Who we are
Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Because we identify ourselves as “evangelical,” we’d like to share with you our understanding of what that means to us.
Being an evangelical means, first and foremost, that we share the Good News of Jesus Christ. It is the good news of God’s victory over sin, death, and the devil, achieved not through military might, but through Christ’s death and resurrection. It is the good news that we have been saved by God’s grace through faith.
Evangelical means that we confess the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are a people created by God in Christ Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit, called and sent to bear witness to God’s love in the world.
It also means that we confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation. We are one body, united in Jesus Christ. Jesus is life!
It means that we accept the Holy Scriptures (the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible) as the inspired Word of God. Holy Scripture is the source from which we proclaim the Good News and the foundation on which our faith is built, as well as a resource for living life. Through Holy Scripture God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.
As evangelicals we believe in two Sacraments: Baptism and Holy Communion. These sacraments are God-given means for penetrating the lives of people with grace. Although they are not the only means of God’s self-revelation, they are visible acts of God’s love.
Finally, as evangelical Lutherans we also accept various confessional writings and documents as complementary interpretations of the faith of the Church.
When we affirm our baptism, we are asked, “Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism?” and we go on to say what that means, including “to proclaim the Good News of God in Christ through word and deed.” That, in essence, is what we understand an evangelical to be, one who proclaims Christ and gives faithful witness in the world, inviting others to come, see, and experience God’s love through Jesus Christ. That is who we are.