• There is only one true God - the Triune God - who exists in three separate but equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

    God the Father is our maker and the creator of all things. By the Father's word, all things were made, and we are His most beloved creation; we are closest to His heart. The Son is Jesus Christ, who came to earth as the perfect "go-between" between God and humanity. He has redeemed us and is the voice to the Father on our behalf. The Holy Spirit calls us to believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, keeps us in the one true faith, and equips us for living out our faith.

  • We all fall short of God's expectations because we are all born sinful. Sin can be summed up as all the things we say, think, do, and don't do, that fall outside of God's holy will for our lives and end up separating us from God.

    Sin was brought into the world when Satan lured the first people God created (Adam and Eve) into temptation through their own free will and weakness, breaking the perfect relationship between God and us. From that point on, sin became part of our very existence. Because God also demands perfect obedience, our ultimate punishment became death.

    Yet God is a loving God whose will is not for us to live in eternal punishment. That's why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life He requires and to become our substitute. Christ never sinned - not even once - and then He took our sin upon Himself and died on the cross, so that we wouldn’t have to die. When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Savior, God forgives us for all of our sins.

    "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16).

  • It is through faith in Jesus that we receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life - by believing that He has freed us from the guilt, punishment, and power of sin. Faith is a gift worked in us by the power of the Holy Spirit; it doesn't come to us through anything we are capable of, but through what God does for us. We simply receive what is already being offered out of God's great love. God gives us faith by His Word and Sacraments.

  • We talk about Grace a lot at Heart of the Shepherd. God’s word teaches us that through Christ Jesus God has “grace” on us, and saves us from the punishment we deserve for our sin. We can’t do anything to save ourself, God does it all. The Scriptures say:

    "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9)."

    God has provided tangible ways through which He delivers His grace to those who believe, assuring us that the sins we commit are forgiven for Jesus' sake. These are called the "means of grace" and are God's Word, holy Baptism, and the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion). Through these means, God makes Himself known to us in a very personal way: God's Word reveals His faithfulness and love; Baptism is our rebirth and renewal in Jesus; the Lord's Supper is our closest communion with Christ as we receive His body and blood.

  • Instituted by Christ, Baptism is where God’s Word meets simple water and brings with it the promise of the Forgiveness of Sins. The scriptures teach us that Baptism is commanded as part of how the Church carries out it’s mission to make disciples, and that it’s a gift for people of all ages. In Baptism, God does the work, not us, so we can trust that it is efficacious and the foundational event in the life of a Christian.

  • Worship at Heart of the Shepherd includes regular celebration of Holy Communion. We are committed to what the Bible teaches about the Lord’s Supper. We believe that our Lord gives us not only bread and wine but his very body and blood to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins and to strengthen our relationship with Him, and with each other.

    • The Scriptures teach that God invites all who:

    • are baptized Christians (Acts 2:37, 38)

    • profess only Jesus Christ as Lord (John 14:6, Acts 4:12)

    • recognize and confess their sins (1 John 1:8, 1 Cor 11:28)

    • set aside any refusal to forgive and love as he forgives and loves us (Matthew 5:24)

    • believe the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ are offered under forms of bread and wine (1 Cor. 10:16, 1 Cor. 11:27)

    The Scriptures also clearly teach that those who eat and drink our Lord’s body and blood unworthily do so to their harm and judgment. Because Holy Communion is a confession of the faith which is confessed by those present, any who have not been instructed, who are in doubt, or who hold a confession differing from that of our congregation are asked to please speak with a pastor before participating.

  • At Heart of the Shepherd, everything we believe comes from the Bible, God's message of love and hope for all people. The Bible is the written Word of God, handed down to us in order to point us to the truth that we are saved from our sin and eternal death by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe that the Bible is completely reliable and without error. In it we learn everything we need to know about God's love and His gifts to us.

    Heart of the Shepherd is a member of a larger church body called the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. We “walk together” as Christians sharing a confession of faith with over 6000 other churches. To learn more about what we as Lutherans believe, you can visit the LC-MS website here. https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs