Lutherans are Christians. Some would call Lutherans a denomination or a tradition. We prefer the term “movement” because our goal is to impact people with the Gospel – the good news of salvation because of Jesus Christ. That’s more exciting than being a denomination or tradition.
Scripture, Faith, and Grace – The Jesus Centered Backbone of the Lutherans
Lutherans believe in “Scripture Only“. This means that we believe that only Scripture is ultimately useful in understanding who God is. We believe that theology (the task of studying God) is important, but that it is only useful when it is tied to what God has revealed about Himself in the Bible.
Lutherans believe in “Faith Only“. This means that we believe that we don’t need to do good works in order to be saved. We believe that we simply need a level of trust that receives what God has done and is doing for us. We do believe that good works are necessary, but “necessary” in the way that they flow out “necessarily” from a saved person – not as a prerequisite for salvation.
Lutherans believe in “Grace Only“. This means that we believe that we don’t make God love us, but that He chooses to do so. We believe that there is nothing inherently lovable about who we are, but that God chose to create us, love us, and redeem us from our own sins because of His great love.
Lutherans believe in “Jesus Christ Only“. We believe that God sent Jesus Christ almost 2000 years ago to be born among us, live with us, die for us on the Cross, and raise again out of a tomb for us. We believe that this Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.
A little history
Lutherans have been around for almost 500 years. Lutherans were the first Christians to break away from the Roman Catholic church. This actually was not the goal of the early Lutherans. The early Lutherans simply saw that the church needed change, reform, and a return to the sources of Christianity (Scripture, Faith, and Grace). They wanted to reform the church, not break away and start a new one. That is why this period of time is called “The Reformation”.
The first definitive act of what ended up becoming the Reformation was a rather ordinary event in the academic life of Wittenburg, Germany, the city in which Martin Luther was living and teaching in. When someone wanted to debate an idea, that person would post their idea in a prominent place so that people could have some advanced knowledge of the idea before a debate would take place. Martin Luther wanted to debate the contemporary practice of the purchasing of indulgence papers (these were pieces of paper that assured the owner that he or she had done enough to pay for his or her sins). He wrote up 95 theses, or points of argument, about what he wanted to debate and placed them in the most prominent place he could think of: the church doors before a massive celebration that would draw thousands of people through those doors. He did this on October 31, 1517.
While it may not seem like that big of a deal, that call for debate was the first call to begin the Reformation. From there, many things happened in the development of Lutheran reformation theology, but it all started back about 500 years ago on a church door in Wittenburg, Germany.
Lutherans Today
Almost 500 years after the posting of those 95 points of argument about indulgence papers, there are approximately 75 million Lutherans throughout the world. Hot pockets of Lutheranism include Ethiopia, the United States, India, Madagascar, and Germany.
Lutherans today are still engaged in the movement to reform the Church, and do so by gathering as local churches themselves. These churches seek to serve their communities by making sure that the good and freeing news of the Gospel is taught to people. We believe that it is a good – a very good – thing to know that your sins are forgiven and that God loves you. We believe that the more you understand that truth, the better things will be for you and your neighbors.
Many of these local churches have aligned themselves with other similar minded local churches to form church bodies and denominations. There are too many of those to list here, but this website is made by a local church aligned with the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. We encourage you to find out where you might interact with someone from a Lutheran Church Missouri Synod local church.
Lutherans and Worship
In American Christianity, one of the central experiences of a group of Christians is experiencing them while they worship. Lutheran worship can vary in form (especially musical form), but generally hold these common worship practices and perspectives:
- Order of worship – Most Lutheran worship services go by an order that starts with the communal confession of sin by the congregation, then moves into songs of praise and worship, followed by readings from the Bible (usually 3 or 4 different readings), a sermon, communal prayers, opportunity to give tithes and offerings, and the celebration of a sacrament (usually the Lord’s Supper).
- Sacramental focus – A “sacrament” is simply a “holy/sacred thing”. Lutherans believe that Jesus instituted sacraments, holy things, for His Church to do as His Body as means of grace. For this reason, most Lutheran worship services will feature the Lord’s Supper or the Baptism of a new member during worship.
- Short(er) sermons – Compared with many other American Christians, Lutherans have relatively short sermons. The standard for a Lutheran sermon is 15 to 20 minutes compared with the standard of 30 to 45 minutes found in other American Christian churches. That isn’t to say we don’t think that sermons are important, we are just used to them being more succinct.
- Different Perspective – Lutherans don’t necessarily regard worship as something they do “for God”, in fact, they actually have the perspective that worship is for the people who come to worship. For this reason, instead of using the word “worship” a lot of Lutherans will call Sunday morning church gatherings “the divine service”, fronting the idea that worship is God serving His people, not the other way around.