This is not meant to be an exhaustive list of our doctrines and beliefs, rather it is meant to draw a picture of who we believe God to be, as He reveals Himself to us and to understand His workings in our lives. If you would like to know more about our beliefs, you can follow this link to the Book of Concord
http://www.bookofconcord.org/
which goes into great detail about who God is as He reveals Himself in Scripture.
God reveals Himself both in nature and His Word, the Bible. While we can observe His majesty and power in creation (nature), He proclaims His love, compassion and mercy through Scripture (the Bible.)
The name God refers to the three persons of the Godhead, the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Three essences and yet one God. God the Father is the Creator of all things visible and invisible. God the Son (Jesus Christ) is the redeemer of the sinful, lost children, and God the Holy Spirit is the intercessor and speaks to God the Father on our behalf and works in our hearts so that we might cling to God and His teachings by faith.
While God speaks to us in many ways (reason, dreams, visions, etc.) it is His infallible Word by which we can compare all other ideas and beliefs in order to be certain of God’s will for us. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 1 Timothy 3:16,17
Church is a gathering of people around God’s Word and His Sacraments (the gifts of Baptism and Communion for the sake of forgiving our sins and establishing, growing and strengthening God’s gift of faith in us.) Church is not a what, not a place we meet, Church is a who, the people gathered and blessed by God. Church-goers look no different from non church-goers, the only difference is that God’s people acknowledge their guilt and receive forgiveness by God based on the actions of Christ over two thousand years ago which is transferred to us through the Holy Spirit by faith.
God created the world, man and everything we both see and don’t see (like intellect, technology, art, music, etc.) Man in his desires ruined God’s perfect creation and suffers from a need to do it all himself independent of God’s help and mercy.
The Good News (Gospel) is that God never gave up on His creation and had a plan from the beginning to rescue us from ourselves. He does this by sending His Son into the world to be the perfect sacrifice which overcomes our desire to rival the Father, destroying the penalty for our selfishness and brings us humbly to the foot of the cross where our relationship with God is restored and we are made to be “New Creations.”