Confessional

Lutheran Mission -Australia acknowledges and accepts as true expositions of the Word of God and as its own confession all the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church contained in the Book of Concord of 1580.  

We use the term ‘Confessional’ as defined by the International Lutheran Council (ILC), who state that Confessional Lutherans ‘proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the basis of an unconditional commitment to the Holy Scriptures as the inspired and infallible Word of God and to the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord as the true and faithful exposition of the Word of God.’  

We therefore reject all attempts to re-interpret the Scriptures and Book of Concord by making them subject to culture or history, and humbly pray that the Lord of the Church would grant us His Spirit that we may be faithful to His Word in all teaching and practice.  

Lutheran Mission - Australia has been accepted into full membership of the ILC. You can learn more here. 

Read our full Confessional Statement
Biblical and Confessional Resources

Our Confession 

Confessional Statement Article 2: THE LUTHERAN CONFESSIONS

Lutheran Mission - Australia rejoices in the clear, biblical, and evangelical teachings of the Lutheran Confessions. 

a. We acknowledge and accept as true expositions of the Word of God and as our own confession all the Symbolical Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church contained in the Book of Concord of 1580, namely, the three Ecumenical Creeds: the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed; the Unaltered Augsburg Confession; the Apology of the Augsburg Confession; the Smalcald Articles; the Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope; the Small Catechism of Luther; the Large Catechism of Luther; and the Formula of Concord. 

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News & Events
Confessing the Faith
Confessing the Faith

In this article, based on the first session of his seminar ‘Before Christ and the World’, Dr Stephen Pietsch explains why Christians ‘confess’ our faith.

Confessing?

Confessing literally means to ‘say the same thing.’ 

In the New Testament, the Greek verb, homologeo is used when a solemn public declaration is made of what Christians believe [John 1:20; 9:22; 12:42; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 John 2:23; 4:2, 3, 15; 2 John 7]. The noun, homologia, denotes either an act of confession of the gospel, or a liturgical form of confession in the community [2 Corinthians 9:12-13, 1 Timothy 6:12, 13; Hebrews 3:1; 4:14; 10:23].  

Scripture calls us to confess our faith in Christ, which includes all of Scripture’s witness concerning Him [Matthew 10:32-33].  

The English word, confession, comes from Latin, confessio [I confess], which can mean the admission, acknowledgment, or public declaration of something. On one hand it is used in the sense of a confession of sins [e.g. Psalm 32:5; James 5:16; 1 John 1:9]

On the other hand, it is used in the sense of a confession of faith, a confident declaration [Acts 4:13, 31] of what a person believes and stands for [Romans 10:9, 10; Matthew 10:32-33; Luke 12:8, 9; Philippians 2:11].  Confession in this sense means ‘to state what you believe’ (what God says). The Lutheran Confessions are statements of faith that Lutherans use to declare to the world, ‘This is what we believe, teach and confess.’  

The Christian church has then been confessing its faith from the very beginning. Jesus confesses and teaches the truth all through his ministry. The Apostles confessed the faith in their ministries, many of them losing their lives as a result. 

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‘Before Christ and the World’ Seminar a great encouragement
‘Before Christ and the World’ Seminar a great encouragement

On 7-8 June, Dr Stephen Pietsch led a wonderful weekend of learning and mutual encouragement at the ‘Before Christ and the World - What it means to be a confessional Lutheran’ Seminar, which was held at St John’s Lutheran Church in Tanunda SA. The event was attended by approximately 100 people, with a large number of people viewing the livestream.

The seminar began with an opening responsive prayer service, led by Pastor Lee van Rossen, and a warm welcome on a very cold, wet day from Pastor Mathew Ker, who acted as MC throughout the weekend.

Dr Pietsch began the seminar by exploring why Christians have confessed their faith since the very earliest days of the church, what confessing actually means, and why “confessing the faith clearly and openly teaching the doctrines of Scripture is an essential calling of all Christians, and is according to Luther, a ‘mark of the church’, that it teaches, confesses and proclaims the word of God.”

After a sumptuous morning tea, provided by Barossa Lutheran Mission who were our hosts for the weekend, participants returned for the second session, in which Dr Pietsch focused in on the Lutheran Confessions, discussing the context in which they were developed and why they continue to be the confession of the Lutheran church almost 500 years later. As Dr Pietsch explained, the Confessions “clearly express the whole witness of Scripture which is the rule and norm for our teaching and practice.” He emphasised that the Bible is the “norm of norms” - the overarching authority under which the Confessions sit.

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Articles
The Baptismal Moment
The Baptismal Moment

In this article from the journal: The Baptismal Moment, (reproduced in Logia, Eastertide 2014, Volume XXIII, Number 2), Pastor William Cwirla explores the significance of baptism from a Lutheran perspective.

“Baptism is not simply a once-and-done event of the past, much less a symbolic ritual act on the part of man for Martin Luther, and for Lutherans holding to the catechism. In the Large Catechism, Luther wrote of the proper use of Holy Baptism over and against the trials and tribulations of the believer in this oft-quoted sentence: “To appreciate and use Baptism aright, we must draw strength and comfort from it when our sins or conscience oppress us, and we must retort, ‘But I am baptized!’ [Ich bin dennoch getauft.] And if I am baptized, I have the promise that I shall be saved and have eternal life, both in soul and body” (LC IV, 44; Tappert, 442). Luther’s great dennoch against the accusations of the law and the pangs of conscience against our sin is faith’s claim to the promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation in baptism. For Luther, and for Lutherans holding to the catechism, baptism is not simply a once-and-done event of the past, much less a symbolic ritual act on the part of man, but a present activity of God bestowing a present identity on the believer with saving consequences for the future.”

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Is it important to uphold true doctrine?
Is it important to uphold true doctrine?

Drawing on the work of theologian Hemann Sasse and Timothy Wengert's A Formula for Parish Practice, Merv Wagner reflects on the great ages of the church as times when people had to contend against false teaching and clearly confess true doctrine for salvation's sake.

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