Our Beliefs

Our Statement of Faith

Our Foundation of Faith

At Evangelical Formosan Church, our faith is anchored in the unending love and grace of God. As a proud congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we confess the Triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Our teachings are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. Here is a summary of the core beliefs that guide our worship, our community, and our everyday lives.

We believe the Bible, containing the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired and infallible Word of God, the necessary and complete revelation of His Will for the salvation of men, and is the ultimate authority for Christian faith and life.

We believe in the one true and living God, eternally existing in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The triune God is the Creator, the Sustainer and Ruler of the Creation, but is prior to, and distinct from the Creation.

We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, sent by the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary; that He lived a sinless and obedient life, suffered and died on the cross vicariously for the sins of His people who believe in Him; that God raised Him from the dead, exalted Him both as Lord and Christ, and gave Him the promise of the Holy Spirit for His Church.

We believe the first man, Adam, was created by God in His image, but fell from his original state by sinning against God, and hence incurred upon himself and all his posterity the guilt of sin, condemnation, and death; therefore, all mankind are in need of salvation, but are totally incapable of saving themselves.

We believe after the Fall, God, in His mercy and love, made provision for men’s redemption through the establishment of the covenant of grace with His people by the promise and the actual giving of the Savior Jesus Christ, whom to believe is justification and life.
We believe men are saved by grace through faith in Christ in response to the Gospel preached, or otherwise presented, in the power of the Holy Spirit, through whom ransomed sinners became the sons of God and heirs of eternal life. That Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and men; through His and only through Him the believer has access to the Father.
We believe God alone is the Lord of our conscience, and that the believers are free from the commands of men which are contrary to, or in addition to, the Scriptures in matters of faith and conduct.
We believe the church, consisting of all true believers, being Christ’s own and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, is the Body of Christ, the invisible church; that the church is holy, universal and one in Christ; that the invisible church manifests itself in the visible church, the local congregations consisting of all who profess to believe in Christ and are baptized; that as the people of God and a kingdom of priests, the church is called to grow unto the stature of the fullness of Christ and to fulfill her missionary work through the exercise of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, in worship, sacraments, fellowship, discipline, and services.