Our Story

Abiding Presence Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We believe that each and every person is a beloved child of God. Whoever you are and whatever your life journey has been, one thing is certain - God loves you. We respond to this amazing, indescribable love that God has for us by loving God and loving other people. Our basic theology can be summed up in the belief statement, "Because God loves us, therefore we love one another."

In 2023, we celebrated our 45th anniversary, giving thanks for the ways we have been Abiding Together through the decades. When we started thinking about how to celebrate this milestone, we knew a simple party where we fed ourselves wasn’t going to be enough. For 45 years, the people of Abiding Presence have been putting our hands to work to feed people in need in our community. Before we even had a church building, Abiding Presence was building a community - and a world - where all are fed. Feeding people has always been central to how we live out our faith in this place.

So, we decided to celebrate with an intergenerational meal packing event. From the youngest to the youngest-at-heart among us, we served. We laughed, we packed 11,445 meals to be distributed around the globe and we embodied what it means for Abiding Presence to be the church for the sake of the world.

Now, we get to look ahead to our 50th anniversary in 2028. As we do, we get to think about the legacy we want to leave Abiding Presence’s next generation of followers of Jesus. Be excited! Our future looks brighter than ever.

Our Vision for 2028
Abiding Presence’s 50th Anniversary Year 

Our Legacy to Abiding Presence’s Next Generation Will Be

  • People who have a personal relationship with the Triune God, know scripture, can articulate their faith and are willing to offer an invitation to others to “come and see;”

  • Culture that embraces our Lutheran history of being a church that is always reforming and being made new;

  • Vision for God’s church beyond where we are in the moment (and maybe even beyond where current circumstances suggest we can be in the future);

  • Capacity of finances, facility and staff to respond to God’s next big thing or our community’s next urgent need;

  • Endowment to cover all capital improvements and general maintenance expenses of the church and parsonage; and

  • Healthy Finances that are free from debt and ready to fund new ministry ideas.

To Accomplish Our Vision, We Will Be

  • Clear in our proclamation that all are welcome;

  • Intentional in the work of making disciples; and

  • Bold in our commitment to feeding, providing mental health care and caring for our neighbors.

Our Vision Matters Because

  • Our lives have been changed and transformed by the good news of Jesus and the ministry that has happened these past 50 years at Abiding Presence;

  • We are passionate about passing down this good news to the next generation and beyond;

  • We live in a hurting and broken world that needs to hear the good news of Jesus; and

  • Jesus is coming back, and that good news changes everything.

Abiding Presence in the News:

A Dream Come True: 25 Years of the Fund for Leaders (The Living Lutheran, August 2022)

Throwing Doors Wide Open (The Living Lutheran, February 2022)