We are a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada ( ELCiC ). We
are Christians who, formed and guided by the Lutheran Confessions (teachings) about the
ancient Christian faith, come together for worship, fellowship, learning and service to others.
Although we are a diverse group from all walks of life, backgrounds and generations, we are
united around the essential beliefs and core values we have embraced from our rich
Lutheran heritage.
Our essential beliefs can be summarized in five core affirmations:
- The Crucified Jesus Christ, The Son of God, shows us what God is like.
- Because Jesus Christ came to save all peoples, everyone is welcome in our church.
- Jesus Christ is actively changing people.
- All peoples are being made in the image and likeness of God, who is The Crucified Jesus Christ. Therefore, everyone will have something to share with our community that we should learn from.
- The world needs the Gospel and the Sacraments which God gifts us to share with
others, so that “all may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10).”
Hills of Peace is a congregation with average attendance of 60 at Sunday worship. We
thrive on sharing worship, faith, and care for each other. We are a community that supports
and builds family, both by birth and by baptism. Our diverse membership also hosts and
leads a Vacation Bible School during the summer, as well as community events for
socializing and support of other’s needs.
Hills of Peace works together in a spirit of harmony, generosity and gratitude. As an active
member of the ELCIC, we join with other Christians across BC and Canada in the ministry
of service in all parts of Canada and around the world.
What do ELCIC Lutheran Christians believe?
First and foremost, we believe that God loves you no matter what!
No age, expression, ability, status, identity, orientation, diagnoses, transition, behaviour,
sentence, or other lived experience, affects how, how much, or whether God loves you.
Now a little more of the formal bits about Lutheranism that might help in understanding life
lived as a Christian:
Every one of us has questions about life, purpose, suffering, death, and God. Whenever we
begin to wonder about why we were born, or why bad things happen to good people, or
what God is really like, we are engaging the questions that our community of Hills of Peace
asks every day.
What’s a theologian?
“Every one of us is a theologian of sorts because we all have questions about God. Whenever we begin to wonder about why we were born, or why bad things happen to good people, or what God is really like, we are doing theology.” (Ward p. 71)
Who is Jesus?
As Christians, when we talk about God, we believe that the only starting point for this
reflection is the crucified Jesus Christ. This is the one who is the subject of the preaching
and message recorded in the collection known as “The New Testament,” and the focus of
the Church’s faith for thousands of years. In our understanding, the library of sacred writings
known collectively as, “The Scriptures,” though written long before Jesus, was inspired and
revealed by the Holy Spirit to speak about the crucified Jesus Christ. When we are gifted
faith by the Holy Spirit, it is faith in Jesus Christ. This experience leads us to read The
Scriptures, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,” as things concerning Jesus Christ and
his self-offering life for the sake of all peoples (Luke 24:27.”
If you are interested in learning more about Jesus Christ, the Church, Scripture, or if you have
any questions at all, please reach out to us!
pastor@hillsofpeace.com
250-828-2221
What else do I need to know about God?
“There’s nothing particularly Lutheran about what we believe about God. Everything we teach is found in the Bible. Lutherans insist on that. If you want to talk about God and you can’t find anything in the Bible to back up your opinion, then a Lutheran won’t accept your opinion, because that’s all it is – your opinion…
“…basis Lutheran beliefs about who God is are not any different from what the majority of other Christians believe about God. We all talk about God in what is called Trinitarian language. The Trinity – God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – sums up what we know about God. This Trinitarian language was developed by the early Christians. They talk about God as the Trinity. You won’t find the word ‘Trinity’ in your Bible. But the idea is solidly based on what the Bible teaches about God.
“In the Trinity, we know or experience God in three persons. This isn’t like having three different gods. Lutherans believe that there is only one God.
“The problem is trying to explain God who really cannot be explained with human terms. Theologians do all sorts of fancy tricks to try to explain exactly what the Trinity is. In the end they finally say that it is a mystery.” (Ward pp. 73–74)
What are we really saying in the Creeds?
“Early Christians had trouble sorting out ideas about the Trinity too. After much talk, they came up with statements that summed up what they believed about God. We call these statements “creeds” The early Christians agreed that these creeds said some things that we know for sure about God.
“Lutherans accept three creeds: the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed.
“Martin Luther explains the Apostles’ Creed with some very good answers in his Small Catechism. The Apostles didn’t write this creed. However, the people who did believe that they were saying what the Apostles would have said if they had still been around to write it. I’ll give you a brief outline here.
“The first part of the Creed, or what is called the First Article, talks about God the Father. Most people believe that there is a God. Yet saying that there is a God, doesn’t really tell us anything about God. Even the devil believes in God, but the devil believes that God is the enemy.
“Lutherans believe in God as Father. I won’t get into the problems that this masculine word is causing for some people these days. Historically, “Father” has been meant to describe God as a good and loving parent and was not intended to say that God is male rather than female, because God is not human. God is God. God takes a personal interest in the world, just as loving parents care for their offspring.
“We also believe in the Son of God, the subject of the Second Article. I’ve already explained most of this, except to add that Lutherans believe that Jesus rules the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge every person, living or dead.
“The Third Article talks about the Holy Spirit. Even our faith is a gift of God. Faith is the work of the Holy Spirit who builds the Christian Church. This Church has nothing to do with being a Lutheran or any of the other labels we Christians use.
“The real Church exists in the hearts of believers and is known only to God. Day after day, the Holy Spirit feeds our faith and makes us strong with God’s grace. The Spirit will do that until the day when we enter eternity with our gracious God.” (Ward pp. 74-75)
Why is worship so important to Lutherans?
“Liturgy and hymns say what we think about God and our lives with God. Every hymn and phrase in our official books has been carefully selected and debated. A word that didn’t say if just right has sometimes been cause for a popular hymn to be left out of the book, or for a congregation to avoid using it even if it did manage to get in there.
“If you want to know what the people in a congregation believe, watch what hymns they like and use. Singing those hymns is a way of saying what you believe, reinforcing it, teaching it and learning it. That’s why Martin Luther wrote hymns and encouraged us to be a singing church.” (Ward p. 77)
Anything that I should be taking away from this for my life?
“Have you ever come across a situation where someone has done something really, really terrible and someone else asked ”How could he or she have done something so wicked?..”
“Did you ever notice how you might have the best of intentions and promise yourself that you aren’t going to do a certain thing? Then you go out and do the very thing that you were so determined that you weren’t going to do?
“Or, you really mess up? You’ve been having a bad day and you snap at someone. Or you get mad and say things that you regret later. Why do we do that?
“Because we are sinners. Paul, a bible writer, had the same experience. He talks about it in Romans 7 and says that God’s grace in Jesus is stronger than what he calls our slavery to sin. Jesus death on the cross sets us free to be saints.
“Simultaneously saint and sinner. That’s Lutherans! If we are simultaneously saint and sinner, everything we do is contaminated by sin, but the saint in us is still up to a lot of good in spite of that sin.” (Ward pp. 77-79)
(Quotes taken from Ward, Kenn. This Evangelical Lutheran Church of Ours. Wood Lake Books: Winfield 1994)