Welcome to Messy Church!
Well that’s not the name, but it should be! Life is messy! Things don’t always go the way we planned or the way we wanted. Marriages, family and children can be messy. Friends and relationships all are messy at times. Work, school, life… like a two year old eating pb & j messy! At Amazing Grace we believe that church is a place for messy people.
Jesus once was invited to a party and he went. While he was there some very religious people wanted to know how Jesus could hang out with messy people. These people didn’t have it all together. Their lives weren’t a picture-perfect postcard. Some of them were a mess! Jesus explained to them that he didn’t come for perfect people but messy ones— because we’re the ones who need him. (To read about this open a Bible to Mark 2:13-17)
What does this means for you?
It means you don’t have to be perfect to be at Amazing Grace. There’s no financial, political or social test at the door. If you’re hurting, empty or just wondering about life and if there is something more—then come, Jesus is for you. Jesus is great at loving, forgiving, healing and helping messy people—wherever you are at in your life. And when you visit, we’ll try to welcome you as one of our own. But remember we’re messy church—all the people you will see, from the guy up front to the person welcoming you at the door—we’re all there because we need Jesus. We’re real people with all the struggles life brings. We’re Messy Church, we’re your people!
Our Beliefs
We Believe
- That the world is a mess and slowly falling apart.
- That the human heart is broken and produces selfishness, greed, hatred, anger, cruelty and these things pollute and destroy our relationships and lives.
- That this human evil and brokenness has destroyed our relationship and connection with God and why we often feel so alone in the universe.
- That unresolved there is nothing in life that will completely fill this emptiness in the heart, not money, sex, or even human love.
We Believe
- That God is relational by nature and is beyond our understanding, so that there is one God but three distinct persons–the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
- That this God who is relationship and love itself created humanity to be in relationship with him and enjoy all the blessings of life.
- That even though we have failed him, he did not stop loving us.
- That God in his love for all people intervened in human history to save us.
- That He communicated his love and teaches us about himself through his Word the Bible.
- That he communicated his love to us personally by entering our world and becoming one of us–taking the name Jesus which means Savior.
We Believe
- That this Jesus demonstrated with his words, his life and his actions that he was no normal human being but God with us.
- That to restore the relationship with God he took on human evil and cruelty and suffered for them on the cross.
- That the great proof of Jesus and his salvation was his physical resurrection from the dead.
We Believe
- That your life has meaning and purpose.
- That God knows you and wants you to know him.
- That God is not hiding but knowable.
- That Jesus sacrificed himself for you and loves YOU.
Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod
Wisconsin is the place where this church body was founded. You don't have to be from Wisconsin to be a part of this church. But if you are, what's the deal with the cheese on the head?
Evangelical means these churches are founded on the Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ, our Savior. The term evangelical in the Biblical context has nothing to do with politics.
Lutheran means that our church holds to the Biblical principles of
- Scripture Alone. What we mean by this is that the Bible is all true, inerrant and trustworthy. That all our teachings and faith are based on God's Word and not human tradition or opinion. That any questions or controversies we have–we go to the Lord for the answers.
- Faith Alone. That we are saved not by some cooperative effort between God and man but that he did it all. We are not saved by our own good deeds and actions and work. It is not like the university class where we get the grade we deserve. No, God gives us an A in Jesus and faith simply trusts that what God says is true since he doesn't lie!
- Grace Alone. Grace means undeserved love. Our salvation is 100% God saving us. He didn't save us because we had any worth or merit or were better looking morally or physically than anyone else. It is purely his mercy, his love that saves even though we don't deserve it. This is why we have confidence in our relationship with God–it's not based on what we do or what we are but what Jesus did for us on the cross!
Synod comes from the Greek, and has the idea of "walking together on the road."
As a group of Christians walking together, we can accomplish more for Jesus than we can alone.
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