Our Faith
OUR COMMON CHRISTIAN FAITH
In many ways, we at Christ the King are the same as all faithful Christians. We confess Jesus Christ and the faith of the Apostles as recorded in God’s Word, the Bible, and as summarized in The Apostle’s Creed. We fully and completely accept the Bible, the Old and New Testaments, as God’s own inspired Word for all people. Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is at the center of all that we do.
OUR DISTINCTIVE APPROACH TO CHRISTIAN FAITH
The name “Lutheran” refers to our appreciation for and commitment to the biblical gospel that was articulated and reclaimed under the leadership of Martin Luther during the period of church renewal that is known as the Protestant Reformation.
In the larger context of the whole Christian church, Christ the King has a unique flavor.
GRACE
“Grace” means “God’s unearned, undeserved gift to you”. We are passionately committed to the biblical truth that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone. We see each person’s entrance into God’s family as God’s own gift to us – His initiative, His calling, His choosing. In love, God acted first; we respond. It is God’s loving action that brings us into His family – not our being “good enough”, not our deserving His love, not our “figuring out” what Christian faith is about, not even our choosing to follow. God saves us by grace.
SACRAMENTS
We have a distinctive view of Baptism and Communion. We believe that God is at work in each of these sacraments – that in grace, He is active in each of them.
• BAPTISM
Baptism is the sprinkling of water in God’s name and in response to His powerful Word. In Baptism, we believe God is acting to embrace and adopt us as members of His family. Since we see baptism as God’s act and not ours, and since Jesus invited the little children to come to Him and spoke of “these little ones who believe in me”, we baptize infants as well as older children, teens, and adults who seek to receive this gracious gift of God.
• COMMUNION
Communion is a part of Christian worship in which believers eat bread and drink wine. In Communion, we believe God is acting in and through Jesus Christ to extend forgiveness for sins and to empower His people to live fully for him. It is important to us that those who receive Holy Communion (The Lord's Supper) affirm the following along with us:
• I have been baptized, and I believe that Jesus Christ gave His life so that I might be forgiven and live forever.
• I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is actually present here. In this meal, I receive bread and wine and His body and blood.
• I desire this gift of Holy Communion because I need forgiveness and power to live as a fully devoted follower of Christ.
FOLLOWING JESUS
We believe that the life of Christians is to be lived as a response to the love that God has shown us in His Son, Jesus. We use a triangle to describe a balanced Christian life.
Up – Receiving from God and responding to Him in total devotion.
In – Experiencing the joy and encouragement of other believers as we give and receive together.
Out – reaching out in love to those in need and those who do not know Jesus’ love for them.
