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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod?
What does "Synod" mean?
How do I become a member
of Lord of Life Lutheran
Church?
Do I need a Transfer
Letter from my previous
congregation?
How do I arrange for my
child to be baptized at Lord
of Life?
What is confirmation?
How do I enroll my child in
confirmation classes at Lord
of Life?
How are my offerings used
at Lord of Life?
Worship FAQ
When is Communion Offered?
May I participate in it?
Do you have different styles
of worship services?
What is the “liturgy?”
What type of music do you
use?
What musical instruments
do you use?
What hymns do you sing?
Do you have a praise band?
Do you use the creeds? Why
don’t you just use
scripture?
What can I expect when I
attend Lord of Life?
____________________________________________________
What is the Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod?
With the universal Christian
Church, The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod
teaches and responds to the
love of the Triune God: the
Father, creator of all that
exists; Jesus Christ, the
Son, who became human to
suffer and die for the sins
of all human beings and to
rise to life again in the
ultimate victory over death
and Satan; and the Holy
Spirit, who creates faith
through God's Word and
Sacraments. The three
persons of the Trinity are
coequal and coeternal, one
God.
We accept and teach
Bible-based teachings of
Martin Luther which can be
summarized in three short
phrases: Grace alone, Faith
alone, Scripture alone.
Grace alone:
God loves the people of the
world, even though they are
sinful, rebel against Him
and do not deserve His love.
He sent Jesus, His Son, to
love the unlovable and save
the ungodly.
Faith alone: By
His suffering and death as
the substitute for all
people of all time, Jesus
purchased and won
forgiveness and eternal life
for them. Those who hear
this Good News and believe
it have the eternal life
that it offers. God creates
faith in Christ and gives
people forgiveness through
Him.
Scripture alone:
The Bible is God's inerrant
and infallible Word, in
which He reveals His Law and
His Gospel of salvation in
Jesus Christ. It is the sole
rule and norm for Christian
doctrine.
What does "Synod" mean?
The word "Synod" in The
Lutheran Church--Missouri
Synod comes from Greek words
that mean "walking
together." The term has rich
meaning in our church body,
because congregations
voluntarily choose to belong
to the Synod. Though diverse
in their service, these
congregations hold to a
shared confession of Jesus
Christ as taught in Holy
Scripture and the Lutheran
Confessions which they
believe are a correct
interpretation and
presentation of Biblical
doctrine. Contained in The
Book of Concord: The
Confessions of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church,
these statements of belief
were put into writing by
church leaders during the
16th century. The simplest
of these is Luther's Small
Catechism, and the Augsburg
Confession gives more detail
on what Lutherans believe.
Visit the
Lutheran Church—Missouri
Synod's website
for more information.
How do I become a member
of Lord of Life Lutheran
Church?
Transferring your membership from another LCMS
Congregation:
Coming soon.
Transferring your membership from another
denomination or adult
baptism, confirmation, &
profession of faith:
Our Lutheran Information
Class for Adults (LICA)
prepares adults for church
membership at Lord of Life.
For those who come from a
(non-LCMS) Lutheran
background, these classes
serve as a kind of
"refresher" course in
Lutheran doctrine, and as a
way of clarifying the
differences between the LCMS
and other Lutherans. For
those coming from other
denominations, these classes
provide a thorough overview
of the LCMS' central and
foundational teachings and
beliefs.
This 10 week interactive
study is offered on an as
need basis.
Contact Pastor Lindner
for more information.
Do I need a Transfer
Letter from my previous
congregation?
Coming Soon.
How do I arrange for my
child to be baptized at Lord
of Life?
Coming Soon.
What is confirmation?
How do I enroll my child in
confirmation classes at Lord
of Life?
Coming Soon.
How are my offerings used
at Lord of Life?
Coming Soon.
WORSHIP FAQ
Public worship, or the
Divine Service, is the most
public representation of a
church and communicates what
any congregation believes,
teaches, and confesses. Like
all Christian churches, we
seek to follow Christ’s
exhortation in John 4: 23,
24, “Yet a time is coming
and has now come when the
true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and in
truth, for they are they
kind of worshipers the
Father seeks. God is spirit,
and His worshipers must
worship in spirit and in
truth.” As sacramental,
Lutheran Christians, our
identity is evident in our
worship. We know that there
have been and still are many
valid expressions of
corporate worship utilized
by different cultures
throughout the history of
the Church, sometimes
evidenced in the variety of
worship practices which may
be observed today in the
LCMS. We realize that
worship is an important
factor for everyone who
visits a church, and we want
you to be as comfortable as
possible with our Lutheran
substance of worship and
hope the following questions
and answers will help you
understand our
congregation’s identity:
When is Communion Offered?
