A Whitefish Bay Congregation With Deep Milwaukee Roots
Bay Shore Lutheran Church sits on East Hampton Road in Whitefish Bay, a few minutes from downtown Milwaukee and Lake Michigan. The congregation belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and traces its life back to 1929, when a small group of men met in a Shorewood home and decided to start a new Lutheran mission in their neighborhood. The church's mission statement, "Sharing God's Love with All (and All Means All)," is the through line of everything the congregation does, from its Sunday worship to its long partnership with Hephatha Lutheran Church on Milwaukee's north side and its steps toward becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation.
The building is shared with a partner, Once Upon A Preschool, which occupies the second floor, and with several community groups that use the sanctuary, fellowship hall, and classrooms. Music is a major part of the church's identity: a chancel choir, a handbell choir, a regular cellist in residence, and a violist in residence all shape Sunday worship. Pastor Sarah Stobie, who has served the congregation since 2019, often describes Bay Shore as a place that "values the richness of God's creation and offers a radical welcome to all people."
From Six Men in 1929 to a Building on Hampton Road
Bay Shore Lutheran Church grew out of a 1929 field study by Field Missionary Pastor A. C. Baughman, who reported strong population growth in the Shorewood-Whitefish Bay district. On August 15, 1929, six men gathered at the home of LeRoy Labudde to explore forming a new congregation. Six weeks later, on September 9, sixteen men met at Henry Clay School, adopted a constitution, elected a church council, and chose the name Bay Shore Evangelical Lutheran Church at Labudde's motion. The council was incorporated on September 11, 1929, with Alfred Locke, a Whitefish Bay real estate developer, as the first lay leader and Roy Papenthein, a well known Milwaukee architect, designing the first chapel.
By the end of November 1929, a 100-seat English cottage style sanctuary designed by Papenthein had been built on a leased lot on Hampton Avenue. It was dedicated on December 1, 1929, with sixty-nine charter members. Edna Schellin was hired as the first organist at fifteen dollars a month. The first church was built on a cement slab so it could be moved, and the council raised the money for the building and four lots without help from the synod or other congregations.
The Great Depression hit the country just as construction finished, but the church's first families kept the mission alive. The sisters Marie and Thekla Voechting held the construction loan and lowered the interest rate from six percent to five percent during the Depression so that the young congregation could pay it back. In 1936 the chapel was moved to its permanent home at Wildwood and Marlborough, and the present larger sanctuary followed in 1941. Several objects from those first members are still in use: the silver communion set donated by Eduard and Caroline Hardtke, the altar cross and candle holders given by the Voechting sisters, and the pulpit and altar vestments donated in 1950 by the Labudde family in memory of LeRoy Labudde.
The history series on the church's blog, written by Terry Johannes, walks through these founding stories in detail and ends with a roster of the men and women who built Bay Shore in less than three months and kept it going through hard times.
Sunday Worship at 9:30 a.m.
Worship takes place every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary, with the prelude beginning at 9:25 a.m. The service is about an hour and includes prayer, song, scripture, and sermon, followed by fellowship with coffee and desserts in the downstairs Fellowship Hall. Holy Communion is celebrated every Sunday, and the table is open to all who wish to receive it. There is no age limit, and the pastor also offers blessings for those who prefer not to receive.
The church livestreams the service on its YouTube channel, and recordings remain available there for anyone who cannot attend in person. Members of the worship team are aware that the livestream includes camera angles of the pews, so anyone who prefers to stay off camera is invited to sit in the last few rows at the back of the sanctuary. Communion can also be brought to those seats after the postlude, when the camera is turned off.
Dress is relaxed. Members come in everything from T-shirts and jeans to dresses and suits, and the church's invitation to first-time visitors is simply: come as you are. There is a parking lot behind the building and additional street parking. The church is also on the Green Bus Line for MCTS and is an easy walk from most residential areas in Whitefish Bay and Shorewood.
