A Lutheran Light on South Main Since 1896
On South Main Street in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, Dr. Martin Luther Church has gathered Christians for worship, fellowship, and service since October 1896, when twenty families came together to organize a new Lutheran congregation. The church marked its 125th anniversary in 2021 and continues to live out its simple mission statement: "Centered on Christ, we are called to be an inviting beacon of light in our community." As a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the Greater Milwaukee Synod, Dr. Martin Luther Church holds that faith is formed through the study of the Bible, the Christian tradition, and human experience; that the saving grace of God comes through his son Jesus; and that every Christian is led by the Holy Spirit to serve by using their gifts.
The congregation offers different styles of worship on weekends, small groups during the week for faith development, and places for everyone to serve. The doors open not only to longtime members but also to anyone looking for a spiritual home, including those whose health or travel makes in-person attendance difficult, thanks to a robust livestream ministry. Visitors and members alike can submit prayer requests for themselves or a loved one, and the congregation prays with them.
Three Services a Week: Traditional and Praise
The congregation gathers three times each week. On Sundays, a traditional worship service is held at 9:00 am, and a praise-style service follows at 10:30 am. A shorter mid-week service takes place on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm. All three services are livestreamed on YouTube, and bulletins for each service are posted so that members at home can follow along with the readings, prayers, and liturgy.
The two Sunday services share the same Lutheran foundation but differ in style. The 9:00 am service uses the liturgical settings drawn from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship materials and is often accompanied by piano and choir. The 10:30 am praise service is led by the Praise Band and features more contemporary music, with a children's sermon before the children are dismissed to Sunday School. The Wednesday evening service follows the traditional liturgical pattern and has become an important midweek touchpoint, especially during Lent when members of First Congregational UCC have joined with DMLC for shared services.
Music from Choir to Praise Band
Music is a defining piece of life at Dr. Martin Luther Church. The Praise Band leads worship at the 10:30 am Sunday service and rehearses on Wednesday evenings after the 5:00 pm worship, around 6:00 pm. The band is always looking for singers and experienced musicians, especially on drums, guitar, and bass, though other instruments are welcome. Lukas Jaeger serves as the Praise Team Coordinator and is the point of contact for anyone interested in joining.
Two other ensembles round out the music ministry. Festival Choir is a mixed, massed choir open to adults and children in fourth grade and up; it rehearses for five to six weeks leading up to Christmas Eve, Good Friday, and Easter, drawing on favorite hymn arrangements, contemporary Christian anthems, and accompaniment by piano, guitar, drums, handbells, or obbligato instruments such as cello and flute. Pop-up Choir offers a single-day commitment: participants arrive early to learn a song and then sing it during the service that follows, making it an easy way for visitors and busy members to take part.
Children, Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School
Sunday School runs from September through May, meeting from 10:30 am to 11:45 am during the praise service. Children from age 4K through sixth grade are welcome. They begin the morning in worship with their parents, give an offering, sing a song, and hear a children's sermon before being dismissed to their classrooms. Children in 4K through second grade are picked up from their classrooms at 11:45 am. The program is coordinated by Angie Lewein.
Each summer, Vacation Bible School takes over the Fellowship Hall for a week of stories, songs, crafts, games, and snacks. The 2026 theme, "Rome: Paul and the Underground Church," gathered more than 300 school supply items for children in foster care and ended with a celebration potluck featuring a "human car wash" built from 40 kids, water blasters, soapy sponges, and leaf blowers. Recent themes have included "True North" in 2025, which raised $300 for Wildlife In Need, and "Camp Firelight" in 2024, which collected items for Lutherdale Bible Camp. Past years have also supported Children's Hospital of Milwaukee and the Ronald McDonald House. The week always closes with a potluck jamboree, and videos of each summer's highlights are posted on YouTube.
Confirmation and the Wider Youth Ministry
Confirmation is a two-year faith education program for seventh and eighth graders, blending learning, fellowship, worship, and service. The first year surveys the Old and New Testaments; the second year works through Martin Luther's Small Catechism, covering the Ten Commandments, the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments. Students gather in small groups with adult guides for sharing and support, and the Confirmation celebration service is held every year on Reformation Sunday. Class meets at 6:00 pm on the second and third Wednesdays of each month, September through April; on the first Wednesday of each month, students travel to St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Milwaukee to help serve the community meal.
The congregation is also preparing to send Confirmation students to the ELCA Youth Gathering, "IMAGINE MORE," taking place at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis from June 28 to July 2, 2027. The triennial event draws thousands of high schoolers from across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for a week of worship, storytelling, and service.
