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Who We Are: Lutherans


Lutherans are Christians.  The Lutheran Church began when Martin Luther sought to reform the Catholic Church in 16th century Germany. 

Lutheranism is built on the Bible as the central authority on our faith in Jesus Christ.  Most Lutheran Churches also build their faith and message on a series of documents by Martin Luther, his contemporaries, and the first Lutherans. 

For more detail on the specifics of our faith, please see the section on this website called What We Believe.

Centering on the message of God’s free love and forgiveness, Lutheranism has spread to all corners of the world and now the Lutheran World Federation counts over 66 million Lutherans in 78 countries.

Lutherans are a creedal church which means we use creeds to outline our faith.  A creed is a statement of faith handed down through time from early Christians.  We use the Apostles Creed and the Nicene Creed regularly in worship.

Lutherans are a liturgical church which means our worship service follows a simple structure every Sunday so everyone can know what to expect and understand what’s going on.  Each time we worship we Gather in the name of Christ, Hear the Word of God proclaimed, Pray, Share Communion, and are Sent Out to serve.

Additionally, being liturgical means we have a year-long calendar we follow with different seasons such as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, and Pentecost.  You can learn more about the worship service or the monthly calendar by stopping by or calling one of the pastors.

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church belongs to a national church body called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which is moderate theologically and socially.  You can learn more about the ELCA at their website, elca.org, including the church’s social statements regarding many issues which face our society.

Within the ELCA the national church is divided into regional governing bodies called synods.  We belong to the Southwest California Synod which encompasses the greater Los Angeles area.  Each synod also has a bishop who oversees the churches in his or her area.  You can learn more about our Synod at their website:  (www.socalsynod.org)