Children, the Prayground, and Sunday School
Children are warmly welcomed in worship. A nursery room is available as a quiet place for families, and the back of the sanctuary now has a prayground: a padded space with a small table, chairs, and soft books where little ones can move and play during the service. Children's voices, the church likes to say, are music too.
Sunday School happens during the 9:30 worship on the first and third Sundays of the month. Children ages three through fifth grade gather at 9:15 a.m. for J.A.M., Jesus and Me, and join their families in the sanctuary at 10:15 in time for the offering. Little Lambs, a shorter nursery led time, is offered at the same hour for children from older twos through younger fours. On the second and fourth Sundays, children stay in worship for Children's Time with the pastor.
The faith formation team has built a clear set of milestones for the years from before birth through fifth grade. Expectant parents are gathered a few times a year, and a Frolic Ministry sends monthly emails to new families. Children who are three receive an age appropriate bible on Bible Sunday, and third graders receive a fuller reading bible. Every February, Pastor Sarah offers a Communion Class for families who decide when their child is ready to begin receiving. Fifth graders are invited to learn how to serve as acolytes.
Vacation Bible School is offered in collaboration with Kingo Lutheran Church in Shorewood. Children spend two evenings together with a shared meal, songs, and activities; parents gather for a discussion group led by Carolyn Karl. In the summer months between school years, children gather for Praise Play: a thank you prayer, time to play outside when the weather allows, and popsicles.
Confirmation and Youth Ministry
Confirmation at Bay Shore is called ABC, Affirmation of Baptism, and runs for three years from sixth through eighth grade. Pastor Sarah and Marissa Knopick, the Youth and Fellowship Director, lead the class, which meets on Sunday afternoons during the school year. The curriculum covers the Old Testament in year one, the Gospels in year two, and the rest of the New Testament in year three, with Luther's Small Catechism woven through all three years. Each student receives a Lutheran Study Bible at the start of sixth grade.
Students are expected to complete five hours of service each year, serve as acolytes and lectors, take part in a week of confirmation camp, and help with Vacation Bible School. Confirmation Sunday is celebrated in the fall of ninth grade, with a special worship service and a reception for the confirmands and their families.
High school students continue with themed Bible studies, are encouraged to do their required service hours at the church, and take part in monthly youth outings. Every three years, the youth travel to the ELCA Youth Gathering, with the next stop being the 2027 ELCA Youth Gathering. Youth Service Trips are scheduled every other year, and senior high camp experiences are part of the rhythm. On Youth Sunday, the students plan and lead worship around their most recent experience. The congregation sends care packages to college students in the fall, encourages them to plug into a Lutheran campus ministry wherever they land, and welcomes them home with a Godspeed Sunday each August.
Marissa Knopick, who holds a BA in Sociology and a certificate in LGBTQ+ Studies, came to Bay Shore from Lutheran Campus Ministry at UWM and a summer at Lutherdale Bible Camp. She also leads fellowship events for the wider congregation and is a key leader on the RIC Team.
Adult Faith Formation
Adults have several ongoing options for study. The Pastor's Bible Study meets weekly on Wednesdays at 9:30 a.m. in the Luther Room and on Zoom. The Men's Bible Study, called First Word for Men, gathers on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 8:30 a.m. in the church lounge. On the second Sunday after worship, the Second Sunday Series offers an Adult Forum on a timely topic. Super Books, the church book club, meets three to five times a year on Sunday mornings for coffee, treats, and a book discussion; recent selections have included Transforming by Austen Hartke and Unclobber by Colby Martin.
Fellowship activities fill in around the study groups. Coffee Chat with Pastor Sarah is an easy way to sit down and ask questions about faith or the church. Crafternoons is a monthly, very informal time of crafting and conversation. In October, the pastor holds a Pet Blessing in the parking lot, and the church calendar adds seasonal events as the year unfolds. The Fellowship Team plans cross-generational gatherings that intentionally bring together the wisdom of older members and the energy of younger ones.
