Who are Lutherans?

Lutherans and Lutheranism take their name from Martin Luther, a sixteenth-century friar, priest, and professor who began by protesting against what he saw as abuses and theological errors in the (Roman) Catholic church and ended up, much against his original intentions, founding the first "Protestant" church.

• For more on Martin Luther & his influence on Lutheranism (link)

What do Lutherans believe?

Lutherans confess the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — and proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Within the Christian family, Lutherans place special emphasis on the conviction

...that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ suffered for us and that for his sake our sin is forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given to us. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness, as Paul says in Romans 3:21–26 and 4:5.

From this central conviction — as quoted from the Augsburg Confession of 1530, a key confessional summary of the Lutheran faith—flows many of the other distinctive emphases of the Lutheran churches.

What is Lutheranism?

Lutheranism is one of the world's largest Protestant denominations. At the international level, the Lutheran World Federation [LWF], representing most, but not all Lutheran churches worldwide, is "a global communion of 144 churches in the Lutheran tradition, representing over 72 million Christians in 98 countries(link).”

To which branch of Lutheranism does Holy Trinity belong?

Holy Trinity is part of the Evangelical Church in America [ELCA]. The ELCA is, in turn, a member of the Lutheran World Federation [LWF].

• For more on the ELCA and the LWF (link)