Zion Lutheran Church

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Confessional + Evangelical + Sacramental + Liturgical---------------Est. 1848

In the Old Testament, Zion is the dwelling place of the LORD, the place where God meets with His people to render justice. Physically, Mount Zion was at Jerusalem, and there in Jerusalem God did indeed render justice once and for all in the sacrifice of His own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Since the resurrection and ascension of our God and Savior Jesus, and since the Father and the Son have poured out His Holy Spirit upon all believers, Zion is no longer restricted to that little geographic spot in Palestine.
Now Zion is the Holy Christian and Apostolic Church of all ages and places, but Zion remains the spot where God meets with His people to render justice. That is, the Church is the place where God gives out the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation purchased for us by the bloody death of Jesus.
Indeed, Zion remains the place where God dwells for the sake of the salvation of the world. In Zion, the Holy Christian Church, the Triune God still meets with those who need His mercy, and He abundantly and joyously pours His good and life-giving gifts out upon us in Word and Sacrament.

How fitting that our church should be called Zion. God preserve us to be always true to this name!

We believe, teach, and confess...
As Lutherans, we believe, teach, and confess the historic Christian faith, which the Holy Spirit delivered to the Church in Holy Scripture. Because it is God’s Word, Scripture (the Bible) is entirely trustworthy and without error. Thus, on the basis of Holy Scripture, we joyfully and boldly confess:

- God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit earnestly desires the salvation of all people from death and hell, for all people
are poor miserable sinners. (John 3:16)

- The Lord Jesus Christ, who is true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit and also true man, is the heart and center of the Scripture and of our faith. (Luke 24:45-47)

- Salvation is through Christ alone. By His sacrificial death upon the cross, Jesus Christ has earned forgiveness of sins for the whole world. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)

- Salvation is by grace alone. This salvation from death and hell, which has been won for all people by Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead, is the gift of God and is in no way earned by any actions or works or merit on the part of us sinners. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

- Salvation is by faith alone. This salvation, which gives eternal life, is received only by those who believe and trust in Jesus’ sacrificial death for their sins. (Galatians 2:16; 3:10-14)

- Salvation is bestowed through the Holy Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper and through the preaching of the Word. (Titus 3:5; Matthew 26:27-28; Romans 10:17; John 20:22-23)

As Lutherans, we confess the historic creeds of the Church: The Apostles’, The Nicene, and The Athanasian Creed. These creeds are pure and faithful summaries of the doctrine of Scripture.

We subscribe without reservation to the Lutheran symbolical writings contained in The Book of Concord of 1580, confessing them to be true and unadulterated statements and expositions of the Word of God.

Our worship is reverent, shaped by the traditional and historic forms handed on to us from the Church of generations past.

Those who are received as communicant members of this congregation are first instructed in the teaching of Luther’s Small Catechism and publicly confess that the catechism is faithful and true to Holy Scripture.

How is Holy Communion celebrated at Zion?
An extended answer in three parts from Pastor Roger James

Part 1: Who should receive Christ's Body and Blood at all? (9/14/08)

Part 2: Who should receive Christ's Body and Blood together? (9/21/08)

Part 3: Communion Oversight and the Waning of Pastoral Care in the LCMS (9/28/08)

Further Reading on Closed Communion Pastor Klemet Preus

Part 2: Do We Really Practice Closed Communion in the LCMS?

Part 5: Closed Communion: Forcing the Body to be a Body

Zion Lutheran Church, 135 West Green Street, Marshall, Michigan 49068 Phone: (269) 781-8982, Fax: (269) 781-3711