What we believe.

We believe in God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to save the world from the power of sin and death and to give us the privilege and joy of living with the presence of God in our lives. God’s presence equips us to love and serve God and our neighbors. We believe that God continually seeks us out, to make our lives whole and, through his grace, to know God’s forgiveness, peace, hope, and love that can only come from knowing God in our lives.

We believe that worship is the privilege of the people of God to come into God’s presence, celebrating and receiving God’s grace, giving praise and glory to God with our voices, our hearts and our minds. Worship is an act of adoration towards God, as well as a prayer that we might be uplifted in our faith and encouraged to know and walk more closely with God.

We believe baptism is a means of God’s grace, making us to be children of God and recipients of God’s forgiveness and love. Baptism is an act of God, giving us the awesome privilege of becoming a member of the family of God, a brother or sister with all others who also know Christ as Savior and Lord. Baptism is not intended to be a matter to be “shelved” once it is received, but rather is intended to be lived-out in fellowship, worship, prayer, bible study and other activities with those who are sisters and brothers in Christ; that is, with the rest of the Body of Christ.

We believe Holy Communion is a means of God’s grace to restore us as God’s people, that we might be fed and forgiven. God uses the sacrament of Holy Communion to fill our lives with His grace, providing forgiveness of our sin through the gift of his presence through the bread and wine. We believe that Holy Communion is an open table for all who know Christ’s presence through the bread and wine. We believe that Christ’s body and blood, through the bread and wine, is not an exclusive gift, but is for all the Church who claims Christ as Savior and Lord. Our tradition for youth participation in Holy Communion is to offer a First Communion class for those in fifth grade. After completion of the class the youth are invited to join the congregation in receiving the sacrament.

We believe Christian fellowship is the gathering of the saints of God, supporting and encouraging one another for the building-up of the Body of Christ. Christian fellowship is when the forgiven and “graced” people of God hold one another up in conversation, worship, and prayerful communion with one another. Christian fellowship is the people of God being “the People of God” with / for / to one another.

We believe the Church is all the people of God, of every variety and denomination, who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. At Renner Lutheran, we know that our brothers and sisters in Christ worship and participate in the Church in a multitude of ways. We know that the Body of Christ is not limited to our denomination, but has all sorts of nuances and various perspectives that come from different directions than we do. We believe that all people belong to the family of God who declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that they are our sisters and brothers in Christ.