Shepherd of the Hills is a place to call home, a place where we know your name, a place where friends become family. We are a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the largest body of Lutherans in America. While we are connected with a large body of congregations, we work to bring the Good News to our local community in ways that can be understood and embraced for today’s needs. We worship every Sunday with traditional liturgy; together we confess, hear the Word of God, sing hymns, share peace and celebrate the Lord’s supper.
As an inclusive congregation, we welcome all into God’s love and grace without regard to: Ability, Age, Beliefs, Culture, Ethnicity, Gender Identity, Income, Language, Life Circumstances, Marital Status, Race, or Sexual Orientation.
As God’s grace welcomes all, we are united in Christ.
“But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”
Ephesians 2:4-5
What We Believe
Below are some brief statements of our faith. This is not an exhaustive list, but some of the points that we hold as core beliefs. We believe that:
God loves and values all people. God calls everyone into fellowship with God, through Christ. Through the presence and promises of God in our lives we have spiritual wellness, vitality and new life. God then calls us to be of service to our neighbor, to advocate for peace and justice, and to provide for human need.
God calls us into a community. This community, the church, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit is the Body of Christ in the world.
God is Three in One: Father (Creator), Son (Redeemer), and Holy Spirit (Sanctifier).
Jesus Christ the Savior is the Word of God incarnate, born of Mary, truly human, and born of the Holy Spirit, truly God, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection all creation is made new.
Salvation is the restoration of our holy relationship with God. Salvation begins now and is brought to perfection in life after the resurrection. Salvation is the gift of God’s grace through Jesus Christ. We do not work for salvation. Nothing we have or could do can secure it for us. We respond to the gift of salvation by loving God and neighbor, which is God’s will for us.
The Gospel, called the Good News, is the power of God spoken and heard in the world which restores the relationship of God with humanity. The Gospel is found within the Holy Scriptures, spoken and preached, and is embodied in the sacraments (baptism, holy communion). The Gospel is confessed in the ecumenical creeds (Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian) as the power of God to create, redeem and sustain the Church for God’s mission in the world.
The Word of God is: 1. Jesus Christ, (the Word incarnate); 2. The proclamation of God’s message (both Law and Gospel); and 3. The written Word of God (the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, inspired by God and the authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith, and life).
