Hi there and welcome to Christ the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church!
St. Paul writes this in his letter to the church in Philippi:
“I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:3-5)
And as pastor here, I also am filled with a great gratitude for this community’s collective sharing of the gospel—their “yes” to God, their “amen” to Christ’s love. An “amen” that has carried them through a merger and pandemic, through change and conflicts of all kinds; an “amen” that has opened before us amazing ministries to our community, like our Pollinator Project in collaboration with Yale Divinity School and the Reimagining Church Program and our Lord’s Bounty Community Garden that is in collaboration with the Keefe Community Center and Food Pantry of Hamden.
At Christ the Good Shepherd We strive to affirm all people, of all gender expressions and orientations, all levels of ability, all ages and all racial identities. We journey with those who are curious about God, those questioning, those who are life-long Lutheran Christians, and those who just don’t know anymore. We welcome all to experience the joy of our God made flesh, whom we know as Jesus Christ. We welcome all to experience the peace and the challenge of Christ. (Read our Reconciling in Christ Welcome Statement).
Both peace and challenge we need in these days in our culture when values clash, battle lines are drawn, conflict and hurt are ever-present. But having been the pastor at CGS since August 2021, I can say this community is full of wonderful, faithful people. They are flawed, just as we are all flawed, but they carry the light of Christ with them and we let that light shine in worship, prayer, outreach and caring fellowship.
In our humble community, we go slow, to make space to listen to each other and to the Holy Spirit. Here, we also deeply value collaboration, both with our Lutheran siblings in the Greater New Haven Area and the New England Synod, but also with our Episcopalian siblings in Christ as well. We cherish the Church’s past with its deep and historic expressions of prayer and worship, but we also are flexible and adaptive, responsive to Christ’s transformation presence with us in our age of change, difficulty, and collapse.
Come along with us as we continue to transform together.
Yours in the power of the Spirit,
Pastor Josh