Our Saviour
Evangelical Lutheran Church
OUR CONFESSION
The Our Saviour Congregation is a member of the Free Evangelical-Lutheran Synod in South Africa (FELSISA), which in turn is a member of the International Lutheran Council (ILC). As such, we share our faith and confession with Lutheran Churches in over 30 Countries from all over the world.
What we believe and teach
In fellowship with Christians through the ages, we confess our faith in the triune God; in God the Father, who has created us; in God the Son, who became man to redeem us from the devil; and in God the Holy Spirit, who creates faith in us, makes us holy by the forgiveness of our sins, and keeps us in the true faith by the Gospel.
We hold the Bible to be God’s inerrant and infallible Word, and we subscribe to the Lutheran Confessions as a true statement and exposition of Holy Scripture.
Along with Holy Scripture, the Sacraments, namely Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, instituted by JESUS CHRIST, are the Means by which God’s Grace and all its benefits are given to all who partake in faith.
​
For this reason, Holy Communion is celebrated as part of the Divine Service every Sunday, and members are encouraged to come to the LORD’s Table as often as possible. We celebrate Communion in the joyful confidence that our LORD JESUS CHRIST does indeed fulfil his promise to us that, when we celebrate Holy Communion, we receive under the bread and the wine his true body and his true blood to eat and to drink. This the LORD JESUS does for the forgiveness of our sins, the strengthening of our faith, and to grant us the strength to live a spiritual, GOD-pleasing life.
Yet, the Apostle St. Paul warns, that “anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the LORD eats and drinks judgment on himself” (1 Cor. 11:29). He reminds us that, in order to receive the Holy Sacrament as a blessing, we need to be able to examine ourselves, to distinguish the eating and drinking of the true body and blood of CHRIST from ordinary eating and drinking, and to be prepared to forgive as CHRIST has forgiven us, and that the sharing in the body and blood of CHRIST is a confession of the unity of faith in all teachings.
We therefore request all who desire to receive the LORD’s Supper and are not in Church fellowship with this Congregation or Synod to speak to the pastor before partaking of Holy Communion, as he is answerable to God for every soul that has been entrusted to him.
