Friedens: the Evangelical Lutheran Church and School of Peace 

Friedens is a family of believers gathered together around the sure and certain promises of the Almighty God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

We are what God has made us to be: His children, at peace with God. 

Jesus the Christ took our place under God’s righteous law and suffered the death for sin that each of us rightly deserved. 

Jesus paid for all sin with his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. Through Jesus we have an eternity of peace with God. 

That truth is so beautiful and comforting that back in 1856 the first members of this congregation decided to choose “Peace” (in German: Friedens) as the name for the congregation: The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Peace. 

We are a family of believers proclaiming God’s Word in both Law and Gospel. Jesus himself says in Luke 24:47 “You must preach repentance and forgiveness of sins in my name to the whole world.” 

The two main teachings of the Bible are Law and Gospel. The Law of God shows us our sin. It convicts each of us and shows us how desperate our situation is. Suggestions won’t help us. Just telling us to be better people won’t change our hearts. We need salvation, through and through. We need help to come from outside of us. We need God to make us holy. We need God to make us righteous. We need God to save us. Without salvation through Christ we would be lost forever. 

The good news (the “evangel”) is that God sent his one and only Son to save us. This is the good news we share with each other and proclaim to the world. That’s why we are called an “evangelical” church in the truest sense of the word. We are a gospel preaching church. 

We do not call ourselves Lutheran because Martin Luther is the head of our church; Jesus is the head of the church. Martin Luther did not die for us; Jesus died for us, for the whole world. We are not saved through faith in Martin Luther. We are saved through faith in Christ Jesus, therefore we are Christians. 

However, we Christians also call ourselves Lutheran because it was through this man, Martin Luther, as fallible and sinful as we, that the Lord restored the light of his glorious gospel to His church. 

He opened Luther’s eyes to see: "Righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood" (Romans 3:22-25). To the glory of God, just like Martin Luther, we follow Christ alone. Jesus is our Savior and our Lord.

With his life of perfect obedience Jesus did what we cannot do. He sacrificed himself on the cross as the payment for all sin, even ours, even yours.  Jesus’ triumphant resurrection from the dead proves that he has done everything necessary for our salvation. He paid the price. The payment was accepted by the Father. Jesus won the victory for us. Forgiveness, eternal life, and resurrection from the dead: you can be confident that these all are perfectly secure in Him. 

What about faith? Well, faith is a gift from God which receives what Jesus has accomplished for us; much like the hand of a beggar that receives a gift of food or water. Into the hand of faith, God graciously pours all that Jesus has done for us. Through faith in Jesus we are righteous before God himself (we are justified/declared “not guilty”). In Christ we can be sure of our salvation and an eternity in heaven. This is good news!

This is what the Lord revealed to Luther from Scripture. This is what he preached – the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is what we preach at Friedens. This is why we Christians also call ourselves Lutheran. This is why we worship every Sunday. This is the message that is proclaimed in our Christian Day School , in our Preschool, and in our Day Care.   

We look forward to sharing with you the message of forgiveness, the message of everlasting life and the sure hope of resurrection through Jesus Christ. Peace be with you! 

Looking to find out more about what we believe and teach here at Friedens?

Click here to downlaod a PDF entitled "This We Believe."