Overview

With the universal Christian Church, The Lutheran Church 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; and the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God’s Word and Sacraments. The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God. Being “Lutheran,” our congregations accept and teach Bible-based teachings of Martin Luther that inspired the reformation of the Christian Church in the 16th century. The teaching of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three short phrases: Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.

Grace alone 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 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 The Bible is God’s inerrant 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 Christian doctrine.

Who is Jesus?

For more than 2,000 years people have asked the question, “Who is Jesus?“. We were not present when Jesus lived on this earth, but in the Bible we have the record of his birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection.  Study of the Bible, God’s Word, will enable you to seek out the answer to this age-old question.

Lutheran Church–Canada is comprised of congregations, pastors, and deacons committed to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our confessions and practices are based on the foundation of God’s Word and the belief that God’s gift of salvation is found only through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. In more than 325 congregations, from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, this message is proclaimed in word and deed.

The Lutheran church is a direct result of the Protestant Reformation begun in 1517 by Martin Luther in Wittenberg, Germany. Lutheran Church–Canada was founded in 1988 when the Canadian congregations of St. Louis-based The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod formed an autonomous Canadian church with three districts. The denomination retains close ties with the LCMS and other Lutheran church bodies around the world which follow the Biblically-based Lutheran Confessions, through the International Lutheran Council.

What Lutherans Teach, Believe & Confess

The Bible
It doesn’t just ‘contain’ the word of God as if we can pick and choose what parts we like, but it ‘is’ the word of God. The rest of our resources simply explain how our practices confess the Bible.

• We confess the faith of the historic Christian Church as it has always been taught in the three creeds (Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian), that there is only one true God, and yet in this one God there are three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ), and God the Holy Spirit.
  
  
• We confess that, since Adam fell into sin, all people are conceived and born entirely sinful, standing under God’s wrath, and are unable to save themselves.
  
  
• We confess that God the Son was born of the virgin Mary. This Jesus Christ, who is true God and true man, died on the cross and rose to life again in order to save the world from God’s wrath. We wait for Him to return on the Last Day to judge the world and take us, His children, to heaven.
  
  
• We confess that we cannot be forgiven before God by our own efforts, but that we receive the forgiveness of sin and are made right with God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith.
  
  
• We confess that God has provided the way for us to receive this saving faith: the Holy Spirit has promised to give faith when pastors preach the Gospel and give out the holy sacraments.
  
  
• We confess that those who believe in Jesus Christ show their faith through their love and good works to others.
  
  
• We confess that the Church is the place where believers are gathered in the liturgy to hear the true Gospel preached and to receive the sacraments as Christ instituted them.
  
  
• We confess that in Holy Baptism God makes us His children, gives us faith, and washes away our sins. Baptism is therefore necessary for all people: infants, children, and adults alike.
  
  
• We confess that when we are truly sorry for our sins and confess them, we receive forgiveness for these sins from our pastor as certainly as if Christ spoke the words Himself.
  
  
• We confess that in the Lord’s Supper the true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ are really present in the bread and wine, and that we receive them with our mouths for the forgiveness of sins.
  
  
• We confess that the only authority for Christian teaching and life which never errs or leads us astray is God’s Word, which He has given to us in the Old and New Testament Scriptures (the Bible).

The basis of all Lutheran teachings is the Bible.
Martin Luther and the other reformers wrote a series of documents answering accusations that their teaching was contrary to commonly held beliefs and practices of the 15th century church.
These defenses and arguments, based upon the Bible, were presented before a series of theological gatherings.
Eventually, they were compiled into The Book of Concord.
These comprise the doctrine and confession of the Lutheran Church.

Services & Worship

About our Sunday Divine Service:

• The Divine Service (German: Gottesdienst) is the title given to the primary worship service as used in the various Lutheran churches.
  
  
• The Divine Service is the Church’s public prayer.
  
  
• The Divine Service as used by Lutherans traces its roots to the ancient historic liturgy employed in the city of Rome.
  
  
• The Medieval Mass was revised by Martin Luther in his Formula missae (“Form of the Mass”) of 1523 and his Deutsche Messe (“German Mass”) of 1526 in order to bear clearer witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This tradition is continued in our primary hymnal, Lutheran Service Book.
  
  
• The Divine Service offer times to rejoice in God’s presence, to receive His gifts, to sing His praises, and to hear His word proclaimed and explained.