St. Luke Church is a historically Wesleyan congregation. Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Methodist theology, is grounded in the biblically centered preaching, teaching, and practices of the 18th-century evangelical reformers John and Charles Wesley. As clergy in the Church of England John, along with his brother Charles, felt led by God to organize a renewal movement for their church. This movement focused on the embodiment of personal faith and holiness outside the church walls and in one’s everyday life. Wesley’s drive for all to come to have a living relationship with Christ stemmed from a universal understanding of sin and salvation. Because of sin, all of us stand in need of salvation. Likewise, because of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, that salvation was made available to all.
One of things that is distinctive about our Wesleyan heritage and theology is our three-fold understanding of grace. God’s prevenient grace is the grace at work in our lives from the time we are born and before we even recognize it as such. This grace leads us to a place of decision to submit our lives to God, at which point God’s justifying grace becomes the grace by which our sins are forgiven and we enter into that personal relationship. Sanctifying grace is the continued grace of God through the Holy Spirit from that point forward that continues to grow us in the love and likeness of God. Wesley’s “method” for helping to facilitate spiritual growth through God’s sanctifying grace was to organize believers into groups for the purpose of community, accountability, mutual support and edification. Though it may look different, we value that same process today in making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.
St. Luke Church was founded for the purpose of calling men and women to celebrate and be changed by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ through His Lordship over their lives.
In scripture we meet the one true God who, through the sacrifice of his Son, has redeemed and restored all people to Himself. Jesus lived the life we could not live, died the death that we deserve to die, and was raised from the dead to rule in heaven as the King over all creation.
Our mission is to share the Good News of Jesus Christ truthfully and relevantly, to lead people in becoming disciples of Jesus, and to empower followers of Jesus with the transforming message of the Gospel so that they can positively impact their families, our community and the world.
Our beliefs as a church family begin with the historic Apostles Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus Christ his only Son, our Lord;
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.
- Further, we believe in the Triune God, three in one, consisting of God the Father, God the Son Jesus Christ, and God the Holy Spirit.
- We believe the Bible in its entirety is the inspired, inerrant and unchanging word of God.
- We believe that we are all made in the image of God, yet all are sinners for whom that image is distorted. Sin separates people from God and corrupts human nature such that we cannot heal or save ourselves.
- We believe in salvation that only comes through Jesus Christ. God’s redeeming love is active to save sinners through Jesus’ human life and teachings on earth, through his atoning death, his resurrection, his sovereign presence through history, and his promised return.
- We believe those who are saved are justified by faith in God alone and are being sanctified by God’s grace and moving toward glorification to be revealed in the presence of God in eternity.
- We believe that people, while corrupted by sin, are free to make their own choices because of God’s divine grace enabling them, and that people are truly accountable before God for their choices.
- We recognize the sacrament of Holy Baptism and believe that baptism is a sign of profession of one’s faith as well as a sign of regeneration and new birth. We practice infant baptism, and when persons baptized as infants mature, they may confirm the baptismal vows made on their behalf as infants by their families, guardians, and congregations through a process of Christian education called Confirmation.
- We recognize the sacrament of Holy Communion and affirm the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. We believe that the bread is a symbol of His body crucified on the cross and the cup is a symbol of His blood shed for humanity. The celebration of Holy Communion is a recalling and remembering of Jesus’ death and sacrifice.
- We believe that marriage is an honorable estate, instituted by God, and divinely designed to be upheld by one man and one woman.