A Lutheran Home on Welcome Avenue
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church sits at the corner of 42nd Avenue North and Welcome Avenue in Robbinsdale, just off Highway 100 and only a short drive northwest of Minneapolis. Founded in 1943, the congregation has spent more than eighty years rooted in this small suburb and has become a quiet but dependable fixture on a street that is, conveniently, named Welcome. Faith-Lilac Way is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Minneapolis Area Synod, and its life together is built around a simple three-part motto: Grow in Faith. Go in Grace. Serve the Lord.
The congregation is best known for being a place where liturgy is taken seriously but explained simply, where the music ranges from sixteenth-century hymn tunes to contemporary praise songs in the same service, and where newcomers are greeted with the words, "Come as you are - no dress code here." Faith-Lilac Way is also one of eight ELCA congregations in the surrounding communities that have banded together as WILDFIRE Churches, a collaboration that has shaped confirmation, Vacation Bible School, men's fellowship, mission trips, and joint worship for years. A current season of conversation called New Creation is now exploring an even deeper shared ministry with several of those same partners.
Grow in Faith, Go in Grace, Serve the Lord
The three-fold motto shows up on the welcome sign, in bulletin headers, and in the way members describe their life together. As followers of Jesus Christ, the congregation seeks to incorporate into both their personal lives and their shared life "the marks of discipleship of: worshiping, serving, learning, praying, giving, encouraging and inviting." The mission statement, drawn from the Great Commission in Matthew 28, is to nurture one another through worship and lifelong learning, to welcome all people into Christian fellowship, to encourage the active participation of every member, to serve the local community and the world in deeds of compassion, justice, and peace, and to empower people to apply Christian beliefs in their everyday lives.
Worship is described as "easy to follow" because liturgy literally means "the work of the people," and everyone is invited into it. The congregation comes together to confess, pray, praise, hear God's Word, and receive Holy Communion. Study is open to anyone who wants to dig into the Bible or the world around them. Community is described as a "Faith community seeking to share God's Word and grow in faith together." Grace, the church says, is found in a caring, casual atmosphere; service is what happens when that grace goes out the doors.
Sunday Worship and the Liturgical Year
Worship is held on Sunday mornings at 9:30 AM in the sanctuary. The order of service is rooted in the Lutheran liturgical tradition. Most Sundays begin with Confession and Forgiveness, because the community "knows we aren't perfect - and we trust in God's grace and forgiveness to restore us to wholeness and to give us new life." From there the liturgy moves through readings and a sermon, prayers, music, and Holy Communion.
The congregation recognizes two sacraments: Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. Communion is celebrated at nearly every Sunday service. Scriptures are drawn from the Revised Common Lectionary, and the bulletins credit liturgical texts to Sundays and Seasons, Evangelical Lutheran Worship, and Augsburg Fortress, with music licensed through OneLicense and CCLI. Two sacraments, one church calendar, and a steady rhythm of prayer shape the Sunday experience from week to week.
The church follows the seasons of the church year in full: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and the long green stretch of Ordinary Time. Christmas Eve features candlelight services for both families and a late-night candlelight. Holy Week is marked by Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. The Feast of All Saints is observed in early November with commemorations of those who have died. A Thanksgiving Eve service gathers the community each November. A Blessing of the Animals is celebrated near the Feast of St. Francis in late April, and summer New Creation Joint Worship rotates among partner congregations.
Music from Old Hymns to Modern Praise
If liturgy is the skeleton of worship at Faith-Lilac Way, music is its beating heart. The music director and organist, Ann Marie Skoglund-Anderson, has led the congregation since October 2014, first as Organist and Accompanist and, since 2022, in the dual role of Music Director and Organist. Ann Marie grew up in Japan and in Chicago, and earned a Bachelor's degree in piano performance from Bethel University in Saint Paul and a Master of Music from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Her first piano teacher was her grandmother, who gave her the foundation for a lifetime of learning keyboard skills and a love for music ministry. "Being a part of leading worship and using music to bring glory and honor to God is a great joy in my life," she has written.
Under her leadership the music program weaves together several streams. The Chancel Choir sings weekly and rehearses on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM in the sanctuary. Soloists and small vocal groups add their voices to services throughout the year. Psalm refrains and choral settings are sometimes composed or arranged by Ann Marie herself; her name appears frequently in the bulletins alongside familiar works by Marty Haugen, John Bell, Per Harling, and many others. The hymnody ranges from Martin Luther's A Mighty Fortress Is Our God to contemporary songs like Goodness of God, Your Love, O Lord, and What a Beautiful Name, with classic Lutheran chorales, Taizé chants, African American spirituals, and global songs sitting alongside them in the same service.
On festive Sundays the choir and instrumentalists add brass, strings, and even a cello arrangement of What Child Is This at Christmas. The whole congregation stands to sing; worshippers who watch online can hear the choir's parts clearly through the livestream.
The People of the Pulpit
The senior pastor is the Rev. Pamela Stalheim Lane, who also serves as an internship supervisor for the Minneapolis Area Synod. A graduate of St. Olaf College in Northfield and Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Pastor Pam walks seminary students through the ELCA candidacy process and supervises pastoral interns at Faith-Lilac Way. Outside of ministry she loves backpacking in the wilderness with her family, exploring other countries and cultures, theater, and curling up with a good book by the fire.
Pastor Pam's preaching is rooted in the day's lectionary texts and grounded in everyday stories. Listeners have heard sermons built around a beach rescue and the humility of an old doctor who steps aside so a stranger can perform CPR; a wrong-number text that turns into an unexpected invitation to golf in San Diego; the legendary cinnamon roll burger at the Groveland Tap in St. Paul; rose petals showered on a Jesuit priest in Bolivia by a Quechua-speaking farmer; the surprising friendship between an Afrikaner family resettled in Fargo and their Congolese case manager; and the radical forgiveness of the families of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. Through these tales she draws out the connections between following Jesus, extending welcome, and practicing the kind of self-giving love that Paul describes in Philippians 2.
