The First Lutheran Church of Throggs Neck is a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
http://www.elca.org/
As Christians, we believe:
• We are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27).
• Yet, we fall short of the ways we are called to live out this image of God (Romans 7:15).
• Jesus Christ died so that we may receive the fullness of life and grace that God offers to us (John 3:16).
• We are each empowered by gifts from the Spirit to share this same grace and love with the world (I Corinthians 12).
• We are called to live our faith in action (Matthew 25:31-40).
As Christians, we turn to the Bible and to the other expressions of our faith to continue to learn and grow in Christ.
• We seek to live out the words of the Lord’s Prayer.
• We are reminded of God through the words of the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds.
• We are claimed and nourished by the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion.
• We are called to live into the Ten Commandments as framed in the Greatest Commandment “to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind and to love our neighbor as ourselves.”.
As Lutherans, we name our core beliefs with phrases like:
• We are justified by grace through faith meaning that we are unable to “earn” the love and forgiveness of God, but it is given to us freely because of who God is.
• We are both saint and sinner and need both the law and the gospel which means that the Good news (gospel) is that we are forgiven and made a saint and yet we still need the law to guide us as we still sin.
• Grace is not cheap as it cost Jesus his life. Grace is not the safety net that means “anything goes”, but rather it frees us to release the burden of sin and guilt that we may live fully, sharing that same grace with others.
• Faith without works is dead for while we do not earn God’s grace through what we do, our actions do reflect what we believe.