​First Lutheran Church is a rather traditional but also creative old-fashioned church that lets that good, loving and saving news of Jesus Christ be the source for not only our eternal fate, but also influence the way we live and care for our families, neighbors, and ourselves.

​WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE LUTHERAN? 

​​What it means to be Lutheran depends on who you ask. To some it's about the traditional experience of gathering together with hearing and singing the words from the Scriptures, understanding the Scriptures and its message of the God who desires to save all people through a sermon, and then finishing the service with receiving the Lord's Supper. And also in our worship services we have a time to generally confess our sins to God and each other as a group. To others, being a Lutheran is the family's church that has been there for them for a long time. But the doctrine and beliefs of the people is the main thing that makes this congregation Lutheran. First Lutheran Church belongs to a theologically conservative denomination called the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod (lcms.org). By belonging to this denomination, the people can freely receive the rich and deep truths of how the world and universe is created to work  through the primary source, the Bible. The Scriptures' main purpose is to tell a story containing many stories about how God interacts and rescues his people. And as we learn about God's great love for us, we learn how we can love and care for those who live among us.

​WHAT ARE THE BELIEFS OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH - MISSOURI SYNOD (LCMS)

​The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod believes in a triune God who, in love, created the world to save it. 

THE THREE SOLAS
One way to look at the Lutheran faith is through the three solas: grace alone, faith alone, scripture alone.
(In Latin it's: sola gratia, sola fide, sola scriptura.) 

• Grace alone: What brings us into a relationship with God is not our works or what we have done, but in what God has done for us. God comes to us in the midst of our broken and sinful nature just because he loves his creation. (John 3:16)
• Faith alone: People are not saved by what they do but by what they believe. They are saved because their heart has the saving faith that God has placed there. The saving faith believes that Jesus has done the work to save them from their sin. The people ought not to remove this faith from their heart. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
• Scripture alone: God's Word is inerrant and infallible. It is the first source of discovering truth and salvation. Yes, reason and logic has it's place for people understanding and making use of what we know about how the world works, but the infinite God who has created this finite world works and exists in ways that reason can't always capture and define. And this God has called the universe into order and reveal his glory. Our God is bigger than the reasoning of sinful and broken man. Truth is first found in the Scriptures where we hear the message about how our loving God works in the world and saves his people. (2 Timothy 3:16)

THE TRINITY
​The Scriptures tell us that we have a God who is one being and yet three persons. Since the beginning, God has been plural in number of persons (Genesis 1:26). But he has always called his people to believe and worship one god (Deuteronomy 6:4, Exodus 20:3). You can see God's triune nature when he presented himself as three persons when Jesus was walking on the earth in the first century (Matthew 3:16-17). And our God who has died and rose again in the human body with his spirit told his apostles, his sent messengers, that all people ought to find salvation in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19-20).

• The Father (a person of God,) created the world for his greatest creation, his people, to live and be rescued by him. 
• The Son (a person of God) came to this earth and justly lived the perfect life by the standards he had already set. He took the punishment of sin, that which is death, for the sake of the humans, so that people would not remain dead for eternity because of their sin, but be brought to an eternal relationship with God.
• The Spirit (a person of God) places saving faith in God into the lives of the people on the earth. He leads the people to the truth. He leads the people to apologize for what they have done wrong, and then have them turn from their selfish ways and then lead the people to live a God pleasing life. The Holy Spirit leads the people to live the loving lifestyle he has created us to live in.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE LUTHERAN CHURCH?

