Our
direction and goals as a church are summed up in the words of our theme verse,
“Blessed, rather, are those who hear the
Word of God and keep it,” Luke 11:28.
Jesus said those words to show that faith is believing, and faith is
doing. Our forefathers had this
passage hanging above them in worship in the original church building built back
in 1883, and it is above us as we enter and leave our current house of worship.
We
hear the Word of God from the Bible which we believe is inspired by God, totally
true and without error. In a world
where we hear lots of words, and many are not true, God speaks to us through the
Bible, which is always true.
Because we hold the Bible to be true, we are
motivated by what it says to do, i.e. “we
keep it.” Keeping God’s Word means
teaching it to our children through Sunday School, Confirmation and Youth
Ministry. It means worshiping at
four different worship services each weekend (schedule link here), where Praise
Teams, Choirs, and Handbells all use their gifts to exalt God and edify His
people. Keeping God’s Word also
takes us to supporting mission work in Alaska (link), the Soup Kitchen and
Ministry of an inner city Lutheran church called St. Matthew’s (link),
ministering to those in Stateville Prison through Deaconess Lori Wilbert (link),
and being a part of a mission church in Manhattan, called Sanctuary Manhattan
(link).
God’s Word, “is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto
my path,” (Psalm 119:105), for all that we do and believe.