Statement of Purpose Lutheran Identity Statement of Welcoming
- God's purpose for Living Waters is for us to be a renewed and renewing Christian community reflecting God's love, grace, mercy, justice and peace in all the world.
Guiding Principles:
- Empowered by the Spirit we have faith in God's saving love through Jesus.
- This faith grows through core communal activities: prayer, Baptism, Eucharist, worship and learning.
- We live as a welcomed and welcoming community.
- As God's good news comes to us we remain receptive to being sent in new directions.
- We generously share God's gifts for the good of all.
- With God's help we live this active faith in this time and place and for all the world.
Adopted at the Annual Congregational Meeting, December 6, 2009
Statement of Lutheran Identity
As a Lutheran congregation, we participate in the mission and ministry of the wider Church through our membership in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the New Jersey Synod of that body.
As Lutherans, we confess faith in the Triune God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We accept and acknowledge theology and teachings that include the belief that our faith is rooted in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through grace God brings us to faith, and by that faith alone we are saved. That faith is then expressed in our daily lives as we demonstrate our love of God through active love for others.
Lutheran worship centers around the Word of God, read and proclaimed, and the Sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion. Our weekly worship includes a collective prayer of confession and absolution, reading and preaching of God’s Word, public profession of our faith using the Apostles’ or Nicene Creed, prayer and the Lord’s Supper. An emphasis on liturgy and music invites active participation of all who gather.
The Lutheran tradition includes an emphasis on lifelong learning for all as they grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At Living Waters Lutheran Church, we welcome all who seek to know the saving love of God in the crucified and risen Christ.
The above Statement of Lutheran Identity was revised and then adopted by the congregation on June 27, 2004.
Note: Mission Statement replaced by the Statement of Purpose on December 6, 2009.
Note: Affirmation of Welcome 2001 replaced with Statement of Welcoming, May 5, 2020