​The Lutheran Church is a part of the universal Christian church that began since the beginning of creation. Since the beginning, God has called his people to worship and follow him, but people, even the first two (Adam and Eve), have struggled and failed with this straight forward calling. When God came to this earth in the person of the Son (Jesus), many of God's people, the Jews, didn't believe he was God as he said he was. But those that followed and believed that he was indeed the promised Christ became known as the Christians. Then 1500 years later, Martin Luther was reading the Scriptures and recognized that the only Christian church of the West, the Roman Catholic Church, seemed to have lost the fullness of the Good News of salvation found in Jesus Christ. He realized that people were not save by their works but by the works Jesus had done for us. The Roman Catholic church, in this time period, refused to believe this scriptural truth he rediscovered. And so the followers of Martin Luther had no choice but to leave the only denomination of the West at the time. And now again, there was a split. Those who followed what Martin Luther and what he believed became known as the Lutherans. As the Lutherans continued to seek the depth of their understanding of Scriptures, some Lutherans began to differ in their understanding of what the infinite God wants his people to believe. One big division was that some thought they were smarter than the words God had put in the Bible. They began to use their own broken reasoning to believe in something different that what God had already stated is good and loving. The Lutherans who believed in the message that God had placed in Scripture as it is written were the conservative or traditional Lutherans. At one point, some of these Lutherans came to America so that they could be free to live out their theologically conservative faith. Over time, they found other faithful Christians who believed the same thing and began a denomination or a synod of what is now known today as the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod. Today they still believe that the 66 books in the Bible is enough to tell us what we need to believe, God's plan of salvation, and how to be good and faithful people of God. And again, the main message of the Bible is that God the Father has sent his Son Jesus to this earth and save all people. We are saved not by our works, but by his works. ​And the people ought not to reject this good news from the God who, since the beginning of creation, has in many ways rescued the people who believed in him.

WHAT IS THE HISTORY OF THE FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH?

​​The congregation of First Lutheran Church in Willows, California began as a church plant from St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Artois, California. In 1950 the people in Artois saw the development of the town in Willows and wanted to place a parish or ministry right in the middle of this growing community. Until the property in Willows was purchased, the congregation found temporary places to worship. On May, 14, 1950, Pastor A. F. Volmer was installed to serve this new congregation and, the church had its first service on May 29, 1950. Today the congregation is still bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the community as the people of this congregation participate in the worship services and engage in the community by living as repentant sinners of God and seeking his direction to make the most of their God given lives. They are living not only for their own benefit, but also for the benefit of the community.  

WHO IS WELCOME HERE?

​​As the Good News of Jesus Christ is for all people, all people are welcome here. This welcome doesn't mean anyone can do or say anything they want. Rather, it means that all people are welcome to hear the good and saving news of Jesus Christ and let this news transform and nourish their hearts. The hope is that all who interact with this group of Christians will be able to grow in their Christian faith, and live a life with great expectations. The people here are free to be in community with others, share their stories, and encourage and empathize with each other as we are all figuring out and embracing the future that God has in store for each and everyone of us. 

WHO IS THE PASTOR?

​​Pastor Sylvan Finger has been called to serve both First Lutheran in Willows, California and Mount Olive Lutheran in Corning, California since 2019. He first served these two congregations as an intern pastor (a vicar) the previous year. As they were receiving his service in that first year, the two congregations called him to be their sole dual parish pastor. He received his Master of Divinity at Concordia Seminary in Saint Louis, Missouri, and he received his Bachelor of Theology degree and pre-seminary training at Concordia University in Irvine, California. After Sylvan spent a few years of figuring out what he wanted to major in, he found himself spending a lot of time making sure the people of his home congregation were spiritually doing well as God has instructed. In realizing his heart to serve and care for others in hopes that many will embrace their relationship with Jesus Christ (as many had recognized before Sylvan had) he followed through his calling to be a pastor. And today he is happily serving these two congregations that are in two different counties. 

Today Sylvan is married to his lovely and dynamic wife Amy. They have two lively young daughters. The family enjoys seeing what God has done in their lives and the others around them. They are looking forward to seeing what God can and will do in these communities despite the many challenges and work it takes to love many people and yet have a healthy family and personal life. 

For more information on what we believe check out:   https://www.lcms.org/about/beliefs.