What We Believe

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 North Carolina Synod is an expression of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.