What We Believe
Mission Statement of Grace Lutheran Church: We, the baptized members of Grace Lutheran Church, do proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Therefore, we faithfully commit our lives to manifest Christ’s love to our families, our communities, our Church and God’s world, through our worship and prayer, teaching and preaching, and benevolent giving and service.
Mission Statement of Red River Lutheran Church: We, baptized members of the Church of Christ, responding in faith to the call of the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, desiring to unite together to preach the Word, administer the sacraments, and carry out God’s mission.
Beyond that, we are about feeding people.
First, we are about feeding people the Gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ. This is a mission to our own people, but more importantly than that it is a mission beyond our doors to a world in need of that word of promise.
Second, we are about feeding people as a vocation. We are an agricultural people. Even if you have never picked up a spade or operated heavy, expensive equipment you are tied into a local economy that quite literally feeds the world. We can’t help but be this people by virtue of living where we live.
Third, we are about feeding people as a service. This is a calling that started the Cornerstone Food Pantry even as it has its roots in soup suppers and funeral lunches, quilter breaks and Sunday fellowship time, and everything in-between.
On baptism:
We hold to Luther's Small Catechism and its understanding of baptism; namely that it "brings about forgiveness of sins, redeems from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe it, as the words and promise of God declare." We baptize indiscriminately. If parents wish to have their babies or infants baptized we do so. If young children or youth profess a desire to be baptized we do so. If adults wish to be baptized we do so. There is no test, merely what our confessions ask of you: That you believe in God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--and that you renounce the devil and the ways of sin that draw you from God. We do this recognizing that baptism is once and for all. Though sin will continue to creep into our lives, baptism is a promise that cannot be taken away and need not ever be repeated.