Beliefs and Mission Statement
OUR MISSION
The chief object and purpose of this Congregation shall be to establish and maintain a public ministry of the Gospel in our midst, in order that the means of grace may be properly administered (Word and Sacrament). To that end, it is necessary to conduct regular public worship, to exercise truly evangelical pastoral care in all church activities which include a thorough catechetical instruction in Christian doctrine of all age levels, to sponsor and maintain a Sunday school and adult Bible classes and provide other instruction in Christian theology of our church's youth and adults, and to cooperate in mission and expansion projects. Since every church is enjoined by Christ to do mission work (Matt. 28:18-20), as the collective visible representative of the individual command, our congregation shall be affiliated with, and support to the best of its ability, the work of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod as long as the Synod adheres to the doctrines and confessions of the Lutheran Church.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
St. Stephen's Lutheran Church is a member of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. This congregation accepts without reservation the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice; all the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God, the three Ecumenical Creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed), the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Large Catechism of Luther, the Small Catechism of Luther, and the Formula of Concord.
The chief object and purpose of this Congregation shall be to establish and maintain a public ministry of the Gospel in our midst, in order that the means of grace may be properly administered (Word and Sacrament). To that end, it is necessary to conduct regular public worship, to exercise truly evangelical pastoral care in all church activities which include a thorough catechetical instruction in Christian doctrine of all age levels, to sponsor and maintain a Sunday school and adult Bible classes and provide other instruction in Christian theology of our church's youth and adults, and to cooperate in mission and expansion projects. Since every church is enjoined by Christ to do mission work (Matt. 28:18-20), as the collective visible representative of the individual command, our congregation shall be affiliated with, and support to the best of its ability, the work of The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod as long as the Synod adheres to the doctrines and confessions of the Lutheran Church.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
St. Stephen's Lutheran Church is a member of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. This congregation accepts without reservation the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the written Word of God and the only rule and norm of faith and of practice; all the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God, the three Ecumenical Creeds (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed), the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Large Catechism of Luther, the Small Catechism of Luther, and the Formula of Concord.