Overview
Welcome to the website for Grace Lutheran Church in El Cerrito, California, a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. We look forward to sharing God's Peace in Christ Jesus with you in hope you find solace in His loving grace for you!
Mission: "To share and proclaim the saving love of God in Jesus Christ for everyone by serving in word and action."
Services offered
- Food Drive
- Bible Resources
- Devotions
- Organizations
Denomination and statement of faith
Lutheran
Below are some of the most important aspects of our Christian faith and form the foundations of our beliefs. Many of our core beliefs are also summarized in the Nicene Creed, a statement of faith that dates back more than 1,500 years ago to the time of the early Church, which is often recited during Sunday worship services throughout much of Christianity. Click here to learn more about the Nicene Creed. If you have any questions regarding our beliefs, feel free to contact us and we will be happy to discuss them with you. We believe that the Holy Bible is the one true Word of God, written by man but inspired by God. Without this belief our faith would be blind as we would not have a foundation to stand on. Without this belief anyone is essentially free to decide for themselves what constitutes the Word and will of God and what does not, making the created the judge of the creator. The Bible is made up of the Old Testament, which is based on the Jewish Hebrew Bible, and the New Testament, which consists of the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, a book on the acts of the apostles, letters from the apostles to congregations and others in the early Church, and the Book of Revelation. Unlike many ancient texts, the New Testament of the Bible, which contains the Gospel message of Jesus’ divinity and sacrifice for us, has the advantage of an unprecedented number of ancient copies of the original texts that survived, making it one of the most reliable ancient documents that exists. According to the work of Bruce Metzger, considered to be one of the most renowned New Testament Scholars of the 20th Century, there are more than 5,000 ancient copies of the New Testament that have been catalogued. This number is far greater than the number two ancient text, Homer’s Iliad, which has only 650 ancient copies in existence today. This incredible authenticity of the Biblical text only reassures us that the New Testament that we hold to be the true Word of God is on solid ground, having survived the test of time as no other ancient document has come close to doing.
Leadership
Rev. Temesgen Dabsu Diana Meux - Music Coordinator
History
Grace Lutheran Church had a humble beginning – After a mission canvass of the Albany area on February 3, 1931 a Sunday School opened on February 8, 1931, in a storefront building on Solano Avenue. One March 1, 1931 the first service for adults was held in the evening, with Rev. Martin Engel of Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Berkeley as the preacher. On October 18, 1931, the first Sunday morning service was held, with the District Mission Board in charge. On August 12, 1932 the group held their first worship service in the newly completed Veterans Memorial Building in Albany, where they held services for several years. Temesgen_Preaching.jpg In May of 1934 Rev. O.R. Janke began his work as the first resident missionary and on April 15, 1935 the Grace congregation was organized with seven charter voting members and forty-four communicant members and Rev. O.R. Janke was installed as their pastor on May 12, 1935. Grace became incorporated March 12, 1937 and on March 17, 1938 they dedicated the newly built parish hall-chapel on the ground where the church now stands. (The hall is now known as Janke Hall). In January, 1944 the congregation became self-supporting and on February, 1944 they had a service of praise and thanksgiving and had a mortgage burning ceremony. Grace continued to grow and flourish under God’s loving care and protection. On October 16, 1949 a ground breaking-service was held in preparation for the building of the church edifice. The building was supervised by one of our own members, Ed Hjellum, who was a building contractor. Much of the work was done by members and friends of the congregation, who volunteered to do what ever they could. Weekends and days off were spent at the church site. On June 11, 1950 we held two services dedicating the new building to the glory of God. We needed more room for our Sunday School so on March 11, 1955 a ground-breaking ceremony was held for an addition to the parish hall, which was completed in short order and was dedicated on September 25, 1955. On June 30, 1973, our first Pastor, Rev. O.R. Janke, retired after 39+ years of serving the Lord and Grace Church. After that we have had four more pastors, Ronal Rentner, Robert Krieger and Ralph Moellering, and Verner Olson, who have served the congregation. Rev. Olson began his service in 1990 and retired in 2013. Rev. Temesgen Dabsu currently serves as our pastor, and has been a blessing to our congregation.
Location and service area
15 Santa Fe Avenue
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