May I participate in it?
We celebrate the Lord’s Supper,
sometimes known as communion or
eucharist, on the first and
third Sundays of the month, plus
every festival Sunday (Christmas
Eve, Easter, Reformation,
Pentecost, etc.) Paul writes in
I Cor. 16, “Is not the cup of
thanksgiving for which we give
thanks a participation in the
blood of Christ? And is not the
bread that we break a
participation in the body of
Christ?” The high point of the
Lutheran service is one of the
sacraments—baptism or communion.
If you are not a member of an
LCMS congregation, we ask that
you talk to a pastor before
communing.
“Whoever eats the bread or
drinks the cup of the Lord
in an unworthy manner will
be guilty of sinning against
the body and blood of the
Lord. A man ought to examine
himself before he eats of
the bread and drinks of the
cup. For anyone who eats and
drinks without recognizing
the body of the Lord eats
and drinks judgment on
himself.” 1Corinthians
11:27-29
Being admonished to receive
Christ’s Body and Blood in a
worthy manner, Lutheran
Christians should prepare
their hearts for reception
of this sacrament by
privately answering the
following:
1. Do I believe that I am a
sinful human being without
hope of eternal life except
for God’s mercy in Christ?
2. Do I believe that Jesus
Christ is God’s Son and my
personal Savior?
3. Do I believe that He is
personally present in the
Sacrament of Holy Communion
with His Body and Blood?
4. Do I hope by the power of
the Holy Spirit to live a
godly life?
WHEN YOU COME TO THE LORD’S
SUPPER you are affirming
with each communicant that
Jesus is your Savior and
Lord, that you believe His
Body and Blood are present,
and that you desire to serve
Him as a dynamic disciple in
the fellowship of the
church.
Do you have different styles
of worship services?
Each service is shaped by
the liturgical year and the
readings of the day (the
lectionary.) We rejoice that
no two services are ever
exactly the same! Yet, we
follow a predictable and
ordered service format taken
from one of the five Divine
Service liturgies found in
our denomination’s hymnal,
Lutheran Service Book. Our
early and late services are
identical in order that we
can communicate the same
timeless truths of
Christianity to everyone,
regardless of their
preferred service time.
What is the “liturgy?”
The term comes from the
Greek word meaning “work of
the people” and encompasses
our reaction to God calling
us first to worship Him. (He
calls us first in our
baptism.) Worship is not
passive nor is it
entertainment. We sing,
pray, read responsively, and
listen as God’s Word is
proclaimed. Our active
participation in this
liturgy, which is much more
than empty ritual, is a
hallmark of Lutheran
worship. Worship at Lord of
Life follows the historic
“order of service” developed
in the first centuries of
the Church and retained by
Martin Luther. We realize
that such orders of service
have spiritually nourished
people for hundreds of
years, so, while
occasionally we will
introduce an element of
liturgical novelty (such as
a choral call to worship or
responsive readings to
accentuate the time of the
church year), we do not
alter our liturgies
significantly from the
hymnal. The order of service
is printed out in a service
bulletin, so that you will
know what is happening even
if you have not experienced
Lutheran worship before.
What type of music do you
use?
Lutheran worship is
Christocentric, meaning that
all we do focuses on Christ
and his redemptive act on
the cross (known as the
Theology of the Cross.)
Neither our pastors,
musicians, nor congregation
will “put on a show” for
God. God is not the audience
for our action—He initiates
our action and calls and
sustains us through His
Word. It is the job of the
leaders of worship to be as
invisible as possible in
order that God’s Word “. . .
will not return to Me empty,
but will accomplish what I
desire and achieve the
purpose for which I sent
it.” (Isaiah 55: 11)
Therefore, our musicians are
normally in the back of the
church, so as not to
distract from the focus on
Christ. Similarly, all our
music is focused on Christ
or some aspect of our faith,
and is often tied to
Christ’s life through the
liturgical year. We play and
sing the great sacred music
of past centuries such as
Palestrina, Buxtehude, Bach
as well as appropriate
compositions by nineteenth
and twentieth century
composers. Oftentimes, the
congregation is involved in
singing hymn arrangements
with the choir and
instruments. Such
arrangements are called hymn
concertatos. Whilst many
churches have elected to use
sacred “pop” music, we
strive to avoid music which
is unclear about salvation
or the sacraments, or are
mere “love songs” to God.
