- WHAT WE BELIEVE
Mountain View is not affiliated with the larger Lutheran church bodies in Canada. We accept the Biblical message as it has been taught throughout history, and therefore we have affiliated with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), and its Canadian affiliate, WELS-Canada. We are Bible believing, Christ-centered, and confess the same Bible truths brought back to light during the Lutheran Reformation of the Church in the 1500's.
We accept the Bible as the inspired Word of God, without error since God Himself is without error. He gave us His Word in written form so we can believe it and trust it as a guide for all people of every generation.
We believe that God, who lives eternally, created all things out of nothing in six consecutive natural days by the power of His Word. The first book of the Bible, Genesis, records this incredible creative activity of God - with His loving focus on the man and woman He created to live in His love forever.
We believe that humanity fell away from God when our first parents, Adam and Eve, chose life apart from Him. Now we're all born with a sinful nature, unable to know God and His love by our own thinking or choosing, and unable to live in His love. We have a longing for life, but due to our sin, we are by nature spiritually dead. After this life we would be cut off from God forever.
We believe that in love God sent His Son, Jesus, from heaven to earth to rescue all people. Jesus, true God and true man, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life, suffered the punishment for the sin of all when he died on the cross, and then physically rose from the dead. He did everything in our place, and God now offers us His forgiveness, life in His love now, and forever in heaven - all for Jesus' sake. The Christian message would have died out in the first century because of the persecution that broke out against Jesus' followers. Even they forsook him when they saw him arrested and crucified. But on the third day He rose, repeatedly showed Himself to His followers, and convinced them that He truly was alive. Therefore we know Jesus is God, all our sins are forgiven, and we have eternal life by faith in Him. That inner longing you have to live forever is satisfied by faith in Jesus. He keeps His promises!
We believe Jesus won the forgiveness of sin and eternal life for all. God offers it as a gift to all. The Holy Spirit, by the power of His love through the message of Jesus, creates faith in us to receive the gift of life. Christians therefore gladly hear God's Word in worship and Bible study to grow in faith, to thank and praise the Lord for His blessings, and to encourage others as we worship and pray together.
We're thankful to be members of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the third largest Lutheran church body in North America, with congregations in 5 Canadian provinces, all 50 of the states in the U.S., and 26 foreign countries.
If you are interested in a more detailed examination of our beliefs, download one of the PDFs below. "This We Believe" is a statement of beliefs from our national church body, and the Augsburg Confession is the historic document teaching what Lutheran churches believe, teach, and confess.
- Link to "This We Believe" and list of Lutheran Confessions: This We Believe – WELS
- Link to Doctrinal Statements Doctrinal Statements – WELS
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