whether visible or invisible, and He is the Sustainer of all things (Colossians 1:16-17).
Man is totally depraved.
We believe, teach, and confess that without the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, we would be eternally lost and condemned on account of sin which has entered into the world by virtue of Adam’s fall. We now confess as King David confessed, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). Apart from God, we are not only helpless to save ourselves, but our natural way is to rebel against the Living God. Even after conversion by the Holy Spirit working through The Word and Sacrament, we still have a sinful nature that battles against the new creation, our born-again spirit (see Romans 7 and Galatians 5).
The Word and Sacraments are God’s chosen “means of grace.”
Both in order to receive faith (to be converted, born-again) and to retain and nurture this saving faith, we must have The Word of God and the Holy Sacraments which Christ Himself established for His Bride, the Holy Church. The Word and Sacraments are administered through His called servants established by Christ Himself in Christ’s office of the Holy Ministry (Luke 10:16, Matthew 16 and 18, and John 20). Through the Word of Christ faithfully proclaimed by the Lord’s called pastors, the people of God receive the gift of faith (Romans 10:17), and through the Holy Sacraments (Holy Baptism -- 1 Peter 3:21 -- and Holy Communion -- Matthew 26:28 -- rightly administered by the Lord’s called pastors), God’s people are first given and then kept in the forgiveness of sins in Christ and eternal salvation (rescued from sin, death, and the power of the devil).
The Christian life of sanctification is a gift from God.
As those who are now God’s new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), we are called by God to live in Christ every day, to crucify the flesh, and to drown the old Adam in us through daily repentance: turning from sin and heart-felt confession and turning to God. As recipients of God’s gifts of pure grace (God’s free gift of love and mercy to us in Christ), we are recipients of the Holy Spirit given to us in Holy Baptism. This is why St. Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 6 that our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit who lives in us. Through the Holy Spirit working through the Word of God, we are daily led to know the truth of Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, the life I live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave His life for me.” That is, we are set apart not only to believe on Christ (and therefore justified by grace through faith; Christ for us) but also to live in Christ (and therefore sanctified by grace through faith; Christ upon us). In this life of sanctification, we daily confess our sins, and in the forgiveness of sins, we love other people because God first loved us (1 John 4:19). This new life gives us the peace of God which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:9), and in Christ we are led to true joy knowing that God is on our side on account of Christ for us (Philippians 4:4). In this new life, God equips us to not only share the saving Gospel with all people but also to serve one another employing the special gifts given to the members of His body, the Church (1 Corinthians 12).
We know that following the Lord in this world is difficult, but we pray for His wisdom and know that He shall give it to us when we ask Him in confident prayer (James 1). The Lord has called us to deny ourselves, take up our cross, and follow Him (Matthew 16:24). However, it is in and through the Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ Himself that we receive the “power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1), and it is in Christ Himself that we are sustained and strengthened (Philippians 4:13). In this reliance upon Christ, He teaches us that when we feel most weak, we rely upon Him the most, and that is precisely when we are the strongest. (2 Corinthians 12). By His grace for us in Christ, His commandments are no longer burdensome (1 John 5:3). In the meantime, we desire to go to be with the Lord in heaven which is better than this earth by far, but for now to be here is also a very great blessing that means fruitful labor (Philippians 1).
God has given special vocations to all Christians.
We do not believe in avoiding the world but rather going out into it to love all people as God’s royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9) and to serve just as Christ came not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28). While in the world, the Lord grants us all kinds of vocations. As we live in faith, these vocations (husband, father, wife, mother, child, worker, citizen) are made holy, and God chooses to work through His people in all of these capacities. The one who is holy simply lives in faith, and because we know that Christ alone is our life and righteousness, we must always live in humility confessing that we are above no one but servants to all. In such a life, we know true freedom from sin which always tempts people to live for themselves. In order to strengthen faith and equip us to serve in these vocations, we daily recite our faith through such summaries as The Ten Commandments, The Apostle’s Creed, and The Lord’s Prayer.
The Church has a mission in this world.
At Victory in Christ Lutheran Church, Newark, TX (LCMS) we rejoice that in Christ we are now empowered to live in the Great Command to love one another (John 13:34) and to fulfill the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations/all people through baptism and teaching (Matthew 28). This empowerment is especially given to us as we gather on Sunday mornings to worship the Lord in Spirit and truth (John 4). In this endeavor to share God’s Word with all people, we are aware of the spiritual battle and our enemies: our own sin, the world, and the powers of the devil (and his demons). The holy angels are sent to serve and protect those who will inherit salvation (Hebrews 1:14), and the Lord has given to us the full armor of God (Ephesians 6) to thoroughly protect us.
Our Lord will come again.
Furthermore, as we live in God’s Word every day (Colossians 3), we look forward to the great and glorious second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 4). On that day, Christians may lift up their heads to see their salvation drawing near, the dead shall be raised, all people shall be judged, the righteous and the unrighteous will be separated from each other, and the people of God will inherit the new heaven and earth (Matthew 25 and Revelation 21-22). Only those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ shall be condemned. Despite this truth, the Church is commanded to preach, teach, and confess that God loves all people, that Christ died for all people, and that in Christ the sins of all people are forgiven. It is only by rejecting this Gospel that eternal life itself is rejected (John 3). In the meantime, we pray for those who still do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, and we pray that the Lord would open their eyes to see His amazing grace for them.
This is a short summary of our faith.
We also subscribe to the doctrinal statements of our church body which may be found on the website of
The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.