Our mission statement is to grow in faith through the Word and Sacraments and proclaim God’s forgiveness to all.

General guidelines:

• We don’t require dressing-up. Wear what makes you comfortable.

• An usher, member, or Pastor may greet you and offer a worship folder. If worship has begun, the worship folders will be near the entrance for taking.

• Seating is open. Feel free to sit where you feel most comfortable.

• Hymnals and Bibles are in every row, but most readings and music are printed in the worship folders.

• We try to create an atmosphere of contemplative worship. If you need something, please quietly ask the usher in the back for help.

• At the end, you may leave freely (but stay for coffee and a treat).

Feel free to use our facilities

• Restrooms are located in the back of the church to one side of the entrance.

• A cry room for young children is available near the restrooms.

• A water cooler and cups are located near the entrance.

Order of worship

We pray you will find a deeper appreciation in the rich symbolism and spiritual meaning used in our worship.

In our church, we follow a traditional liturgy and we generally select more traditional music. That means most Sundays we follow the patterns of worship and forms of music established in the ancient Christian church, but no matter the style, we make sure all worship is focused on Christ.

Our order of worship is structured to make it easy to follow and join together. To help explain and follow the flow and pattern of historic Christian worship, we provide a worship folder for every service. Side notes throughout the folder offer explanations about why we say and sing what we do. In addition to the worship folder, you may be directed to the red hymnal and the smaller blue-gray hymnal supplement at your seat.

Participating in Worship

It's okay if you choose quietly observe, listen, and follow along. You are always welcome to join us when you feel comfortable.

Lutheran worship is specifically designed to include the participation of the assembly. Much of it is conversational, including speaking and singing together as a congregation. We see worship as God coming to us through his Word and Sacraments, and we speak and sing the Word of God to each other.

On Sundays of Holy Communion, we invite our confirmed members of Good Shepherd and any members of our sister congregations - in the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) or the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS) - to come forward to receive the Sacrament. If you are not a member, but still interested in communing with us, please speak with our pastor first.

Offerings

Visitors may feel free to give, but please do not feel obligated.

The members of Good Shepherd give their offerings out of thanks to God for his great and unending love. These offerings are used to support our work locally and around the world.

We also have a friendship register in each of the pews, which we use to get to know visitors and guests better. If you write in your name and either phone number or email address, we'll say hello and find out what we can do for you. We respect your privacy, so we promise not to share it or add it to any email/newsletter lists without your permission. If you don't want to be contacted right away, we completely understand. We'd love the chance to get to know you better.

Post-service Fellowship & Bible class

At the end of our worship we brew coffee and share donuts or treats in the back of church, so feel free to stick around! We don't want to miss the opportunity to get to know you, so our pastor and members might say hello. We won’t be offended if you don’t want to be bothered — kindly let us know if you can’t stay and chat.

We often host a topical weekly Bible Class shortly after Sunday worship and fellowship. You don’t need to stay. We also offer a different one is every Wednesday or Thursday evening.

We also have:

• Bibles, Devotions, and other learning materials are located near the entrance - for free!

• Our Church library has more in-depth resources for Bible self-study and learning. Ask if you'd like to take a look!

• Christian greeting cards are located around the corner, near the cry room. If you need one, go ahead an take one. We ask for a small donation to keep it stocked.