Since 1971…
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Worship on Sundays at 9am, in person, with Sunday School and Adult Forum following. All are warmly welcome!
Prayer, Praise, Word and Deed ~ Good Shepherd began as a mission church in 1971 and was formally organized as a congregation in 1973. We have celebrated with joy and thanksgiving for over 50 years of witness and service. Nationally, we are a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America; locally we are a founding member of the local Ecumenical Ministry and as part of that ministry we house the local Food Shelf. We are a gathering of people in all stages of our faith and life journey.
We are young and old, and in between, living in towns near and far, held together in the Body of Christ in prayer, praise, Word and deed.
Our Beliefs
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church believes that God’s love is freely given to all regardless of race, ethnicity, age, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation or gender identity. No matter who you are, how you are physically or spiritually, or where you are on life’s journey, we welcome you in the name and love of Christ.
Faith Formation
Good Shepherd attracts people from a wide variety of religious backgrounds, along with those who belong to no particular faith tradition. We are home to people who find themselves on various stages of their spiritual journey, whether strongly committed or still seeking. We believe in God as our Creator and Christ as our Savior but, through group Bible study and religious reflection, we allow people the freedom to explore and develop their personal faith so they can grow into unique expressions of God’s love and compassion.
Community In-Reach
Good Shepherd is a Christian community of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We express our faith in God through the love and care we have for one another, instead of through religious rules and mandates we impose on one another. We offer programs of ministry that we hope will speak to every phase of your journey with God. We also hope that you will consider becoming part of our church so that together we may increase and strengthen the ties that bind us to each other and God.
Reconciling in Christ Statement
A Reconciling in Christ Church (RIC) is a designation within the ELCA for churches that welcome and affirm people of the LGBTQ community into all aspects of the church’s life as expressed in the welcoming statement of our website. We represent a small but growing movement within the world communion of Christianity that looks at community and growth with this inclusive vision in mind.
When Good Shepherd decided to become a Reconciling in Christ Church, it chose to live into the exciting challenge of defying the norm of most religious institutions and nations throughout the world that say you have to look, believe, and behave a certain way if you wish to be a part of us and live a productive life. To such requirements, Good Shepherd responds that this is not how we understand the way of God and the love of Christ.
In a world where homosexuality is still considered a crime punishable by imprisonment or death in many nations; where clergy are disciplined, stripped of their ordination or excommunicated for officiating same-sex weddings; where members of the LGBTQ community are led to feel like irredeemable sinners because of their orientation, we here at Good Shepherd, in being a Reconciling in Christ Church, choose to acknowledge and embody a presence of God that shows no partiality (Acts 10:34), and looks not on outward appearances but on the heart (1st Samuel 16:7).
As a way of letting the wider community in which we live know that Good Shepherd is a Reconciling in Christ church, we have included us among a worldwide ecumenical listing of welcoming congregations under the website Gaychurch.org. Such congregations may not be officially recognized within their respective denominations as a welcoming or affirming or reconciling church but if, according to their pastors, they treat “a homosexual person no differently than any other person,” they are included within this website. In that our church affirms the involvement of LGBTQ people in all aspects of our ministry and conducts same-sex marriages, we are acknowledged as a “Fully Affirming Church.”
Open Communion Statement
Worship at Good Shepherd draws from liturgical traditions, shaped for contemporary people. The service settings, drawn from the Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship and other resources, offer a rich variety of music that is traditional, contemporary, and global. The Sacrament of Holy Communion is celebrated and all are welcome at the Lord’s Table. Those who do not wish to commune may receive a blessing instead.