Interested in becoming a member of St. Paul’s? Here’s how!
If you have already been baptized into the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then you need not be baptized ever again! If you are unsure regarding your baptism, speak to the pastor who may be able to help you research and confirm your baptism. If you have not been baptized, or if you were baptized into some other name then you must be baptized as our Lord commands.
If you are a member in good standing at another LCMS congregation, or a congregation in fellowship with the LCMS (AALC, LCC, etc.) speak to our Pastor and let him know. He will most certainly open communion to you as you work out your transfer.
The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod offers a slew of resources and materials for you to use as you discern your faith and confessional Lutheranism. Check out the LCMS website, Concordia Publishing House, Steadfast Press, and peruse our website as we have provided links and resources to help you.
While it is true that, in matters of your eternal salvation, faith in Christ and His death for your sins is all that is necessary. But God calls us to be weened off of the “spiritual milk” and onward to “solid food” of the faith. Faith in Christ is certainly saving, but there is so much more to learn and discover.
Sadly, there is also much division and disagreement over the Scripture and what it teaches, especially in our modern age of individualism and opinion. And since God teaches that churches should have fellowship and unity of belief and practice among the members, we insist that membership in our church must come with catechesis, instruction, preparation, and public confession. This is how the Christian church has always kept false teaching out and orthodoxy (true teaching) protected. We are merely doing what the Christian church has always (or used to) done.
Churches that seem to not concern themselves with theology and instruction tend to me more concerned with numbers and outward notions of “success.” We are concerned about faith and understanding and helping you grow in your faith.
The easiest way to answer this is to draw your attention to the Small Catechism and the Augsburg Confession. The Small Catechism breaks the Christian religion down to its most basic parts:
Our children and youth are expected to know and even memorize the Small Catechism.
The other important document to help you is the Augsburg Confession, and particularly the first 12 articles. This is the how adults should further their understanding and know what to believe.
This is often said of Lutherans as a way to discredit or insult. It’s generally said out of ignorance of our 500+ year history, our liturgical practices, our traditions, and our church designs. Protestant churches (Reformed, Baptist, Calvinist, Methodist, Pentecostal, non-denominational) will use this accusation to keep their people in ignorance of who confessional Lutherans truly are.
The fact is that the confessional Lutheran church was a “conservative” movement and was not interested in throwing out all things that looked, smelled, or tasted Roman Catholic. Protestants did this, but not us! We merely wanted to fix the bad stuff and make more faithful the good stuff.
You will certainly find, in the Lutheran church, many practices that seem Roman Catholic, but you will also find them to be different in other ways.
Lutherans, Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Eastern Orthodox church bodies all share a common history dating back to the time of the Early Church. Protestant churches tend to have a history that dates back to the mid to late 16th century, and American Protestantism to the 19th century. This is what makes us distinct from Protestantism, and our rejection of the false doctrine and practices of Catholicism makes us distinct as well.