Mission
Zion Lutheran Church is a community of faith, provoked by the Holy Spirit to share daily bread and the Bread of Life with all people.
A community of faith
First and foremost, our mission is to be a community of faith where God’s grace can be heard, felt and received. We believe the gospel of Christ is the power of salvation for all who believe. (Romans 1:16).
We are the church…together. Christianity is lived out in a community, and it is a journey that we take together.
Our aim at Zion Lutheran Church is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who will follow him on purpose.
We believe this best happens through:
- Real and meaningful connections with Jesus
- Relevant and life-giving teaching and preaching
- Renewed lives through discipleship and learning
- Relationships that are genuine and caring
- Serving others following the examples of Jesus Christ
- Remembering God’s claim as beloved sons and daughters through our baptism
Beliefs
God
We believe that God exists and rules over this world God created. God exists in the form of one God in three persons of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The word “Trinity” is used to describe God’s being. God is good, which means that God’s actions are not hurtful towards what God has created, but are always designed what is best for God’s people. In God’s rule, He is concerned with both compassion and justice for all people.
Jesus
We believe that Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is both fully God and fully man. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit; his mother was a virgin chosen by God to give birth to this baby who would become the Savior of the world. Jesus lived a sinless life and yet died a criminal’s death on the cross. He was buried, but three days after his death, he physically rose from the dead, completing a plan a plan God instituted before the people were created. Jesus ascended into Heaven, making all things new, and we anticipate the day when Jesus will make a triumphal return to this earth to establish God’s peace for all people.
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is a faithful and accurate guide to what we are to think and how we are to live our lives. We believe this book is unlike any other in that it is a real and faithful witness to our Lord, Jesus Christ. Everything we need to know about God and how to have a relationship with him and His people is contained within the pages. It’s the one place where we get to understand and know who God is through the life of Jesus. Through the Bible, God changes us, healing our brokenness and restoring our beauty.
Becoming a Christian
We believe that every person who has ever lived on this earth, except Jesus, is broken. Our brokenness separates us from God’s perfection, so we are incapable of reaching God on our own. Through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, we can reach God. When God begins to work in our lives, God makes us aware of our need for a Savior, and God draws us and adopts us into His family. Our sinfulness does not count against us, and our goodness does not count for us. It’s all up to Jesus and his work of salvation. Jesus’ life of perfect love is the grace of God to all who repent and believe.
Tradition
The community of faith at Zion Lutheran Church shamelessly embraces the historic creeds of the church (Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed) and stand alongside Christians through the ages. We do not believe that these documents are equal in authority with the Bible, nor do we think that they are without errors, but we do believe they are a precise and accurate summary of what the Bible teaches.
The Church
The Christian faith is not something that can be lived out alone. God has called His people down through the ages to live in a faith-filled community of believers we call the Church. In the Church, we worship Christ, face our struggles together, practice our faith in Christ, and we taste the life of heaven together. And together we recognize the glory of the Church’s redeemer, Christ!
The World
We believe that when Jesus rose from the dead, he established his reign on earth. This reign is a partial reality of the kingdom that will be created when he comes again. As followers of Christ, we are called to love, serve, and honor all of our neighbors as we seek to live in a way that brings wholeness, healing, and beauty into God’s world. We are to find justice for the oppressed, extend mercy to the hurting, take the message of the Gospel wherever we go, and share what we have with others.
What about other churches?
We believe what the third article of the Apostle’s Creed says about the Church as we uplift the “one holy catholic and universal church.” The Church is universal, not local. Christ’s Church is where Christ’s people are present, the Word of God is preached, and the Holy Sacraments are received and administered. The Church is all over, yet the congregation is local!
We joyfully affirm our unity with all committed followers of Jesus Christ, in any denomination, or those sisters and brothers in the Church without a denomination. Our community of faith prays for, supports and joins with others in Christ’s Church to bring God’s healing, grace, and mercy to the whole community and our broken world.
Giving
God influences the world through his people. He gives to us so He can give us. The Bible tells us that everything we have is a gift from God. As you provide both faithfully and willingly, the world is changed for the glory of God: the gospel is preached, lives are touched, people are fed, bodies are healed, churches are built; and you, in turn, are blessed by God so that you can give again.
The ministry of Zion Lutheran Church is funded through the generosity of the congregation. We believe giving is an integral part of what it means to be a community of faith, provoked by the Redeemer’s love, to serve our ministry in Muscatine and beyond. We encourage everyone in our church family to financially support their local church body as they grow in their discipleship of the spiritual practice of giving.
Many members are contributing through “electronic” giving with automatic withdrawals that can be customized to fit giving patterns. Others choose to give through checks either weekly or monthly.
There is no one way to contribute, but we believe through our faith in Christ, that every believer needs to give to support something more significant than our selves.
Visitors to our community of faith should never feel pressured to contribute to our ministry; however, we feel so strongly about our ministry that we invite you to join us in supporting our mission and ministry as we seek to share the Good News of Jesus Christ with all!
Everything you donate is tax-deductible and will be wholly used to further what God is currently doing through our ministry, locally and around the world.