Some songs heard on a
Christian radio station are
probably fine, but our
historic and living heritage
of Lutheran music
communicates the doctrines
of our faith much more
specifically than songs
carefully written to appeal
commercially to a general
audience. We sing much
“modern” music by living
composers, but none of it is
pop/commercial music.
What musical instruments
do you use?
Martin Luther restored a
vibrant tradition of
congregational singing to
the Church; therefore, our
voices are always the
primary instrument we use to
sing and to confess our
faith in God the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit. We are
blessed with a pipe organ, a
harpsichord, timpani, four
pianos, three octaves of
handbells and a set of
handchimes, several vocal
choirs as well as members
and friends who play flute,
recorder, clarinet, bassoon,
violin, viola, cello,
trumpet, French horn and
trombone, to name only a
few! Our musicians serve
within our worship services
on a regular basis and we
are always striving to
incorporate new musicians
into our worship service.
Sometimes you will hear
instruments playing together
in an unusual combination,
and they will often play
along with the hymns or as
prelude or offertory. All
our music is done
acoustically, meaning that
we never use amplification
of any sort. (The pastor and
readers use microphones to
ensure that everyone can
understand the spoken word.)
What hymns do you sing?
We sing from the Lutheran
Service Book, the official
hymnal of the Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod. Of
the 600 hymns in the hymnal,
we sing over 220 different
hymn tunes (a single tune
can be used for multiple
hymn texts.) Most
congregations sing about
120-150 different tunes, so
you will probably encounter
an unfamiliar hymn more
frequently at Lord of Life
than at older churches. We
make an effort to teach the
choirs and congregations new
tunes, but we only introduce
about three or four new
tunes a year. We make an
effort to sing “old
favourites” frequently, but
we don’t wish to limit
ourselves to those.
Normally, the first hymn and
the last hymn in the Sunday
liturgy will be familiar.
New hymns are usually
reserved for the sermon hymn
(hymn before the sermon) and
are led by the choir. We
know it is important to sing
the old hymns like
“Beautiful Saviour,” “Abide
with Me,” “Praise to the
Lord, the Almighty,” and
“Guide Me, O Thou Great
Jehovah.” But in recent
years we have also added to
our repertory such strong
hymns as “Praise, My Soul,
the King of Heaven,” “Thine
the Amen, Thine the Praise,”
“How Clear is Our Vocation,
Lord,” and “There is a
Redeemer,” all to be found
in the LSB.
Do you have a praise band?
No.
Do you use the creeds? Why
don’t you just use
scripture?
The Lutheran Church is a
confessional church, meaning
we hold the Apostles’,
Nicene and Athanasian Creeds
to be faithful explications
of what scripture teaches.
We believe they summarize
the essential elements of
Christianity—the nature of
God the Father as Creator,
the Son as the Redeemer, and
the Holy Spirit as the
Sustainer of the Church
Universal. Everyone has a
creed of some sort—it just
may not be written down
formally. We recite our
statements of beliefs weekly
so that we are reminded of
the essentials of our faith.
Many people recite the
creeds from memory. However,
along with the rest of the
service, the creed is
printed in the bulletin so
you can read it as you are
comfortable. Our Lutheran
liturgy is full of
scripture. We sing or recite
a psalm (or introit) most
weeks, we sing “Glory be to
God on high” from Luke 2, we
sing “Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God of power and might”
(Isaiah 6:3), we pray “Lord,
now let Your servants depart
in peace” (Luke 2: 29) and
weekly pray the Lord’s
Prayer (Luke 11) and are
dismissed to one of many
scriptural benedictions. We
follow the lectionary,
meaning we listen to three
portions of scripture during
most worship services: the
Old Testament lesson, the
Epistle lesson (taken from
Paul’s letters in the New
Testament) and one of
Gospels. We hope that
everyone reads their Bible
at home; but, if they don’t,
we want to make sure
everyone is nourished in
God’s Word on Sunday
morning.
What can I expect when I
attend Lord of Life?
Whether you attend at 8am or
10.45am, you will be
welcomed at the door by
greeters who will give you
an order of service. You are
welcome to sit
anywhere—there are no
assigned pews! Chairs at the
end of the rows have
armrests for those needing
them. We stand for most
prayers and many hymns, but
are seated at other times.
Just follow the rest of the
congregation. No one will
ask you to introduce
yourself publicly, although
you may be welcomed by the
people sitting around you.
It is our goal that God will
work through our worship so
that we all might know Him
in “spirit and in truth.”
If you have a question that
you do not see answered
here, please
contact us for
more information.
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