I am a pastor in the ELCA - Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can see a more extensive list of what we believe at elca.org
A quick list of my core beliefs:
-Apostles/Nicene Creed
-Theology of the Cross
-God has faithfully, and continues to faithfully, makes good things out of the messes we create;
converting death into life
-God has no gender. (Jesus was historically a man, but the Triune God is genderless)
-Life TODAY matters, not just life after death
-All are welcome. No exceptions.
Lutherans proclaim that all are justified, not by anything we have done/do/or will do, but rather by what Christ has already done for us. "Justification is the forgiveness of sins (cf. Rom 3:23-25; Acts 13:39; Lk 18:14), liberation from the dominating power of sin and death (Rom 5:12-21), and from the curse of the law (Gal 3:10-14). It is acceptance into communion with God.. By grace alone, in faith in Christ's saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works." - The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification (Lutheran and Roman-Catholic Dialogue)
This means that THANKFULLY it's not about US, it's about Christ and what Christ has done, does, and will do. Christ died for ALL - this is not an exclusive message, but rather a message which offers hope to all humanity. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, emptied himself and became truly human (Phil. 2:7). He entered into the same human condition we are all experiencing. Christ lived, died, was buried, and rose again. Christ shares our reality and walks with us in that reality. Christ descended into hell before his ascension, leaving no pit so deep that Christ is not deeper still - God is present in all things and in all places - despite the dirty, nastiness of life (theology of the cross).Christ frees us from our lives as complete sinners who are incapable of positive change all on our own. When Christ died he took on our coat of sinfulness and put on us his coat of righteousness and through him we are all made righteous and capable of things greater than sin. This new life we receive in Christ - without inquiry of our moral character and with no strings attached - frees us for the chance at a better world for ourselves and for our neighbor. God has revealed Godself by working through created means and God works on us and through us to be the bearer of good things - to bring positive change to our world - which IS God's kingdom now, but will not come to it's full glory until Christ comes again.
The gospel is risky business. Jesus wasn't crucified for the heck of it, he was put to death by the Roman Empire because he threatened their power and way of life. Being a Christian is a way of life, the way of Christ. Sometimes the gospel feels like sandpaper against our skin, it makes us squirm in our seats, because it goes against the way of society. Let it conflict you. Let it break your heart. For only then will we empty ourselves and make room for God. Make no mistake, God will work despite of you, but to be a disciple is to join God, to participate in what God is doing in the world.
"I don't preach a social gospel; I preach the gospel, period. The gospel is concerned with the whole person. When people were hungry, Jesus didn't say, 'Now is that political or social?' He said, 'I feed you.' Because the good news to a hungry person is bread." - Archbishop Desmond Tutu
-"We must not help our neighbor FOR Christ, but IN Christ. May the self disappear in such a way that Christ can help our neighbor through the medium of our soul and body... We should be impelled towards our neighbor by God, as the arrow is driven towards its target by the archer." - Simone Weil
-"What's going on in the name of God is the pull of a promise, the lure or dream of something unimaginable, a hope against hope. The name of God is the name of a way to be, a way of living in the world, where things are a lot riskier than we all thought." - John Caputo
-"God is not inhuman but will wear humanity, as God ultimately does in Jesus, far beyond the limits of humanity as we know it, so that God can be everything we are and are not." -Brennan Manning
-"Christian living does not mean to be good, but to become good; not to be well, but to get well; not being, but becoming; not rest, but training. We are not yet, but we shall be. It has not yet happened. But it is the way. Not everything shines and sparkles as yet, but everything is getting better." - Martin Luther
-"The church's call is not to solve, fix, or oppose despair, but to enter it, to make the church's life there, to discover the promise of God within the emptiness, separation, and nihilism that we all know so well but are often too scared to admit." - Andrew Root
-"Dear Church, you aren't dying; you are being refined! .. What if the losses we are mourning are just the burial wrappings that we shed as we are being raised to new life? .. We aren't being invited into death by the creator of life. No, we are being invited to rise up into resurrection and freedom and to offer that to the world." - Lenny Duncan