What We Believe

Lutheran Christians trace their origins to the period of history known as the Reformation in the 16th Century and the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther. Lutheran Christians believe: 

  • We are saved by grace through faith.  This means we believe that salvation, the word Christians use for deliverance from sin, is completely a gift of God. Our salvation is not earned or merited. 
  • Faith is the means by which Christians come to know the goodness of God through the Word (the Bible) and Sacrament (God’s love and grace expressed to us in ordinary ways). 
  • Scripture provides the foundation for our lives of faith by revealing to us and teaching to us the love of Jesus Christ. 

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  

The ELCA confesses:

  •  We believe in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
  •  We believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  He is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.
  •  We believe Scripture, also called “the Word of God” or “the Bible” is the proclamation of God’s message to us as both Law and Gospel.  God’s Word reveals both judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
  •  We believe the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world. 

 For more information about what we believe,  please visit the ELCA website.  You may also leave a message for a pastor at office@htlcweb.org or call 765-447-4205

Confession of Faith

The Confession of Faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is part of our founding constitution. The ELCA accepts the following creeds as true declarations of the faith of this church:ï»ż

  • Lutherans believe in the Triune God. God created and loves all of creation -- the earth and the seas and all of the world’s inhabitants. We believe that God's Son, Jesus Christ, transforms lives through his death on the cross and his new life, and we trust that God's Spirit is active in the world. 
  • We are part of God’s unfolding plan. When we gather for worship, we connect with believers everywhere. When we study the Bible or hear God’s word in worship, we are drawn more deeply into God’s own saving story. 
  • The convictions shared by Christians from many different traditions are expressed in statements of belief called creeds. 
  • These ecumenical creeds that Lutherans affirm and use in worship confess the faith of the church through the ages and around the world. 

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with about 4 million members in nearly 10,000 congregations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

We are church 

We are what God has made us – people whom God has created by grace to live in union with Jesus Christ and has prepared to live faithful, fruitful lives by the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:8-10). In Jesus Christ, God has reconciled us to God and to each other. As we gather around word and sacraments, this life in Christ is what defines, shapes and guides us as a community of faith, the church. 

By God’s grace we can and do live confidently and generously in this community of faith and in service of others, amid the mysteries and paradoxes of this life in Christ – including our human limitations and failings, and the ambiguities, uncertainties and suffering that we experience.

We are Lutheran

We are a church that walks by faith, trusting God's promise in the gospel and knowing that we exist by and for the proclamation of this gospel word. We proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead for the life of the world. 

As the apostle Paul wrote (Romans 1:16-17), and we echo in our Constitution (2.02), we are not ashamed of this gospel ministry because it is God’s power for saving all people who trust the God who makes these promises. “We are to fear and love God, so, that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear it and learn it” (Small Catechism).

God’s word, specifically God’s promise in Jesus Christ, creates this liberated, confident and generous faith. God gives the Holy Spirit who uses gospel proclamation – in preaching and sacraments, in forgiveness and in healing conversations – to create and sustain this faith. As a Lutheran church, we give central place to this gospel message in our ministry.

We understand to be Lutheran is to be ecumenical – committed to the oneness to which God calls the world in the saving gift of Jesus Christ, recognizing the brokenness of the church in history and the call of God to heal this disunity.

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