We love children to be in worship! The Pastor regularly tells young parents to bring the children into the service. Our Senior Pastor has raised all of his own kids here in worship and knows what its like to have little ones with noises and sounds and all.

We encourage parents with children of all ages to help their little ones learn to participate by joining in prayers, learning to sing, and listening to the readings from the Bible. At every Sunday service we have a Children's Message in which the pastor will give the kids a message with illustration that typically ties into the main message of the day.

For those times when little kids are having a rough morning, we do have a nursery that parent and child can retreat to for a few minutes. There is a television in the nursery so that families can still follow what's happening in the service without missing out.

It is part of our mission to help children and families grow in faith and being present is a part of that!

Several years ago our congregation made the investment to put two large screen displays in the front area of our sanctuary. The church has for all of her existence recognized the value of engaging the visual senses in worship. Stained-glass windows, paintings, banners and such have long been used and now we use digital displays. We put up the worship elements from our paper bulletins on the display to help worshippers follow the service. They are especially helpful for parents with young kids without enough arms to hold everything. The Pastor also likes to put up sermon pictures, videos and Scripture verses. The worship "geeks" who join us will like the fact that the backgrounds used on the displays always match up with the color of the church year season.

Musically we incorporate three different music groups on a regular basis. We have a vocal choir and a handbell choir each of which serve in worship on a monthly basis. We also have a Praise Band which leads music in two different services each month in lieu of the regular music on the organ. We find it important to be able to incorporate different styles of music into worship while still keeping the lyrics of the songs faithful to our Lutheran Christian identity.

While historically people were very formal in their dress for worship at Grace, today things have relaxed much as they have done in most churches. You are certainly welcome for worship in whatever attire makes you comfortable (shirts, shoes, and pants at least, please!). Having said all that, we still recognize that our gathering for worship is in the house of the Holy, Creator God. This makes it a very appropriate, though not required, practice for individuals to want to "dress for the occasion". Whatever decision you are moved to make just know that you will be welcome and loved here.

While the Bible teaches the Good News is for all people and our worship is open to everyone, the Bible also teaches we exercise with discernment who is to take Communion. The Bible warns against taking Communion in an unworthy manner (1 Cor. 11:27,29). The Bible also teaches of the unity, oneness, and communion we share when we receive the Lord's body and blood (1 Cor. 10:17). For those reasons we are only able to commune those who have been properly instructed in the Lutheran church and share in the same confession and beliefs as we do. We practice in this way out of faithfulness to Jesus' teaching and genuinely see it as a practice of love for us all. We would strongly encourage you to contact the Pastor with any questions and concerns regarding this question.

Yourself, your family, your friends. You can also bring your Bible! By the grace of God, we'll take care of the rest.