a praising church with a Reformation heritage that
emphasizes grace and gratitude,
a realistic church that understands the
depth of sin and firmly trusts in God's power to overcome it,
a serving church that sees in daily work
God's calling and offers a nationwide network of human services to work for justice and
meet human need,
a teaching church that studies Scripture
and, with a clear confessional and doctrinal identity, provides educational opportunities
for lifelong learning,
a global church that
through membership in the Lutheran World Federation maintains fellowship with 56 million
other believers in 68 nations,
