Welcome to St. Philip Lutheran Church
Learn about St. Philip from Pastor Brad, click to watch the video:
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St. Philip Mission Statement:
“At St. Philip Lutheran Church we intentionally build relationships through Christ to grow and serve.”
Rooted in Christ’s love, St Philip Lutheran Church envisions a vibrant community where all people believe deeply, connect authentically, reach outwardly, and serve faithfully. We seek to nurture spiritual growth, strengthen relationships within our community and extend Christ’s love beyond our walls.
St. Philip is a Lutheran Church, which means we are Christian. The Lutheran Church formed off of the Catholic Church over 500 years ago. St. Philip has been in Columbine for over 50 years coming together to be community and give thanks and praise to God.
What do Lutherans believe?
Lutherans are Christian. Lutherans believe in the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), which means we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God whom God sent to us to redeem the would through his death and resurrection. Lutherans believe Jesus died and was raised by the Father; therefore, Jesus was resurrected from the dead.
The Lutheran Church formed off of the Catholic Church in 1517, the start of the reformation when Martin Luther (not Martin Luther King Jr.) began questioning the practices of the Roman Catholic Church by nailing 95 Theses to the church door (bulletin board) of Wittenberg, Germany.
Martin Luther was a Catholic monk who discovered the concept of God’s grace: God’s love and forgiveness given to people freely through their faith in Jesus; compared to having to earn or work for God’s love or forgiveness.
Lutheran depended on the Bible as his source of truth. He read the Bible and was inspired by passages like Romans 1:17 and Ephesians 2:8-9, where Paul writes about the righteousness of God and how God saves us (people who do wrong and are considered to be sinners) through our faith, not by our works. This means it is God who is saving us, not ourselves through our good works or deeds.
“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith'” (Romans 1:17 NIV).
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV).
St. Philip Lutheran Church and the Lutheran Church at large, follow and teach the theology of God’s grace. There are many churches that focus on the law (law from God) and condemnation; however, Lutherans focus on God’s love and forgiveness: grace. Lutherans acknowledge our need for the law as it reveals sin, our wrong doings, and our need for God. People, even Christians, are not perfect and we need to repent and ask for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong against others and against God.
In our Lutheran liturgy, in worship, we confess our sins and are reminded of God’s love and forgiveness given to us through the gift of Jesus Christ, God’s Son. We hear the words of forgiveness, trusting in God’s grace for us. This is how our faith leads us to trust in God and have hope in our world as we are sent out to live out our faith by loving and serving others, doing good works and the work of God in the world through our hands and feet.
What is unique about St. Philip?
The beauty of St. Philip is that we are church that is united together in our faith in God despite our political and social differences. We, as a church, sit on all sides of the political line, but it is our faith that brings us together to be able to love, care and support one another in our faith and in our lives. Our politics should not separate us. Through our faith, we are able to have the hard conversations, listen to one another, ask questions and share our perspective.
This causes us to be able to grow in our relationships with each other to love, care and support one another. Together, we are able to grow in our relationship with God as we learn and grow in knowledge and understanding of God. Through our faith, we then go out to love and serve others. Whether it is through our Sharing with Sheridan Food Pantry to provide food for those in need or our Early Learning Center of building the foundation of faith for children and teaching children social skills and preparing them for Kindergarten.
Our services will be very familiar to you if you went to church years ago at a Lutheran Church or if you are former Catholic. You’ll find that our worship is both joyful and grounded in the richness of the Lutheran tradition — we are a traditional church with a touch of modern songs throughout our liturgy.
We have many talented musicians though and the music will certain lift your spirit. Our messages are biblical and relevant to our day and to our lives today.
What if I am unsure about church?
Whether you’re asking big questions about faith, looking for a place for your kids to grow in God’s love and build a foundation of faith, or hoping to reconnect with church after some time away — there’s a place for you here.
So, if you’ve been thinking about getting back into church, or if you just want to see what a vibrant, welcoming faith community looks like — come join us one Sunday for worship or contact me and we can talk about ministries you would be interested in.
You don’t have to have it all figured out. Just bring yourself. Bring your questions. Bring your story. When you come, be ready to be welcomed with open hearts and open arms.
I hope to see you soon at St. Philip Lutheran Church — where we believe deeply, connect authentically, reach outwardly and serve faithfully.
Worship at St. Philip takes place on Sunday mornings at 9:00am. We also livestream the service on Zoom and YouTube.
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St. Philip Early Learning Center
As a center, the ELC staff is here to witness to the children and their families, the love of God through Christ, and to give children the opportunity to develop a healthy self-concept and a positive feeling of trust about God and others.
We strive to equip the children in our program with the belief that they are created in the image of God, and that they are valued by God. We emphasize God’s special love of each and every one of us, teaching that God created each of us as a healthy unique and valuable human being. The staff at ELC act as models of acceptable behavior for children. Through daily classroom involvement and our Chapel time, children see important Christian attitudes in their teachers; faith, friendship, courage, thankfulness, sharing, caring, honesty, love, patience, forgiveness and cheerfulness. The staff reflect their faith in God through the words they use, and in how they relate to children. When children learn basic trust in others, their faith is nurtured and strengthened.