Evangelical means centered in the good news, the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), chose to use this word in its name because it expresses the heart of Lutheran theology.

(Evangelicals can also refer to fundamentalists, or the religious right.)

Justification by Grace through Faith is a defining phrase for Lutherans

Lutheran theology is centered in grace, God’s unconditional love for us.
     Justification refers to the way we are made right with God despite our sinfulness.
     The church at the time of Martin Luther was corrupt in many ways and the medieval view at that time was that you earned salvation and your way to heaven through good works. Martin Luther taught that we are justified by grace, not works.
     Grace means that everything begins with God’s initiative.
     Our relationship with God is not determined by our good works, our behavior, or our being holy and spiritual. Rather God loves and accepts us unconditionally. In Baptism we receive the gift of God’s never-ending love.
     Our faith, our service and our good works are a response to God’s gracious initiative, not the way to earn it. Our whole lives are a response to what we receive in Baptism.

Lutherans and the Bible

     Lutherans read the Bible through the lens of the Gospel, the good news. The Gospel is the message of forgiveness, freedom, new life, unconditional love and acceptance.
     Lutherans do not give equal weight to all of the Bible; Martin Luther taught that whatever preached Christ, or was centered in the Gospel, had ultimate authority.
     Lutherans define the Word of God first as Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.
     The Word is also the proclamation of the Gospel (in preaching, sacraments, and through word and deed).
     The Bible is the Word of God in that it bears witness to the Gospel of Christ.

Lutherans believe in the Triune God. God created and loves all of creation -- the earth and the seas and all of the world’s inhabitants. We believe that God's Son, Jesus Christ, transforms lives through his death on the cross and his new life, and we trust that God's Spirit is active in the world.