What's a Lutheran?

Martin Luther is known as the Father of Protestantism. He studied to become a lawyer before becoming an Augustinian monk in 1505, and was ordained a priest in 1507. While continuing his studies in pursuit of a Doctor of Theology degree, he discovered significant differences between what he read in the Bible and the theology and practices of the church. On October 31, 1517, he posted a challenge on the church door at Wittenberg University to debate 95 theological issues. Luther's hope was that the church would reform its practice and preaching to be more consistent with the Word of God as contained in the Bible.

What started as an academic debate escalated to a religious war, fueled by fiery temperaments and violent language on both sides. As a result, there was not a reformation of the church but a separation. "Lutheran" was a name applied to Luther and his followers as an insult but adopted as a badge of honor by them instead.

Lutherans still hold to the basic principles of theology and practice espoused by Luther:

• We are saved by the grace of God alone -- not by anything we do;
• Our salvation is through faith alone - we only need to believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ's sake, who died to redeem us;
• The Bible is the only norm of doctrine and life -- the only true standard by which teachings and doctrines are to be judged.

Many Lutherans still consider themselves as a reforming movement within the Church catholic, rather than a separatist movement, and Lutherans have engaged in ecumenical dialogue with other church bodies for decades. In fact, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has entered into cooperative "full communion" agreements with several other Protestant denominations.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America resulted from a union of three North American Lutheran church bodies: The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America. The three churches agreed to unite in 1982 and the ELCA began operations on January 1, 1988.

• Baptized Members: 4,984,925
• Communing and Contributing Members: 2,349,855
• Average Worship Attendance Each Week: 30.15%
• Congregations: 10,657
• Synods: 65 in nine geographic regions

Holy Trinity is a part of the North Carolina Synod of the ELCA. For more information and some great resources, visit the synod website at NCLutheran.org or the churchwide website at ELCA.org.