Welcome!

Many people enter the online virtual doorway to our church before coming through the actual doors. Either way, we extend the same welcome. We want you to feel at ease, look around, explore and ask questions.

As you check out this site or come to visit us for worship, we trust you will find Christ Lutheran to be an active community of faith and a place for you to make life-long friends while you also grow closer in your connection to Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, we receive the promise of heaven and the fullest, most liberating lifestyle here on earth. This is the message we wish to share with you.

Christ Lutheran Church was established as a mission congregation in Columbia, Maryland in 1992. Our 132 members come from all over the area and many different walks of life. We chose as our symbol a great tree - vibrant with leaves and rooted in Christ, our Lord and Savior. "I am the vine." Jesus told us, "and you are the branches. If a person remains in me and I in them, they will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5).

The best way to learn what our Christ family believes is in our Starting Point Q&A class. In the meantime, here are some ways to describe the truths that we firmly hold to as a church and lovingly hold out to our community:

Christian

We believe and teach that no amount human effort can possibly earn God's favor or lead to eternal life. Thankfully, God's love caused him to send his Son Jesus Christ to live and die for us. God offers forgiveness and salvation to the whole world as free gifts. Everyone who puts their trust in Christ as their Savior will be saved.

Gospel-Centered

As a gospel-centered church, we not only believe the gospel as the only way of salvation. We put that gospel to work in every facet of our ministry because it is the message God uses to work faith and transform lives.

Biblical

We believe that every word of the Bible is God's Word. We also believe that the Bible is its own interpreter. Rather than approaching the Bible with a predetermined idea of what it says, we let the Bible speak for itself. Even more than the specific doctrines we confess, this approach to reading the Bible and this process for understanding it define us.

Lutheran

The truths that Martin Luther reclaimed for the church at the time of the Reformation are often summarized with the Latin expression, sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura. Lutherans believe that our salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Scripture alone.

Confessional

The teachings that Lutherans confess on the basis of God's Word are summarized in the Book of Concord of 1580. This collection of nine documents includes statements of faith that unite us with all Christians and statements that summarize what Lutherans specifically believe.

Wisconsin Synod

We belong to a church body known as the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, or WELS. It is the third largest Lutheran church body in America. For more information about WELS and what we believe, click here.