we all have questions.
what christians believe 
Sometime around the year we know as A.D. 29, in Jerusalem,
the occupying Romans executed a Jewish religious leader named Jesus from Nazareth. Many of the Jewish followers of Jesus believed he was the long-promised leader they called "Messiah." The Greek word for "Messiah" is "Christ." As a result followers of Jesus came to be called "Christians."

No sooner did Jesus die, but people started trying to figure out who he was. Some people said he died and that was the end of it. Some say he came back to life!

Admirers who think he just died, see him as a great teacher,
a prophet, a great man.

People who think he "rose from the dead" soon decided he was somehow special. Was he somehow more than a human? Was he a deity, somehow less than God, but divine all the same? Or was he actually God?

Early in the life of the church, Christians came to a stunning conclusion. Jesus was a human. And Jesus was also God.
God – in – the – flesh!

The earliest Christian song we know about was written sometime before the early 60’s (that’s 0060’s). The lyrics go like this:

Although [Jesus] was in the form of God
and equal with God he did not take advantage of this equality.
Instead he emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, by becoming like other humans . . .
He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the
point of death, death on a cross.
Christians today still believe in a God who loves us
enough to be with us.
To walk our walk.
To cry with us in our pain.
To dance with us in our joys.

So why did Jesus die? There are all kinds of answers to that question! The best answer is that it was God’s way of showing us how much we are loved.

And we believe that God loves us so much that not even death will separate us from the love of God! We believe that there is a heaven. And God wants you there!

We believe that God loves you. We believe that God is with you!

what lutherans believe
In the early 16th century a German priest and professor suggested
95 ways the Roman Catholic Church could change and be better.
His name was Martin Luther.

It was never his intention to start a new church, but that was the end result of his proposals. Today "Lutherans" number in the millions and span the globe.

He intended his suggestions as scholarly debate with other professors. But there was a new technology on the scene: the printing press! And before Luther knew it, Germans all over the place were reading – and loving! – his suggestions.  

Lutherans are main-line Christians. We believe that there is a life after death. We believe we can’t earn our way to heaven by living perfect, or even "good enough," lives. It’s all a wonderful gift!! Jesus gives us life – and more life! – because God loves us.

Some Christians emphasize that we humans have to make the "right decision" and "choose" Jesus. Lutherans tend to emphasize the ways in which God has chosen us!

Luther said it like this:
"I believe that I cannot by my own understanding or effort believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to him. But [God’s] Holy Spirit has called me . . . and kept me in true faith. . . . On the last day he will raise me and all the dead and give me and all believers in Christ eternal life."