Mission Statement

Empowered by God’s gift of never-ending love in Word and Sacrament and responding to the forgiveness won for us by Jesus Christ on the cross, the mission of the family of Emmaus Lutheran is to courageously confess Jesus Christ through worship, life together, teaching and service.”

Mission Priorities

WORSHIP: 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. (Psa 95:6-7 ESV) This helps us to understand our posture when we worship, one of reverence and humility recognizing that He is our God, and by His grace we are His people. Worship is where we come to receive His gifts through Word and Sacraments and where His people gather to respond in praise and adoration. All four outer ring aspects of confess, teach, serve and life together make their home in Worship.

TEACH: 4 Make me to know your ways, O LORD; teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. (Psa 25:4-5 ESV) Before we can begin to teach our children, grandchildren and households, we need to first sit at Jesus feet and have Him teach us from His Word. A sincere request is that we desire to know His truth and to lead us in His paths, and then we in turn teach others of His great deeds so that the generations may know.

SERVE: ...whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mat 20:26-28 ESV) The greatest example in all history of serving came from Jesus Christ as He served us and gave His life.

We have many ways to serve Him in response: through giving our time to Him, using our talents, returning a tithe and serving one another in our families. One example is as husbands serve their wives, giving their life for their spouse; children learn what serving is by seeing it practiced daily.

LIFE TOGETHER: 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1Co 1:9 ESV) We have been called by God as brothers and sisters in Christ. It is God's complete work that binds us together. But Scripture does call us to be eager to maintain the unity that we do have. Being a child of God is about being in a family. Christianity is a team sport, not a solo venture, one could say. We delight in the fellowship we have with one another and we rejoice in this through many and various ways.

CONFESS: if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9 ESV)Last, but not least is confess. God gives us opportunity to confess our Savior Jesus Christ, as we confess our sins, recognizing that we sin in thought, word and deed, by things done and left undone. We have opportunity to confess Christ with our words, to share the love of God in Christ Jesus and also to confess Christ in our actions through acts of kindness and compassion. The need to confess our sins is daily, and the joy to confess Christ is eternal.

Each of these five areas is vital to the life of this congregation and each person has opportunity to partake in all these responses of thanksgiving. The outpouring of the love of God in Christ Jesus is limitless and truly unfathomable in our weak minds and flesh. However, our weaknesses do not give us excuse from returning to Him a portion of that which has been given to us in abundance: love for Him and for one another.

Unity

Eager to maintain the precious gift given to us through the work of the Holy Spirit of being one in Christ, (Eph. 4:3) we will be diligent as we walk together in love (Eph 5:2) and speak the truth in love (Eph 4:15-16) in all that we say and do as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Family

God's unchanging gift of family and marriage as dictated in Holy Scripture is foundational for home and society.We believe one of the great areas of outreach/missions is right in the home. Strengthening the home through the Christ centered biblical values of marriage, parenting and nurturing the faith; we will seek to pass the faith onto the next generation (Deut. 6:4-9, Prov. 22:6) so they would know the great works and mercies of the one true God (Judges 2:10,11; Ps. 51:1, Eph. 2:4,5).

Faithful

Responding to a faithful God by whom we were called (1 Cor. 1:9), acknowledging the One who "is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9), as the children of God through the work of the Holy Spirit, we will endeavor to be faithful to God unto death (Rev. 2:10). 

Education

As our Lord diligently taught and sought to disciple (Matt. 11:1, Mk 6:34) and as Christ sent the Holy Spirit to teach all things (John 14:26), we will by Means of the Word of God continue to place education at a high priority in order to catechize and instruct (2 Tim. 3:14-16, Titus 2:1) throughout all ages and stages of life both God's Law and His Gospel.

Confessional

In the New Testament,

Confess means to "speak the same thing." In a world that is constantly in flux, we need something to hold onto that is firm: God and His perfect Word that transcends time and shifting cultures. Not being ashamed of the Gospel (Rom. 1:16), we boldly confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (John 3:16, Phil 2:9-11), that the truth of the Word of God is perfect and eternal (2 Tim 3:16), and we also boldly confess the teachings of Martin Luther and those with Him who confirmed in unity that which is written in the Book of Concord as a true exposition of the Holy Scriptures.