Music, Choir, Handbells, and Artists in Residence
Music is in the bones of Bay Shore Lutheran. The chancel choir, directed by Ben Perkins, sings on selected Sundays during the school year, rehearses on Thursday evenings, and welcomes anyone who loves to sing, with no audition and no requirement to be a member. The choir has grown under Perkins' leadership and has even sung the National Anthem at Brewers and Bucks games. Three scholarship singers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Ariel, Lauren, and Sian, are a vital part of the ensemble.
Perkins is also leading changes for the next season. Rehearsals will continue on Thursdays, and he is adding an optional voice class from 6:00 to 6:45 p.m. for singers who want to sharpen their skills. He is working to introduce more music by underrepresented composers and to bring lay musicians into the chancel.
Dulcie Shoener, the Minister of Music, has been part of Bay Shore for thirty-five years. She accompanies the children's choir and the adult choir, directs the handbell choir, and selects hymns for worship. A retired newspaper and magazine editor with degrees in piano and journalism from the University of Nebraska, she lives in Whitefish Bay with her husband Scott and a cairn terrier named Parker. (Her name, in fact, is a musical reference: the dulciana was one of her father's favorite pipe organ stops.)
The handbell choir adds a joyful sound to selected Sunday services, especially during the holidays. It is directed by Shoener and accompanied by pianist Wilanna Kalkoff, who retired after forty years with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. High school students are welcome to join, and rehearsals take place on the first Sunday of each month after worship, with extra sessions before performances.
Two Artists in Residence enrich worship at least once a month. Scott Cook, founder of the Cello Institute of Milwaukee, is a nationally regarded cellist and a former faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Carthage College, and Carroll University. He has performed with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Robert Shaw and was the artistic director of the Swannanoa Chamber Music Workshop in Asheville, North Carolina. Julie Bamberger Roubik is a violist and Suzuki pedagogue who studied with members of the Emerson String Quartet, performs with the Racine, Kenosha, and Festival City Symphonies, and owns Cream City Suzuki Strings. Both artists also lead chamber music events in the sanctuary, and the church's calendar regularly lists cello concerts and chamber music evenings.
Partner in Ministry: Hephatha Lutheran Church
For almost thirty years, Bay Shore's Social Ministry Committee and members of the congregation have supported Hephatha Lutheran Church at 17th and Locust in Milwaukee. The partnership includes Meals in a Bag, backpacks of school supplies, Christmas and Easter food baskets, Sunday luncheons, Mother's Day boxes of candy, snacks for the Summer Work Program, and other needs as they arise. The two congregations share joint ministries and services, and on occasion the chancel choir sings at Hephatha as well. The Bay Shore Lutheran Church Foundation has also directed grant money to Hephatha over the years.
The Cover Girls and the Quilting Group
For forty-one years, a small group of women known as the Cover Girls has met at Bay Shore to make quilts for those in need. Together they have contributed more than 3,500 quilts through Lutheran World Relief. The group is open to anyone in the congregation or the wider community, and meets from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on most Tuesdays in the Fellowship Hall. In 2018, the group hosted the Trinity Lutheran Quilters from New Holland, Pennsylvania, for a weekend of fellowship that was featured in Living Lutheran magazine.
Reconciling in Christ and the Strategic Plan
Bay Shore's current strategic plan grew out of council conversations in 2021. A Guiding Team was formed in July 2021, and a new mission statement, core values, and Plan for Ministry were adopted in August 2022. The core values are short and direct: We Gather, We Embrace, We Serve, We Connect. Two of the original three implementation teams are still active, and the third, the Neighborhood Team, has been folded into the Outreach Committee.
One of the most visible parts of the plan is the church's path toward becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation, an ELCA designation for congregations that make an explicit public commitment to welcome and include people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions. The Council formally created an RIC Task Force in May 2023, and the congregation has spent more than two years in book studies, film discussions, panel conversations, and listening sessions on what it means to be welcoming and open to all. Pastor Sarah has shared publicly that this work grew out of her own experience of being moved by Austen Hartke's book Transforming and by conversations with transgender and non-binary members of her previous congregations. The RIC Team includes Susan Foran, Tiffany Pfremmer, Marissa Knopick, Evan Gibson, Beverly Kingma, Laura Anderle, and Pastor Sarah.
