What is Lutheran Christianity?

The term “Lutheran” was probably first used by Martin Luther’s enemies to label all who supported him. In 1522, Luther criticized this use of his name. He said all baptized believers should simply be called “Christians.” But the name “stuck” and to this very day people around the world who are part of the movement begun by Martin Luther during the great Protestant Reformation are called “Lutherans”.

​A Lutheran expression of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Christian faith is not simply a system of doctrine, that is, a collection of teachings. Lutheran Christianity is a way:

• Of seeing
• Of hearing
• Of teaching
• Of following

​All of these “ways” are not found only in the Lutheran church. However, taken together, one can identify a specific “Lutheran way” of following Jesus. Lutheran Christians are:

• People of the Cross. We believe that Jesus alone, dying on the cross, is the source of our salvation. God’s pure gift of Jesus sets us free from bondage to sin and death.
• People of the Bible. We believe the Bible to be the inspired source and norm of our faith and life. This requires Lutherans to know the Bible and to understand the word God speaks to us in Holy Scripture.
• People who Serve. We believe God calls the church to be the means by which the Gospel is proclaimed in the world. This is done both in word and deed, by sharing the good news and serving those in need. The church is also that body of believers called to hold up before society God’s expectations that justice be sought by all governments and in all human relationships.
• People of a Confessional church. We believe that our forebears understood what the Word of God was saying in their day and gave us important writings such as the Creeds (Athanasian, Nicean, Apostles), the Cathechism, and the Augsburg Confession (1530). We see these as gifts important for our own faith and life today.
• People of a Liturgical-Sacramental church. We believe that God became a human to reconcile us to himself. We uphold Word and Sacrament as the means God uses continually to bestow his Grace upon us. Because worship is the primary place where this happens, Lutherans take corporate worship very seriously. We cherish it as a centrally important expression of Christian faith and life.
• People of an Always Reforming church. We confess we are always “saints and sinners” and that the church can never be perfect. We believe God is always at work within us calling us to repentance, renewal, and reform. We Lutheran Christians are a reforming movement within the “one holy, catholic, and apostolic” body of Christ called CHURCH.