A little bit about St. Mark's...
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church was founded in 1953, so we’ve existed in the Hoffman Heights neighborhood of Aurora for over 60 years now. When the church began, there were two active military bases nearby and much of the membership was made up of those folks. Today, those bases are closed and the demographic of the neighborhood has changed dramatically. There is wonderful diversity in the neighborhood but also a fair amount of poverty and struggle, along with the development of a large, new medical facility, which has brought in new folks and new businesses.
Our Purpose Statement and Guiding Principles
These are tools we use to guide us in our life together as Christ’s church. They help keep us focused on who we are, why we gather, and how we’re called to live and serve.
Purpose Statement:
Called by the Holy Spirit. Equipped to serve. Sent to love all!
Our Guiding Principles:
1. Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
2. All are welcome, and all have gifts to offer.
3. We pray, listen, and follow where the Holy Sprit leads.
4. We strive to be leaders in our communities by sharing gifts and serving others.
5. We worship, fellowship and grow in faith together.
6. We strive to be stewards of creation.
We are Christians.
That term can carry some baggage. Christians are people who encounter God in Jesus and the activity of the Holy Spirit. The Bible is a book of God’s people. In that book, we experience again and anew the ways in which God’s people have encountered the divine. We believe the living word is not simply a book, but an encounter with scripture and the Spirit. We view the Bible reverently, seriously, thoughtfully, and critically.
We are Lutherans.
Martin Luther's Seal
Lutherans are Christians who understand the world and the church in the world through a particular way of being together. Without going into a history of the 16th century Reformation, Lutherans are held by the experience that God’s grace always comes to us freely. We receive it just as we are and who we are. In fact, Lutherans think human beings are never all good or all evil, but always some of both. We view humanity and all creation as beautiful, complex, broken, and beloved. Jesus is the one in whom we encounter God’s goodness filling humanity. We think this is radically liberating: You don’t have to "get saved" by making a choice or invitation to God. You don’t have to be good enough. God loves you and grace calls you to respond to that love with a life more and more reflective of that love. We especially and tangibly are embraced by grace when we encounter the living word together, are baptized and marked as God’s own, and share the communion meal together.
(A lot of these ideas were [more eloquently and thoroughly] expressed by Martin Luther, a German monk who, after many years of spiritual and personal turmoil, decided there had to be a better way to do church. One that didn’t involve people paying money to get a better seat in the afterlife, among other things. So he married a former nun, got in not a little bit of trouble with the powers-that-be, got kicked out of the church, and inspired a lot of people. "Lutheran" was a derogatory term impressed upon those who found his proclamation compelling. Here in the US and some other parts of the world, it stuck. Go figure.)
(A lot of these ideas were [more eloquently and thoroughly] expressed by Martin Luther, a German monk who, after many years of spiritual and personal turmoil, decided there had to be a better way to do church. One that didn’t involve people paying money to get a better seat in the afterlife, among other things. So he married a former nun, got in not a little bit of trouble with the powers-that-be, got kicked out of the church, and inspired a lot of people. "Lutheran" was a derogatory term impressed upon those who found his proclamation compelling. Here in the US and some other parts of the world, it stuck. Go figure.)
We are the church.
Well, yes and no. Anytime a few gather together in Jesus’ name, you have the church. The universal church is of all times and places, and when we gather, we’re a part of that body that transcends culture, time, and space. And because we believe God is graceful and a lot more mysterious and broad than we are, we believe that while we are the church, we are not the church alone. We know, it’s paradoxical. But so is life!
We don't have all the answers.
There, it’s out in the open. We don’t tell people what to do. Together, we encounter the living God in Jesus. And when we do that, around simple stuff like scripture, water, bread, and wine, God works through the gathering. We discover what we were born to do: Love God and love our neighbors. Sometimes we get comforted by what we find. Sometimes we get challenged by it.
We are affiliated with the ELCA.
The ELCA is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It’s a family of faith that emerged through a LOT of mergers of smaller families of faith all over the US and Caribbean. There are millions of Lutherans all over the world. There are about 4.8 million ELCA Lutherans in over 10,000 congregations in the US, and over 66 million around the globe who work together in the Lutheran World Federation.
A note about the word evangelical: The word simply means "good news." It s what Lutherans called themselves in Europe, and usually still do. The word has taken on different meanings in the US for different groups. We think it means encountering God should be good news. Period.
We are affiliated with the ELCA.
The ELCA is the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It’s a family of faith that emerged through a LOT of mergers of smaller families of faith all over the US and Caribbean. There are millions of Lutherans all over the world. There are about 4.8 million ELCA Lutherans in over 10,000 congregations in the US, and over 66 million around the globe who work together in the Lutheran World Federation.
A note about the word evangelical: The word simply means "good news." It s what Lutherans called themselves in Europe, and usually still do. The word has taken on different meanings in the US for different groups. We think it means encountering God should be good news. Period.
St. Mark's Lutheran Church ~ 111 Del Mar Circle, Aurora, CO 80011 ~ 303.366.9702