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Core Values
- At Zion Lutheran Church we value the teaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ from Matthew 28:19-20. Thus, we strive to reach out to the lost and erring in everything we do, and we attempt to nurture a new life in Jesus in all our activities and worship experience.
- The Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord's Supper are not things we do for God but are, instead, acts whereby God comes to us and actually creates and sustains faith in our hearts and in our lives. ( Joh 5:39; Acts 22:16; 2 Cor 5: 15-19) These Sacraments, along with God's Word itself, are the "means of grace" that God has given to us. Therefore, we strive to bring God's Word and Sacraments into the lives of people in our community.
- Prayer is a vital spiritual weapon to be used to accomplish God's purposes. (Ps 50:15; Matt 7:7,8) We encourage our membership to be active in prayer to God for both spiritual and physical blessings, for ourselves and for others.
- Public worship services are viewed by our guests and visitors as our church at its best, and most people determine whether or not they want to be a part of the church based on the worship service. Therefore, God's Word and Sacraments are the central focus of our public worship services. We believe these are the means God uses to change people's lives and to bring all of us into a right relationship with Him. Music and liturgy serve as cradles for the presentation of God's Word and Sacraments. We strive to conduct our public worship services in a style that is relevant and encourages our hearing of God's Holy Word.
- The prime emphasis of Scripture is the declaration of what God has done for us in the person and work of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our first and foremost response to Scripture is to believe it and to trust that God has already accomplished our eternal salvation through His Son. (Rom 10:4; Gal 3:13; 2 Tim 1:10; 1 John 1:7) The Cross of Christ and the forgiveness of sins won there for us must therefore be central to our preaching and teaching. All other aspects of the Christian life, e.g. keeping God's commandments, performing "good works", doing Christian service for others, refraining from sin, etc. comes only from faith and trust in what God has already accomplished for us in Jesus Christ.
- We subscribe unconditionally to the Symbolic Books of the Lutheran Church as contained in the Book of Concord, specifically: The Apostles Creed; The Nicene Creed; The Athanasian Creed; The Augsburg Confession; The Apology of the Augsburg Confession; The Smalcald Articles; The Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope; The Small Catechism; The Large Catechism; and The Formula of Concord. We accept and confess allegiance to the doctrinal content of these Symbolic Books because we recognize the fact that they are in full agreement with the Holy Scriptures and do not militate against Scripture in any point.