St. Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church is a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), as are the pastors. We are the largest, conservative Lutheran church-body in North America. We believe that the Bible is God’s Word, written down by God’s prophets and apostles under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and is without error and is completely trustworthy. You can find more about our specific beliefs here: https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs – That is the basics of the question answered, but there is more to say.

We are part of what is sometimes referred to as the Lutheran tradition, which is often traced back to Martin Luther, a German pastor from the 16th Century. Although Martin Luther is our namesake, we trace our roots back through the centuries to Jesus Christ Himself and His Apostles. Jesus began the church by sending His Apostles to go teaching, baptizing, and celebrating the Lord’s Supper according to His commands. They also appointed and ordained new men to do this work alongside them. The work that began with Jesus and His apostles, and now included the growing number of pastors spread from Jerusalem to Asia, Europe, and now most of the known world.

As the Church grew and spread, there were changes in languages, the addition of various customs and traditions, and the acceptance of specific statements of beliefs, particularly the three ecumenical creeds (Apostle’s, Nicene, and Athanasian.) Though plagued by difficulties and hardships, the church grew and rejected many false teachings that arose. Unfortunately, in the West (Europe, western Asia, and bits of north Africa) many began to turn away from the pure teachings of Jesus. Instead of a unified repentance and return to the one true teaching, there was a schism. Fellowship in the church splintered as Christians, led by the Roman Pope, continued in their errant beliefs while other Christians heard the Word of God purely taught by Martin Luther and many other pastors. Despite being up against powerful earthly authorities, God strengthened these men, often called the Reformers, and preserved them and their teaching so that the church, given the moniker “Lutheran,” would flourish and spread.

And spread it did, to the new world of the Americas, and to Winona, MN. Here, we continue in the preaching of Jesus’ Word and the right use and distribution of God’s Sacraments for the benefit of the Christians that make up St. Martin’s Evangelical Lutheran Church and we serve our community as God’s servants.

Pastor Lewis