What We Believe

Bethel Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

The ELCA confesses the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In our preaching and teaching, the ELCA trusts the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. ELCA teaching or theology serves the proclamation and ministry of this faith. It does not have an answer for all questions, not even all religious questions. Teaching or theology prepares members to be witnesses in speech and in action of God’s rich mercy in Jesus Christ.

Scriptures, Creeds and Confessions
Our Confession of Faith—found in the Old and New Testaments, the Creeds, and the confessional writings in the Book of Concord—is more than just words in an official document. Every Sunday in worship ELCA congregations hear God’s word from the Scriptures, pray as Jesus taught and come to the Lord’s Table expecting to receive the mercies that the Triune God promises. Throughout the week, members continue to live by faith, serving others freely and generously in all that they do because they trust God’s promise in the Gospel. In small groups and at sick beds, in private devotions and in daily work, this faith saturates all of life.

Teaching for a Life of Faith
This connection to all of life is the clearest demonstration of the Holy Spirit using us as witnesses to create, strengthen and sustain faith in Jesus Christ and the life we have in him. That life-giving work continues every day, as Martin Luther explained in the Small Catechism: the Holy Spirit “calls, gathers, enlightens and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth and preserves it in union with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”