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About Our Sunday Worship

We follow traditional Lutheran liturgy and will be using orders of worship from the New Lutheran Hymnal.

Along with the sermon and singing of hymns a typical service includes:

Passing of the peace.

Confession and forgiveness of sins.

Prayer with a time for special prayer requests.

Holy Communion.

A children’s sermon.

Our choir sings once a month and at special services.

Our worship is centered in Ephesians 2:8-10 (8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.) and Matthew 22:37-40 (37 Jesus replied: " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.") In our worship services we learn of the great love God has shown for us and His will for our lives as we praise Him for the grace and mercy given to us. In our daily lives we worship Him as we live the love of Jesus in our encounters with others.

About Our Ideology

Our Ideology is stated as Seek, Serve, and Send. We are to Seek out the lost who do not have a saving relationship with Christ. We are to Serve their physical needs, as well as spiritual needs, in the manner that Jesus did on earth. Then we are to Send our ministers out into the mission fields of the community to Seek more who are lost, thereby completing the cycle of our Ideology.

Everything we do must support our ideology.
We are an inclusive community where you will be accepted for who you are. Regardless of your ethnic background or your past life, we will accept and support you as you work toward a God pleasing future. Caring relationships are very basic to our being people of God.
We want to celebrate diversity and yet find our unity in our common faith that creates the bond of peace.
We want to be aggressive and intentional in our Seeking, Serving, and Sending.
We are committed to discipleship, not membership. We want people to experience a transformational relationship with their God. This happens as we gather around the Word and Sacrament.
Our spirit is not timidity but flexible, pioneering, innovative, and willing to be on the cutting edge as we creatively seek to bring Jesus Christ to this post modern culture.
We want our laity to be involved in ministry, not just a bunch of busy work. We seek quality in our leaders and staff and want the mark of excellence to be evident in all we do. We want our guests, as well as our members, to receive each week more than they would expect from a congregation.
Worship service is to be an inspiring, meaningful time with God. We will offer different styles of worship but make it known that style is not the issue. We want to include a variety of methods to communicate the Gospel to our worshippers, ie. Dramas, puppets, children’s messages, multimedia, etc.
We expect our people to have a vital prayer life.
We are to be future oriented, positive, and expectant as we look to the new century before us. We long to experience what God will do in our midst. We recognize that God’s will for Family of Christ Lutheran Church is that it become the best, most vibrant, soul saving, life changing congregation that will outlast us for generations to come.
What we do must be aligned with what we claim to be our values and our mission.

About Our History

The mission board of the SELC District of the LCMS began the ministry in Jackson Township, Ohio in 2001 without a core group of people. Instead of focusing on a group of Christian people who wanted a place to worship, they were focused on the community that was in need of the Gospel. Therefore, Family of Christ Lutheran Church is being developed with the emphasis on community involvement. The body of believers exists for the benefit of the community around them. This mindset focuses each Christian on the Great Commission as they realize that God has placed them into families and communities that need to hear the Gospel. The Child Care Center will be the starting point to share the Gospel and equip families to evangelize the world. The Child Care Center will be the beginning of a church as the SELC uses a unique church planting strategy with the Child Care Center as a tool to build a congregation.

This concept was born and gained momentum in the Atlanta metro area by a few English District Churches of the LCMS. Three Child Care Centers currently operate there as a part of the mission of three separate congregations (Ascension, Christ the Shepherd, and Rivercliff). Christ the Shepherd was the first church planted with this method. Begun in 1989, the congregation is worshipping 280 weekly, with nearly 230 children and families being served there by the Child Care Centers.

Since the success of this model has become apparent several other congregations have been formed in the same way; notably in Tucson and Phoenix, Arizona. The model is now spreading rapidly as other congregations seek to implement this innovative means of outreach.

The primary goal in this concept is to plant a congregation. The childcare concept is and will always remain a mission of a congregation. With that said, however, we must go on to state emphatically that it is a very powerful ministry. Children are soaking in atmosphere of Christian Love and nurture for many hours a day. This has a profound impact on their lives; much more so than one hour a week in a traditional Sunday School class. A caring, well-trained staff stimulates the development of each child spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, relationally, and physically.

We realize that our church will not grow as a result of the Child Care Center unless we are intentional in our practices. Before the center opens, a strong visitation, evangelism and assimilation program must be in place. The efforts of the staff must be deliberate as they plan activities to merge the center’s families with church families. Establishing a relationship of trust and familiarity is imperative. When they are extended many invitations to attend worship through children singing, or open gym nights, the relationship of trust becomes a bridge that enables families to join us in ministry. The Child Care Center will be an integral part of our worship with incorporation of children in our worship practices.

After school programs will be provided for children in elementary and middle school. In addition, during school vacations and summertime, structured care will be offered in a warm atmosphere. We believe that the parents and students from three elementary schools and two junior high schools within a four-mile radius of our Center will be attracted to the quality and convenience of our programs.

In short, we will be able to serve the child care needs of all families: full-time care, part-time preschool for those families seeking to offer their child an quality preschool experience prior to kindergarten, and after school programming for all ages through middle school.

There is a high need for quality childcare and development services in our area. We will offer a full size gymnasium for physical fitness development for the children, computer enhanced instruction for preschool classes, and full day childcare for ages 6 weeks to 5 years old, something none of the churches in the immediate area offer. We believe that we can offer these services at a cost close to the current market, but exceed the quality and communicate a powerful message to the children and parents: "You matter to us, and you matter to God."

Our congregation has been worshipping since 2002. We worship in the gymnasium of our Child Care Center at 10:00 am on Sunday mornings with Bible Study and Sunday School at 9:00 am.