What are you?  How do you define yourself?

Lately people have been defining themselves as left or right, white collar or blue collar, part of a minority or part of a majority. 

If you are reading this, you are probably WELS.  What does this mean (pun intended)?  How do you define yourself as a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod? 

OK, you’re a member of a church body (synod) that is headquartered in Wisconsin and teaches what the Bible teaches without addition or subtraction, a principle promoted by the 16th century reformer Martin Luther.  But what about that “E?” What does it mean to be “evangelical?”

Evangelical is a Greek word. Literally translated it means “gospel oriented.” It means that the gospel of Jesus Christ is at the core of everything we believe and proclaim.

Being evangelical means you believe the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God. It means you believe God when he tells us all have sinned and fall short of his glory, and that we have been saved by grace through faith as his gift to us, and not by any thing we do or don’t do.

It means you trust God’s promises, rely wholly on his love and mercy, and seek to live those fruits of faith that the Holy Spirit grows in your heart. It means you want to tell the world that good news you know about salvation and eternal life.

In the coming weeks, if someone asks you “where you stand on the issues,” as an evangelical Lutheran, you can say you stand on the Word of God and the saving gospel of Jesus Christ.