St. John's Lutheran Church

The Lutheran Church was formed after the Lutheran Reformation, which was a divinely guided movement to restore the purity of the Gospel to the Christian Church, centered on justification by grace through faith alone, apart from works, as revealed in Scripture alone.
The Reformation began on October 31, 1517, when Martin Luther, a German monk and professor, nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, challenging the Roman Catholic Church’s sale of indulgences. Luther’s intent was not to split the church but to call it back to biblical truth. This act, along with his following writings, was a courageous stand against the corruption and false doctrine that had obscured the Gospel, particularly the idea that human works could merit salvation. C.F.W. Walther, the first president of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS), emphasized that Luther’s rediscovery of justification by faith alone—sola fide—was the heart of the Reformation, echoing Romans 3:28 and rejecting Rome’s reliance on penance, purgatory, and papal authority. Luther restored theological clarity to why the Church exists. That is, to proclaim the truth of God’s Word through preaching and the Sacraments—Baptism and the Lord’s Supper—administered faithfully.
As the movement grew, Luther’s writings, such as the Small Catechism and Large Catechism, clarified the centrality of Christ’s atoning work, delivered through Word and Sacrament. The Roman Church’s response—excommunicating Luther in 1521 via the Edict of Worms—only solidified the Reformers’ resolve. The Augsburg Confession of 1530, penned by Philip Melanchthon and endorsed by Lutheran princes, became a definitive statement of Lutheran faith, upholding sola scriptura (Scripture alone) as the sole authority over tradition and sola gratia (grace alone) as the means of salvation. This confession remains a living document for the LCMS, binding it to the Reformation’s core truths.
Walther, a key figure in founding the LCMS in 1847, saw the Reformation as an ongoing battle against any theology—Roman, Reformed, or otherwise—that compromises the free gift of salvation. The LCMS stands as a faithful heir to Luther’s legacy, rejecting both legalism and antinomianism, and upholding the Book of Concord (1580) as a true exposition of Scripture. The Reformation, then, is not merely a historical event but a perpetual call to confess Christ crucified until His return.