Come and See: An Invitation to All is the church's broader growth initiative, encouraging members to personally invite friends, neighbors, and family to try Bay Shore, even just once or twice, before deciding. Pastor Sarah often reminds the congregation that becoming a part of a church should not be hard, stressful, or pressured, and that people can take their time.
Life Events: Baptisms, Weddings, and Funerals
Bay Shore celebrates baptisms of any age, from infants to adults, as part of Sunday worship. Parents meet with the pastor ahead of time, choose godparents, and the child receives a candle, a towel, a certificate, an age appropriate bible, and a small handmade blanket. Weddings are held in the same sanctuary, with the church's long aisle and air conditioned space making it a popular choice for non-members as well as members. The wedding coordinator, Nicole Owens, supports couples through the planning process, and a wedding brochure is available for anyone exploring the possibility. Funerals, memorial services, and celebrations of life are held at the church, and Pastor Sarah is also available for graveside services at local cemeteries. A prayer request form is available for those who would like the church's prayer group to lift up a need.
The Building, the Preschool, and Community Use
Bay Shore's building on East Hampton Road includes a large sanctuary, a Fellowship Hall, classrooms, a Luther Room, a lounge, and a youth room. These spaces are used not only by the congregation but also by community groups. Alcoholics Anonymous meetings are held in the lounge, the youth room, and the Fellowship Hall on multiple days each week. The Milwaukee Choristers and other musical groups have performed in the sanctuary. The Cream City Suzuki Strings program uses the Fellowship Hall for lessons and group classes.
On the second floor, Once Upon A Preschool, a nonprofit, play based preschool led by Teresa Freding, has shared the building for many years. The preschool is independently run and not formally affiliated with the church, but the two have a warm relationship. The playground was designed and built by Freding's husband Mark, an architect, with the help of family, friends, and former preschool families.
The building is also available to rent for one-time or repeated community use, with a Facilities Use Policy and Application that can be requested through the church office.
The Bay Shore Lutheran Church Foundation
The Bay Shore Lutheran Church Foundation is a separate 501(c)(3) that supports the religious, charitable, and educational purposes of the congregation. The Foundation's assets are held and invested by the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and its board of nine directors considers grant applications each November. Past grant recipients have included Bay Shore's own Building and Grounds, Youth, Soup 'R Books, Cover Girls, Outreach, and Choir, as well as Hephatha Lutheran Church, the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Marquette University. Members and friends of the church can support the Foundation through bequests, gifts, donations, and memorial tributes.
Office, Staff, and Day to Day
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and on Fridays by appointment. Kate Yelvington, who has been the Parish Administrator since 2000, also coordinates the Sunday School program for ages three through fifth grade and a Children's Choir music program. Bob Greveen, a member since 2002 and the church's Comptroller since 2010, handles the bills and reconciles the accounts for the Treasurer, and often serves as an usher on Sundays. Tom Johnson, the Maintenance Engineer, has been a member of Bay Shore for more than forty years and a member of the Building and Grounds Committee for almost as long. Lucy Jane Wagenaar, Pastor Sarah's daughter, runs the cameras and manages the server for the livestream each Sunday. Nicole Owens serves as Wedding Coordinator and Church Host.
Dan Noble, who has been a custodian at Bay Shore for more than twenty years, also volunteers with area homeless organizations, particularly Guest House, and often talks about how it is his passion to walk alongside people who are struggling.
Joining the Life of Bay Shore
Becoming part of Bay Shore is intentionally low pressure. Visitors are welcome to attend worship, join a study group, or help with a ministry project before deciding anything. Coffee Chat with the pastor, a single worship service, or a Wednesday night Lenten soup and discussion is often a comfortable first step. The church's message is consistent: come, give it a try, and see whether this is the community you are looking for. As Pastor Sarah likes to put it, becoming a part of a church should not be hard, and at Bay Shore it is not.