What We Believe

Together… Seeing a new way… Reaching out with hope

Together

We are bold enough to believe that God has put us together for a purpose and we invite anyone seeking God’s purpose to come together with us. At Good Shepherd, we come together to face a broken world. We get strong together as we gather around Word and Sacrament. We worship the God who has saved us by grace, a God whose love and purpose for us is revealed in the life, death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. Together we learn about God’s loving purpose for us and for the world through study and prayer. We gain strength with others throughout the world through our connection to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and other faith institutions.

Seeing a new way

We are on the lookout for God through three means: God’s grace in the person of Jesus Christ, God’s word revealed in Scripture and God’s gifts given to us.
God’s grace: We believe God has a loving purpose for everyone that is most clearly seen in the person of Jesus Christ. We see in Jesus that God loves us and forgives us our sin. All this is given to us by grace, for we have done nothing to deserve it. This allows us to see a new way – that God has this same loving purpose for everyone and gives us a desire to share this “good news.”

God’s word: We see God’s loving purpose revealed to us in the Bible, God’s word. We believe that God opens our eyes to see a new way and we study the scriptures and pray together. In every generation these ancient words must be seen with new eyes and be expressed anew in this time and place.

God’s gifts: We see God’s spirit present and alive in the children of God. Each person has gifts and abilities that enable him or her to share God’s love with the world.  God uses each one of us in ministry. We look for new ways to serve God.

Reaching out with hope

It is because we believe God has saved us by grace that we can dare to reach out to others in hope. Our hope is not in our own abilities, but in God’s ability to work through us. We hope that what we do can make a difference because it is God who calls us together, God who makes us see the need with new eyes and God who equips us to reach out with our gifts. We understand that life is more abundant for all and filled with the greatest meaning and purpose when we give of ourselves in service to others.  We invite others to join with us as we reach out in hope.