God is in a good mood with you. And you see that when you look at Jesus.
Manchester Lutheran Church is a confessional Lutheran congregation. Our church’s confession, The World is Reconciled in Jesus, summarises what we believe the Bible teaches in five parts.
God’s Word reveals God’s righteousness in Jesus Christ through Law and Gospel
God speaks truthfully to us in his Word. He has published that Word for us in the Bible, which is the final authority for everything taught and done in the Church.
We understand God’s Word by rightly distinguishing Law and Gospel. The Law exposes our sin and our need for Jesus. The Gospel declares what God has already done for sinners in Jesus Christ. The goal is that we look away from ourselves, look at Jesus, and know God’s gracious disposition toward us because of him.
God’s Law commands all people to love God and neighbour, revealing their sin and need to be justified through Christ alone
God’s Law commands perfect love for God and for our neighbour. It teaches us what is good, protects our neighbour, and exposes the truth about us: we do not love, trust and obey God as we should.
The Law cannot put God in a good mood with us, create faith, or make us righteous. Instead, it leaves us without excuses and shows us our need for Christ alone.
God’s Gospel promises all people that God has justified them in Christ alone by grace alone, creating the faith to receive it
This is the heart of the Christian faith. God so loved the world that he gave his Son. Jesus took away the sin of the world, died for sinners and rose again. God has declared sinners righteous for Jesus’ sake, entirely by grace and not because of anything good within us.
The Gospel does not command us to manufacture faith. Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit creates faith in Christ and keeps directing us away from ourselves to God’s promise in Jesus.
God’s Church receives justification through faith alone
The Church is the people whom God gathers around his Gospel. We receive Christ and his gifts through faith alone, and God continually gives and strengthens that faith through the means he has appointed.
So the Christian Church lives from God’s Word, Baptism, Holy Absolution and the Sacrament of the Altar. Christ gives the public ministry so that his Word is preached, sins are forgiven and his Sacraments are administered. Christian unity is unity in this faith and confession.
God’s Children walk in the new life of faith by the Spirit, bearing the fruit of love for the glory of God alone
Good works do not earn God’s favour. They flow from the faith God has already created through the Gospel. Because our standing before God is secure in Christ, Christians are freed to love and serve their neighbours rather than trying to justify themselves.
That new life is lived in the ordinary callings God gives us: in family, church, work, society, friendship and service. Christians remain sinners who need forgiveness every day, but the Holy Spirit continues to work through God’s Word, producing the fruit of faith and love.
Read the full confession
This page is only a summary. The World is Reconciled in Jesus sets out our confession in fifty articles, with references to Holy Scripture and the historic Lutheran Confessions.
You are welcome to come to church while you are still exploring these claims, asking questions, or unsure what you believe.