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Our Philosophy

We teach that Jesus Christ was crucified for our sins. There’s nothing that we can do to earn our salvation or to deserve God’s presence in our lives. The gift of God’s love and mercy is a gift that anyone can receive through baptism, a repentant heart and a prayer of invitation asking Jesus to be his/her Lord and Savior.

We practice two Sacraments; Baptism and the Lord’s Supper as the means of Grace. We baptize infants and children, teenagers and adults in obedience to the Lord’s Command. We then encourage every individual to take classes, worship regularly and to pray with repentance every day.

We encourage every believer to build a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the one way to God the Father. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. We build a relationship with Jesus like we build a relationship with anyone: we spend time in his house, we love the people that he loves, we let what is important to him become important to us, we talk to him about everything, we ask his forgiveness when we sin or make mistakes, and we read his love letter (the Bible) daily.

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We celebrate the gifts, abilities and insights of every believer. We enable our members to use their talents in our congregation and the community. We train leaders and volunteers to use their skills and their faith to make Jesus known to all who seek him. We expect our members to welcome strangers and to get to know the people in the next pew. We depend upon the prayers, regular financial gifts and volunteerism of our members to make our ministry effective and an honor to the Lord.

We are active in the Joliet area community and the world through our gifts, time and prayer. We actively support missionaries, maternity homes, orphanages, homeless ministries and emergency needs as they happen around us. We love, teach and support families. You can find many ways to use your talents and faith at Messiah Lutheran.

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Our Beliefs

  • We proclaim Christ crucified and Jesus raised from the dead.

  • We believe in the Tri-une God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  • Our Lutheranism is founded on the Book of Concord, Luther’s Small Catechism, the Augsburg Confession and the three great Creeds: The Apostles’ Creed, The Nicene Creed and the Athanasian Creed.

  • We believe there is Truth. We fear and enjoy the consequences of our actions in the reality that God has created and made known to us.  A mysterious reality that governs our lives and is outside of our control. We do not define truth, Truth defines us. 

  • We believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God and the closest picture of that universal Truth this side of death. 

  • We practice two sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

  • We believe that we are saved by Faith alone, Grace alone and God’s Word alone.

  • We recognize that we are part of the Lutheran Christian church and all Christian denominations around the world. We support them in prayer, gifts, fellowship and mission.

  • We encourage every believer to be faithful in worship, generous in giving, regular in receiving the Lord’s Supper and free in volunteering time, talent and faith.

  • We teach that every person can have a personal faith relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord.

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