What We Believe at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church is a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod serving Shaker Heights and communities throughout Greater Cleveland. We are a church shaped by Holy Scripture, centered on Jesus Christ, and committed to the historic Christian faith confessed by the Lutheran Church. We seek to be both theologically faithful and compassionate toward our neighbors, proclaiming Christ’s forgiveness while serving the people God places around us.
Our faith is not founded upon changing cultural opinions or simply upon the ideas of Martin Luther. The prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and the sole rule and standard for Christian doctrine. The Lutheran Confessions collected in the Book of Concord are received because they faithfully confess the teaching of Scripture.
Jesus Christ Is at the Center
The heart of Christianity is not what we accomplish for God, but what God has accomplished for us in Jesus Christ. The Son of God became truly human, suffered and died for sinners, rose bodily from the grave, ascended into heaven, and will come again. Through His death and resurrection, Christ has accomplished the salvation we could never accomplish for ourselves.
The Augsburg Confession summarizes this central biblical teaching by declaring that sinners cannot be justified before God through their own strength, merits, or works. Instead, we are freely justified for Christ’s sake through faith when we believe that our sins are forgiven because Christ has made satisfaction for them by His death (Augsburg Confession IV). Salvation is therefore entirely a gift of God’s grace.
God Gives His Grace Through Word and Sacrament
God has not left Christians to search inwardly for assurance that He loves them. He gives His promises through concrete means. The Augsburg Confession teaches that God instituted the ministry of preaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments so that we may obtain saving faith. Through these means the Holy Spirit works when and where it pleases God in those who hear the Gospel (Augsburg Confession V).
For this reason, worship at St. Peter’s is centered upon Scripture and the Sacraments Christ instituted. We confess that Baptism gives God’s grace and is for children as well as adults (Augsburg Confession IX). We also confess that in the Lord’s Supper the true body and blood of Christ are truly present and distributed according to Christ’s institution (Augsburg Confession X).
The Church Gathered Around Christ’s Gifts
The Augsburg Confession describes the Church as the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. This gives St. Peter’s its fundamental identity and mission. We gather because Christ gathers His people around His saving gifts.
Our doctrinal position is further summarized in the Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod. If you are seeking an LCMS Lutheran church in Shaker Heights, Cleveland Heights, Beachwood, University Heights, South Euclid, Warrensville Heights, or Greater Cleveland, we invite you to learn more about what we believe and, most importantly, to come hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ with us.
Come and Worship With Us
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church gathers for Sunday Worship at 9:30 a.m., followed by Adult Bible Study and Sunday School at 11:15 a.m. We welcome your questions and would be glad to help you learn more about Lutheran Christianity. Above all, we want you to know the Savior whom Scripture proclaims: Jesus Christ, crucified and risen for sinners.