Welcome to Emmaus. In the Bible, the account of two men walking on a road to a town called Emmaus on Easter Sunday (Luke 24: 13-35) is the setting upon which we get the name of our church. In this story, the men are sad and hopeless as the one they believed to be the Messiah had died. Then Jesus appears to them. Only after Jesus opens the Scriptures to them, teaches them, sits down and breaks bread with them in a fellowship meal, do these men recognize Jesus. Their lives were changed.

When you come to Emmaus Lutheran Church, School and Preschool, we proclaim that Jesus Christ died for your sins and He has truly risen from the dead. The same message taught to those men that changed them is still taught and changes lives today.  Just as they were sad and hopeless, but left joyful and hopeful, may you go from Emmaus knowing that Jesus still comes to you through His Word transforming lives by the power of the Gospel, and gives His meal to not only remember Him by, but for the assurance of forgiveness and new life.

Come, take the road to Emmaus where Jesus will meet you and His fulfilled promises will change your life...  forever.

We invite you to come worship with us. We do not have a fancy building, as we worship in a gymnasium. Each Saturday, congregation members work together to set up the space for worship and together we put it all away after service and Bible Study to ready for the next school day. We also do not have guitars, drums or fancy lights. We are a simple church that does not seek to entertain you, but you will have opportunity to sing and take part in the worship as has always been our practice. Worship at Emmaus Lutheran is active and not passive. What we have is the message of Christ crucified and risen boldly proclaimed in word and song for people who are broken and in need of God's love for them. Then in response we are ready to share that love at worship and in our daily lives.

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Emmaus Lutheran Church is a church that worships using the historical liturgies of the church throughout the centuries. Liturgy is just a fancy word for an order of worship. Every church has a certain order that they follow. Our Lutheran worship is one that benefits God's people in many ways:

- The Word of God is given witness and priority throughout the entire church service. We sing the Word of God. We listen to the Word of God. We pray for the needs of people throughout the world. We preach on a set of readings from the Word of God, both Old Testament and New Testament, highlighting one of the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, focusing on the promises of God through His Son Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection for you!

- We confess our faith in the One, True God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The people of God, gathered together often recite the Lord's Prayer and the Creeds of the church as statements of what we believe. It is more than essential in this day and age to know what you believe and be able to express that faith in the One True God. There is an educational aspect to this as well, as from an early age on one can tell others what one believes especially as one generation passes these Scriptural Truths to the next.

- Jesus Christ is at the center. We speak or sing the words often "Lord have mercy," and "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World." By speaking, singing, and praying the Word of God, we are reminded of our place as created and God the creator. Jesus is our Savior. He is the Lord and everything has been placed underneath his power. His crucifixion and resurrection stand for all time as the apex of all history either before or after as confirmation of His love for you. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end and this is reflected in our liturgy. We preach Christ crucified. (1 Cor. 1:22-24)

- God comes and serves us. Yes, you read that correctly. Our worship is even called, "Divine Service," where we recognize God comes to His people just as God came down to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. Each and every worship service, he gives us good things: Pronouncement of the forgiveness won by Christ, His Word which is Life, assurance of faith and forgiveness through Holy Communion and reassurance that He hears all of our prayers. Yes, we do serve God in our worship by praising Him, listening to His Word and applying it to our lives. But we believe first and foremost that when we come to worship, He comes to us bringing His grace and mercy. The one True God is a God of relationships. He sent His Son to serve and not to be served, to give His life as a ransom for many. (Matt. 20:28).

- Using a set liturgy (order of service) keeps us grounded. How easy it is to get on a "hobby horse" and ride it. Often worship can be consumed by an individual or a congregation's own wants, desires or passions instead of being shaped and formed by the powerful Word of God which is living, active and sharper than any double edged sword (Heb 4:12).

- There is a very distinct emphasis on education in our liturgy. By hearing the Word of God on a consistent basis either spoken or sung, it begins to take root in our memory and thus becomes a part of us by the power of the Holy Spirit. There is an old phrase, "Repetition is the mother of learning." Even modern brain research testifies to the value of repetition in regards to learning. The wisdom of God far exceeds that of man, so we constantly set before us the Word of God that we would read, learn and inwardly grasp how wide, long, high and deep is the love of Christ (Eph 3:17,18).

- Helps to unite us as the body of Christ called to a place, but it also connects us to those who have gone before us. By singing songs that the church has used for literally centuries, we are reminded of the church throughout the ages, those that have gone before us and those that come after. The hymns we sing could be 500 years old or they could be written just recently.

- Jesus calls us to worship in spirit and in truth. People often believe set liturgies to be "spiritless," but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The Holy Spirit gives life and where the Word of God is there His spirit is. God's Truth is also conveyed and held in high regard in our worship as evidenced by our fervent use of God's Word. There is a place for emotion in worship as we are humans created with emotions and feelings, as the Bible says to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep(Rom 12:15). Our emotions are present, but they do not govern how we worship. We seek to worship in spirit and in truth.

- All ages are welcome. Our worship does not cater to any age group. It is multi-generational as we encourage the family to gather together whether 5 months old or 85 years old to receive God's good gifts. Some churches separate children, youth, adults etc., but we believe that we live in a world where families are too separated as it is. We welcome the little child as Jesus did and are not bothered by the occasional cry of child... or parent.

- For the newcomer, it can seem strange. Yes, we recognize this and we take steps to be hospitable to those experiencing worship in this manner for the first or even second time. Might it be easier for you if we eliminated all of this? Possibly, but we feel we would lose more than we would gain. The liturgy is so filled with the use of God's Word and wonderful Good News that to change it would be to receive less and Christ desires to give us more of Himself. We do love our neighbor, but we feel that first and foremost, we are called to remain faithful to God and His Word. To that end we do however, we recognize there are people new to this type of worship experience. It might be new to you, but new is not always a bad thing.

For more information see the LCMS website. If you have questions, feel free to email the pastor at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.