From Martin Luther:
"This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness; not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
From our constitution:
"The church is a people created by God in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, called and sent to bear witness to God’s creative, redeeming, and sanctifying activity in the world.
To participate in God’s mission, this church worships God in proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments and through lives of prayer, praise, thanksgiving, witness, and service…
To participate in God’s mission this church proclaims God’s saving Gospel of justification by grace for Christ’s sake through faith alone, according to the apostolic witness in the holy scriptures, preserving and transmitting the Gospel faithfully to future generations…
To participate in God’s mission, this church nurtures its members in the word of God so as to grow in faith and hope and love, to see daily life as the primary setting for the exercise of the Christian calling, and to use the gifts of the Spirit for their life together and for their calling in the world…”
"This life therefore is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness; not health, but healing; not being, but becoming; not rest, but exercise. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it. The process is not yet finished, but it is going on. This is not the end, but it is the road. All does not yet gleam in glory, but all is being purified.”
From our constitution:
"The church is a people created by God in Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, called and sent to bear witness to God’s creative, redeeming, and sanctifying activity in the world.
To participate in God’s mission, this church worships God in proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments and through lives of prayer, praise, thanksgiving, witness, and service…
To participate in God’s mission this church proclaims God’s saving Gospel of justification by grace for Christ’s sake through faith alone, according to the apostolic witness in the holy scriptures, preserving and transmitting the Gospel faithfully to future generations…
To participate in God’s mission, this church nurtures its members in the word of God so as to grow in faith and hope and love, to see daily life as the primary setting for the exercise of the Christian calling, and to use the gifts of the Spirit for their life together and for their calling in the world…”