Bible Studies, Sewers, and Softball
Adult fellowship at Dr. Martin Luther Church takes many shapes. Three women's Bible study groups meet monthly: GIFT gathers on the second and fourth Tuesdays at 6:30 pm on the second floor of the Education Building to survey the Bible, Christian books, and Christian magazines together; Phoebe Circle meets on the second Tuesday at 1 pm in the Gathering Space and has been gathering for more than forty years; Sarah Circle meets on the third Thursday at 6:00 pm in members' homes, also for more than forty years. The Men's Early Risers Bible Study meets on the second Saturday of every month from 8:00 to 9:00 am at Cafe LaBelle at Shorehaven.
Fellowship also runs through hands and hobbies. B.A.G.S. (Blessed And Giving Sewers) meets every Tuesday at 10:00 am, October through April, on the lower level of the Education Building to make sleeping bags that are delivered to people experiencing homelessness through Milwaukee Street Outreach. The Quilters meet on Wednesdays once a month in Fellowship Hall to create quilts for Lutheran World Relief; each quilt becomes, in the words of the congregation, "a baby carrier, tied around a mother's back; a market display, spread on the ground and piled with vegetables; a sack for transporting those goods to market; a sunshade; a shawl; and most importantly, a constant reminder that someone, far away, cares a lot." The scrapbooking group has expanded into a Crafts, Projects, Scrapbooking Workday that meets on the second Saturday of each month from September through May in Fellowship Hall. For those looking for competition, the men's dartball team plays on Monday evenings from October through March in a baseball-style format, and the church softball team takes the field from May through August at locations throughout Oconomowoc.
Pastor Gary Liedtke, recognized in 2026 for fifty years of ordained ministry, continues to lead Table Talks, a periodic adult education series that has covered topics such as "The End of Time" and "How Technology Influences Behavior."
A Quilt, a Sleeping Bag, a Backpack: Outreach in Action
Outreach is woven through the church's calendar. The Wishing Well, a monthly collection for a chosen nonprofit, has supported Blessings in a Backpack, a national effort to provide weekend food for school-aged children who might otherwise go hungry, and the St. Benedict the Moor School Supply Drive, among other causes. Members also contribute weekly grocery receipts through the H.A.R.T. program at Piggly Wiggly stores in Oconomowoc and Hartland, with proceeds directed to the youth and Sunday School accounts.
On the first Wednesday of every month, a team from Dr. Martin Luther Church travels to St. Benedict the Moor Parish in Milwaukee to help serve a community meal for those in need. Members donate ingredients, prepare turkeys and stuffing in the days before, and meet at the church at 3:45 pm to carpool to Milwaukee. The congregation has also partnered with Outreach for Hope, the Greater Milwaukee Synod's ministry supporting new ministries in Waukesha County, hosting breakfast at the annual Ride/Run/Walk and fielding a fundraising team. Lutheran World Relief receives both quilts and baby care kits assembled by the congregation.
Two years ago, the church partnered with Oconomowoc High School's Technology and Engineering Department to design custom t-shirts worn at St. Ben's, the Hope Center, community parades, and Lake Country Dockhounds games. Inside the building, volunteers knit and crochet baptism blankets and prayer shawls that are distributed to the newly baptized and to those in need of spiritual support.
Meet the Pastor
Pastor Clare Cheney Sedlacek was ordained and installed at Dr. Martin Luther Church on May 22, 2021, after graduating from Luther Seminary in May 2020. A native of Oconomowoc and graduate of Oconomowoc High School and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Pastor Clare previously taught and coached at the high school level, worked in the television industry, and served as a children's ministry director before being ordained in the ELCA. She lives in Oconomowoc with her husband, Jim, and their daughter, Anne, who serves as the church's Digital Media Coordinator.
The congregation is led by a council that oversees five ministry teams: Admin and Finance, Empower to Grow, Outreach, Worship and Music, and Technology. Praise Team Coordinator Lukas Jaeger and Sunday School Coordinator Angie Lewein round out the ministry leadership.
Welcoming Visitors on South Main
Visitors are warmly welcomed. Sunday services are at 9:00 am (traditional) and 10:30 am (praise); a mid-week service is held on Wednesdays at 5:00 pm. The church sits at 325 South Main Street in Oconomowoc, with the Fellowship Hall and Education Building on the campus. The office is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and can be reached at (262) 567-3829 or office@drmartinlutherchurch.org.
Worship is livestreamed on YouTube, and weekly bulletins are posted. Giving is available online. Children are invited to begin worship with their families before being dismissed to Sunday School at 10:30 am. No matter who walks through the door, the message is the same: centered on Christ, called to be an inviting beacon of light.