Thank you for taking the time to find out more about Water of Life and our community. Water of Life Lutheran Church was established in Forney, TX in 2006. We hope that after you look through our website and attend a worship service, you will consider becoming a more active part of our growing community of faith.
Lead by Vicar James Jarrett, Water of Life offers many ministries for people of all ages and walks of life who are looking to strengthen their relationship with Christ.
Our Mission, Vision, & Values
MISSION: Water of Life Lutheran Church exists to share the river of forgiveness and the flowing water of Jesus Christ with you.
"Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life." Revelation 22:17
VISION: Water of Life Lutheran Church is a community of Christians bound together in Jesus Christ by Holy Baptism under the Word of God and in Holy Communion seeking, both corporately and individually, to enact her Mission on a daily basis by vigorously pursuing the following four apostolic activities (from Acts 2:42) in her worship, outreach, ministry, and common life: Proclaiming & Equipping, Fellowshipping, Communing, and Prayer.
"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." (Acts 2:42.)
VALUES: Water of Life Lutheran Church seeks to govern all her conduct and ministry according to the following seven Values in fulfilling her Mission and Vision in faithfulness to Jesus Christ both before God and those she serves:
Love for Jesus Christ, one another, and those we serve.
Faithfulness to the Word of God, and the Lutheran Confessions.
Gospel-Centeredness
The Priesthood of All the Baptized
Humility
Accountability
Belief & Practice
With the universal Christian Church, and as a congregation of The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, we teach and respond to the love of the Triune God: the Father, creator of all that exists; Jesus Christ, the Son, who became human to suffer and die for the sins of all human beings and to rise to life again in the ultimate victory over death and Satan; and the Holy Spirit, who creates faith through God's Word and Sacraments. The three persons of the Trinity are coequal and coeternal, one God. These ancient doctrines are summarized in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds.
As Lutherans, we submit to the Word of God as "the sole rule and norm of all doctrine." Underneath the Holy Scriptures we believe, teach, and confess the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church contained in the 1580 Book of Concord to be a true exposition of the Word of God.
Who Are Lutherans?
Today, there are 66 million Lutherans belonging to 250 different autonomous Lutheran churches around the world. The largest numbers of Lutherans are to be found in Germany, the place where the Reformation took place during the early part of the 16th century. The 9.5 million Lutherans in North America belong to 21 different Lutheran church bodies. The largest of these at 5.1 million is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod, with 2.3 million baptized members, ranks as the second largest Lutheran church body in North America and the 11th largest denomination in the USA. The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) has 410,000 members and is the third largest Lutheran Church in the United States of America.
The word "Synod" in The Lutheran Church -- Missouri Synod comes from the Greek words that mean "walking together." It has rich meaning in our church body because the congregations voluntarily choose to belong to the Synod. Diverse in their service, these congregations hold to a shared confession of Jesus Christ as taught in Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions.
Information summarized from lcms.org.
