The Church & Ministry
18 questions in this topic
Do Christians Have to Tithe?
Not as a binding Old Testament law—but Christian freedom from the tithe as a rule is not freedom from generous giving. The New Testament pattern is regular, proportional, cheerful giving, flowing from gratitude for the God who gave himself for us.
Read it →Do I Have to Go to Church to Be a Christian?
You are not saved by attendance—but you also cannot create or sustain faith alone. The gifts that keep faith alive are delivered from outside you, among Christ's gathered people. Less a law than a lifeline.
Read it →Do I Need to 'Accept Jesus into My Heart'?
Of course a Christian trusts and receives Christ—but the language of 'deciding for Christ' makes your choice the saving act. Scripture says the spiritually dead don't decide to come alive: faith is the Spirit's gift, and it's far steadier to rest in the God who has accepted you.
Read it →How Are Lutherans Different from Other Protestants?
Lutherans share the Reformation essentials but have a distinctive center of gravity: God delivers his grace through external means—the Word, Baptism, the Supper—rather than salvation hinging on your decision or experience. That one difference explains most of the others.
Read it →How Much Should a Pastor Make?
Scripture's concern is not that a pastor might earn too much, but that a faithful one might be starved. The rule is double honor, not a ceiling.
Read it →Should Christians Be Involved in Politics?
Yes, as a genuine vocation—civil engagement is God's left-hand-kingdom work, distinct from but not opposed to the Church's Gospel mission. The two kingdoms guard against both quietism and baptizing a partisan agenda as the faith itself.
Read it →What Is a Pastor?
A man called and ordained to publicly preach the Word and administer the Sacraments—not a holier class of Christian, but one set apart by the Church's call to hand out Christ's gifts to Christ's people. His authority is the Word's, not his own.
Read it →What Is the 'Communion of Saints'?
'Saints' means all believers, not spiritual superstars—if you trust Christ, you're one. The communion spans every believer alive and every believer now with the Lord, so worship is never a small group in a small room; it's joining the whole company of heaven.
Read it →What Is the Church?
Not the size of the crowd, the building, or the denominational label. The Church is the assembly of believers where the Gospel is purely preached and the Sacraments rightly administered—wherever that happens, there is the Church.
Read it →What Is the Priesthood of All Believers?
Every baptized Christian is a priest—with direct access to God and a calling to speak the Gospel to others. But this dignifies the layman rather than abolishing the pastor; the universal priesthood and the preaching office are two different things.
Read it →What Should I Look For in a Church?
Not music style or coffee, but one question: is Christ truly given here? The historic test is two marks—the Gospel purely preached and the Sacraments rightly administered—and no church passes perfectly, since every church is full of sinners, including you.
Read it →What's the Difference Between Lutherans and Baptists?
Both are heirs of the Reformation, but they differ sharply on the sacraments. For Baptists, Baptism is a symbol that follows your decision; for Lutherans it is a means of grace—God's own act that gives forgiveness and creates faith, which is why Lutherans baptize infants.
Read it →What's the Difference Between Lutherans and Calvinists?
Lutherans and Calvinists agree on grace alone and Scripture alone, but part ways on predestination and the extent of the atonement. Lutherans reject double predestination and limited atonement: Christ died for all, and the lost are lost by their own rejection, not by God's decree.
Read it →What's the Difference Between Lutherans and Catholics?
More shared ground than most assume—same Trinity, same creeds, same cross and resurrection. The central divide is justification: grace alone through faith alone versus a righteousness infused and completed by works, which ripples into everything else.
Read it →Why Are There So Many Denominations?
A real, partial scandal Christ prayed against—but the disagreements are mostly within a shared core (Trinity, incarnation, resurrection, Scripture), not a chaos of everyone believing something different. Lutherans locate true unity in agreement on the Gospel and the Sacraments, not a single institution.
Read it →Why Can't Women Be Pastors?
Reserving the pastoral office to men is not a judgment about women's worth or gifts, but about the specific office of public preaching that Christ has instituted and Scripture has ordered.
Read it →Why Do We Need Creeds and Confessions?
'No creed but Christ' is itself a creed—everyone who reads the Bible forms one; creeds just make it public and accountable. They stand under Scripture, not beside it, confessing, teaching, guarding against error, and uniting believers in the same faith.
Read it →Why Should I Join a Church?
You can be a Christian without membership, but 'just me and God' cuts against nearly everything Scripture pictures the Christian life as—a body, a family, a flock. The local church is where God has promised to deliver his gifts; you can't baptize or absolve yourself.
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