CHURCH
FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH AND SCHOOL
Bringing People Together in Faith
Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from his ways" Proverbs 22:6
Belief and Practice
With the universal Christian Church, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod teaches and responds to the love of the Triune God: the Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; and the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God's Word and Sacraments. The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God.
Being "Lutheran" Our congregations accept and preach the Bible-based teachings of Martin Luther that inspired the reformation of the Christian Church in the 16th century. The teaching of Luther and the reformers can be summarized in three phrases: Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone.
For more information please visit the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod website: http://www.lcms.org/belief-and-practice
Baptism
Member or Non-Member please contact us if you need more baptism information. 920-261-8060.
Lutherans believe that the Bible teaches that a person is saved by God’s grace alone through faith in Jesus Christ alone. The Bible tells us that such “faith comes by hearing” (Rom. 10:17). Jesus Himself commands Baptism and tells us that Baptism is water used together with the Word of God (Matt. 28:19-20). Because of this, we believe that Baptism is one of the miraculous means of grace (another is God’s Word as it is written or spoken), through which God creates and/or strengthens the gift of faith in a person’s heart (see Acts 2:38; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:21; Gal. 3:26-27; Rom. 6:1-4; Col. 2:11-12; 1 Cor. 12.13). Terms the Bible uses to talk about the beginning of faith include “conversion” and “regeneration.” Although we do not claim to understand fully how this happens, we believe that when an infant is baptized God creates faith in the heart of that infant. We believe this because the Bible says that infants can believe (Matt. 18:6) and that new birth (regeneration) happens in Baptism (John 3:5-7; Titus 3:5-6). The infant’s faith cannot yet, of course, be verbally expressed or articulated by the child, yet it is real and present all the same (see e.g., Acts 2:38-39; Luke 1:15; 2 Tim. 3:15). The faith of the infant, like the faith of adults, also needs to be fed and nurtured by God’s Word (Matt. 28:18-20), or it will die.
Lutherans do not believe that only those baptized as infants receive faith. Faith can also be created in a person's heart by the power of the Holy Spirit working through God's (written or spoken) Word. Baptism should then soon follow conversion (cf. Acts 8:37) for the purpose of confirming and strengthening faith in accordance with God's command and promise. Depending on the situation, therefore, Lutherans baptize people of all ages from infancy to adulthood.
For more information please see the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod website: http://www.lcms.org/faqs/doctrine#baptism
Meet our Pastor, Seth Hoeppner
In August 2010 Seth was called to serve as a teacher and assistant to Pastor Neil Rand. Upon Pastor Rand's retirement in June of 2014, Seth's duties were expanded to include serving Faith Lutheran as Deacon and Spiritual Leader of the congregation and school.
In 2015, Seth was installed to serve as Specific Ministry Pastor-Vicar at Faith Lutheran. He serves preaching, teaching God's Word, and applying what he learns as a Seminary Student at Concordia Seminary- St Louis. March 10, 2018 Seth was officially installed at the Pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Watertown.