Beliefs

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). We are disciples of Jesus who are empowered by God’s extravagant grace to grow in faith, serve in love and live in joy.

• We proclaim Jesus as our Lord and Savior.
• We are embraced by God’s extravagant grace.
• We celebrate Christ’s life-giving presence through word and sacrament.
• We live Jesus’ way by welcoming and inviting all.
• We are called to be good stewards – generously sharing God’s gifts.
• We are God’s hands and voices at work in the world.

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.

Confession of Faith of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

• This church confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• This church confesses Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the Gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.
• Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.
• The proclamation of God’s message to us as both Law and Gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
• The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.
• This church accepts the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith, and life.
• This church accepts the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of this church.
• This church accepts the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it In faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
• This church accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.
• This church confesses the Gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the Church for God’s mission in the world.

Mission Statement

Prince of Peace Lutheran Church is a family of God’s people. Though we exist as
unique individuals, we have been chosen by God’s grace, called through Baptism and
united into one people, the Church, the Body of Christ. As a family of God’s people, we
commit ourselves to a ministry which proclaims Christ’s unifying presence and love.

Our mission is:
-to proclaim to all people that we are one family united in Christ;
-to love and support the members of our church family, rejoicing with one another in
times of celebration and joy, and caring for one another in times of sorrow and troubles;
-to conduct ourselves and our relationships with one another in a spirit of forgiveness
and harmony, patience and peace, giving honor and witness to the Lord whose name
we bear, the Prince of Peace;
-to better understand, through worship and education, what it means to live and witness
as God’s children in the world;
-to welcome and provide a church home for those who enter our doors as strangers and
visitors and newcomers to our community, seeking to include them within the family of
our fellowship and friendship;
-to serve and reach out to the lonely, the hungry, the homeless, and those without
families to meet their needs and to invite them into a deeper fellowship with God and
God’s people;
-to be advocates of peace and justice for all those in the human family who live in fear
and oppression;
-to work cooperatively with our Lutheran brothers and sisters in the New Jersey Synod
and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian
Church USA, Reformed Church of America, The Moravian Church in America, The
Episcopal Church USA and The United Methodist Church as well as other fellowships of
God’s people — “that they may understand how broad and long, how high and deep is
Christ’s love.” (Ephesians 3:18)