At Hope, God’s Word is the center of our faith life together. We believe God’s Word presents itself to us in three forms. We see it in the living Word, Jesus Christ. We hear it in the proclaimed Word of our church’s preaching. And we read it in the written Word of God, the Bible.
Living Word
The Bible tells us that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s incarnate (embodied) Word, and that through that living Word the world was created, redeemed, and will be made new.
Proclaimed Word
We believe that God continues to speak to his church through the proclamation of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. When we come to worship we hear God forgiving our sins, listen for his good news for our lives, and experience his grace at the communion table.
Written Word
Martin Luther once wrote that the Bible is the modern day manger. He called it the manger, because in it we can see Christ. We believe that the Bible is God’s authoritative Word, and through it God is telling us exactly what he wants us to hear. Because of that, we build our worship around the reading of the Scriptures (usually from the Old Testament story of the Israelites, from the New Testament letters to the churches, and from the gospel stories of Jesus Christ.) We hope, in the same way, God will form our lives around the Word.
