Peace Church | Who We Are // Core Teaching

Peace Church is centered in the mainstream of evangelical Christian teaching with a Lutheran emphasis on the transforming grace of God (defined below) and the channels of this grace in God’s Word and the Sacraments.

We believe and teach …

the God who reveals himself in the Bible as Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: three distinct Persons who are in such an intimate love relationship with one another that they are a Unity of one God.

the receiving of this gift through faith in Jesus. We humbly accept the gift of a relationship with God that he offers to us by trusting that Jesus is the one who has delivered us and is the “way” to God

the Bible as the revelation of the mind and work of God. As God’s Word to us, the Bible serves as the foundation for our teaching and life as a faith community

that God uses the channels of Word and Sacraments as the primary ways to offer his love and forgiveness in Jesus. that humanity was created to be in relationship with God and with each other. Only through a significant connection with Jesus do we experience the full life God intended.

At Peace we believe and teach …

the God who reveals himself in the Bible as Trinity. We don’t pretend to fully comprehend this awesome and mysterious Being. But we believe that we can know a part of his mind and heart because he has revealed himself to us. This God is by nature a relational Being who invites us into a relationship with him. He has revealed himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: three distinct Persons who are in such an intimate love relationship with one another that they are a Unity of one God. This God is a Being of complete perfection and unlimited knowledge and power.

the saving work of God centered in the person of Jesus Christ. We believe that moved by love for all of humanity, God has entered into human history in the person of Jesus Christ to complete a mission of deliverance. Jesus is both completely divine and human – he is God the Son who came to liberate us and he is the perfect human who fulfilled God the Father’s plan. We as human beings have separated ourselves from God by our sin – our disobedience to his commands and rebellious desire to be our own “god.” Jesus came to rescue us by suffering the just penalty for sin in our place. We no longer stand under God’s judgment but have been made right with God as a gift of his love. This is what we mean by God’s grace: t’s his undeserved, unearned, forgiving love which provides us the free gift of a relationship with him.

the receiving of this gift through faith in Jesus. We cannot do anything to earn a right standing before God. Rather we humbly accept the gift of a relationship with God that he offers to us by trusting that Jesus is the one who has delivered us and is the “way” to God. Faith includes knowing what Jesus has done for us, accepting its truth, and entrusting our lives and eternal destinies to his hands.

the Bible as the revelation of the mind and work of God. As God’s Word to us, the Bible serves as the foundation for our teaching and life as a faith community. The Bible has both a human and a divine nature. God has spoken through human authors using human language in the context of human history. As such, the Bible must be carefully interpreted and applied. Yet God has also breathed himself into the pages of the Bible so that it is the authoritative Word of God – without error. As such, the Bible is to believed and followed as God speaking to us and people of all time.

that God uses the channels of Word and Sacraments as the primary ways to offer his love and forgiveness in Jesus. Therefore while the Bible provides teaching in many areas, it’s central purpose is to serve as God’s love letter to us and to draw us into a love relationship with him. God also offers us “visible” communication of his love in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. In Baptism, through water and God’s Word, God brings people of all ages into a covenant relationship with him. Baptism is therefore the entry point for a relationship with Jesus. In the Lord’s Supper, through bread and wine and Jesus’ words, our Savior provides his very presence in order to deepen and sustain his relationship with us. Therefore while we will find evidence of God’s grace and love in many aspects of life, we “tune into the channels” of God’s Word and Sacraments on a ongoing basis for our central experience of God.

that humanity was created to be in relationship with God and with each other. The Bible tells us that we have been made in God’s image so that we too are relational beings. We can only experience life as God intended it by coming into a relationship with Jesus and by living in community with others. Only then will we taste what Jesus called “life to the full.”