Our congregation, St. Paul, takes its name from a person so transformed by the love of Jesus Christ that he changed his name from Saul to Paul. That power - the power to change lives - is at work among us. Through sorrow and joy, we are people who have been loved by Christ. He is tranforming us to welcome all with his life-changing love. You are invited to come and see!
St. Paul Lutheran Church has about a 160 year history of ministry in Oregon, IL. We presently worship in our third building. We are a member of the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC).
We derive our teachings from the Holy Scriptures and confess the three ecumenical creeds of the Christian church: the Apostles’, the Nicene, and the Athanasian Creeds. We hold to orthodox catholic theology as enunciated in the ecumenical councils of the first five centuries of Christianity. We trace our roots as a confessing movement to the reformation of the western catholic church initiated by Dr. Martin Luther, a German priest and professor of theology, in Germany in the 1500s.
Today, nearly five centuries later, Lutherans still celebrate the Reformation on October 31 and still hold to the basic principles of Luther’s theological teachings, such as Grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. These comprise the very essence of Lutheranism:
We are saved by the grace of God alone -- not by anything we do;
Our salvation is through faith alone -- we only need to trust God made known in Christ who promises us forgiveness, life and salvation; and
The Bible is the norm for faith and life -- the true standard by which teachings and doctrines are to be judged.
The Lutheran Church is a liturgical church. That is, our worship follows a set pattern. Worship in the Lutheran Church follows a reformed version of the Western Mass. A typical Sunday will include prayers of confession and absolution, three readings from Scripture, a sermon or homily, and the celebration of Holy Communion. We use many and various means to communicate our theology in worship. Music, vestments, paraments, incense, elements of bread, wine, oil and water... these simple things communicate something much greater and engage all of our senses in worshiping and glorifying God. For our visitors this may seem strange, but soon it should become quite familiar and comfortable. Anyone coming from a Roman Catholic, Episcopal, or United Methodist background would feel quite at home with the worship in our congregation.
To become Lutheran, only Baptism and instruction in the Christian faith are required. Members of other Lutheran churches are received through transfer of membership.
You are invited to come and see!