What really is a Lutheran?   While there are a variety of ways one could answer this question, one is simply this:  “A Lutheran is a person who believes, teaches and confesses the truths of God’s Word as they are summarized and confessed in the Book of Concord.” The Book of Concord is a document from the Reformation time in the 1500’s that contains the Lutheran confessions of faith. 

The same... yet different? Each Lutheran congregation is its own independent entity and styles and language might vary.  Yet, each LCMS congregation has a central commitment to the Lutheran Confessions and will preach and teach a consistent message of the Gospel.     

What are the Lutheran Confessions? 
Martin Luther began something in 1517 when he publicly questioned some of the ways that “church” was functioning and what was being taught.  This reached its culmination in 1580, when the official statements of Lutheran belief, the Lutheran Confessions, were gathered together in what is known as the Book of Concord.  A strong motivator for Martin Luther was his concern about the Gospel of Jesus Christ being shared clearly and consistently.    The LCMS accepts the Scriptures as the inspired and inerrant Word of God, and subscribes unconditionally to these Lutheran Confessions as a true and unadulterated statement and exposition of the Word of God.    

What is the point of the Lutheran Confessions?  Some Christian denominations vote on what they will believe, or follow a paternal hierarchy.  The Confessions give a solid, clear, unchanging, binding authority in Scriptural teachings and for how we function as God's church. 

This helps assure the sharing of the true Gospel and the proper handling of God’s Sacraments. The Reformation was not a “revolt,” or the start of a new church. Rather, it began as a sincere expression of concern with false and/or misleading teachings concerning the truth.  The Lutheran Church maintains the truth and freedom of the Gospel as expressed from the early Christian Church.