Pastor Pam is joined in the pulpit by Vicar Karla Leitzman, a seminarian whose sermons appear regularly in the recent archive. Vicar Karla previously worked as a major gifts officer for Global Refuge, a refugee resettlement agency formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. She brings her own voice to texts on forgiveness, hospitality, and the unexpected places where God shows up. She has preached on the parables of the wheat and the weeds, the Canaanite woman, and the sower, and on the haunting Romans 8 passage about creation "groaning in labor pains." Members and visitors regularly hear both voices from the same chancel.
Wildfire: Eight Churches, One Spirit
Faith-Lilac Way is one of eight ELCA congregations in the northwest Minneapolis suburbs that together form WILDFIRE Churches. The Wildfire partners are:
- Cross of Glory Lutheran Church, Brooklyn Center
- Elim Lutheran Church, Robbinsdale
- Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church, Robbinsdale
- First Lutheran Church of Crystal, Brooklyn Park
- Holy Nativity Lutheran Church, New Hope
- House of Hope Lutheran Church, New Hope
- St. James Lutheran Church, Crystal
- Valley of Peace Lutheran Church, Golden Valley
The Wildfire statement is short and energetic: "A New Way of Being Church Together for the Sake of the World - 8 Faith Communities United in One Spirit - Connecting Church to Church and Neighbor to Neighbor - Sharing resources, support and mission." In practical terms, Wildfire confirmation classes draw youth from all eight congregations, Wildfire Vacation Bible School pools volunteers and welcomes children from the wider community, and Wildfire men's fellowship, women's fellowship, and mission trips are planned jointly. A Wildfire Event Planning Committee meets regularly at First Lutheran to organize these efforts, and members of the Faith-Lilac Way council serve on that committee.
Wildfire Talks, a recurring adult education series, brings theologians and pastors from across the synod to address contemporary questions. Recent topics have included "Faith and Politics" with Pastor Mark Tranvik and "Christian Nationalism" with Pastor Chris Bellefeuille. Pastor Pam has called Wildfire's collaborative ministry "exciting," and the congregation's involvement in it shapes nearly everything they do beyond Sunday morning.
New Creation: A Shared Future
Alongside the longer Wildfire partnership, Faith-Lilac Way is currently part of a focused collaboration called New Creation. The visioning conversations have brought several of the Wildfire churches into deeper conversation about shared ministry, pooled resources, and joint worship. New Creation Joint Worship rotates among partner sites: in early August it was held at First Lutheran, in early September at Cross of Glory, and in early October at Faith-Lilac Way, where it was followed by a New Creation chili cook-off potluck in the Fellowship Hall. When the joint worship is held away from home, members can follow along through a livestream link shared in the bulletin.
New Creation also has a joint Bible Study that meets on Tuesday mornings at 9:30 AM, alternating between First Lutheran and Faith-Lilac Way. Pastor Pam and Vicar Karla have spent time over the summer meeting with New Creation Visioning Groups, and the church newsletter regularly invites members to share their hopes for what the shared ministry might become.
Children, Youth, and the Next Generation
Children and youth are woven into the life of the congregation in several ways. Sunday School meets at 8:30 AM on most Sunday mornings, and children move into the sanctuary for the 9:30 AM worship service. Vacation Bible School is a joint Wildfire effort, drawing families from across the eight congregations for a week of crafts, games, music, and Bible stories. The Blessing of the Animals service each April is one of the most popular services of the year for families with pets.
Confirmation is taught as a Wildfire ministry, so middle school youth from Faith-Lilac Way gather with peers from the seven partner congregations. High school youth participate in Wildfire mission trips, service projects (raking leaves, cleaning, and similar work for neighbors who could use a hand), and fellowship events that have included moonlight bowling, retreats, and lock-ins. The congregation is currently led in youth ministry by a Youth Committee that includes council representatives and congregation members.
Women's Ministry, Choir, and Adult Learning
Women at Faith-Lilac Way are organized in two overlapping circles. The Ladies Ensemble is a choral group that sings for services and special events. The Women of the ELCA (WELCA) is the larger women's organization, gathering for Bible study, fellowship, service projects, and the church's annual involvement in Cherish All Children's 5K Run/Walk.
Adults of all kinds find a place at Faith-Lilac Way. A Book Club meets to discuss faith-related and general-interest reading. Bible study is offered several times each week: the New Creation Bible Study meets Tuesday mornings at 9:30 AM, alternating between First Lutheran and Faith-Lilac Way; a Bible Study at Robbins Way meets Wednesday afternoons at 2:30 PM; and additional small-group Bible studies form around the lectionary or specific topics during Lent and Advent. The Chancel Choir rehearses Wednesday evenings at 7:00 PM and sings most Sundays. Soloists and small vocal groups add music to special services and festival days. Treats and Talk in the Narthex and Library at 10:30 AM offers coffee, conversation, and a relaxed way to get to know one another after worship.
Serving the Neighbor
"Serve the Lord by serving the neighbor" is more than a slogan at Faith-Lilac Way; it is a working list of partnerships. Locally, the church supports Every Meal, a backpack food program that provides food for children who might otherwise go hungry over weekends; NEAR (North-suburban Emergency Assistance Response), a food shelf and emergency assistance network; Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota; and a meal-delivery program called Dinner At Your Door (DAYD). The congregation has also committed to Child and Family Sponsorship through one or more of these partners.
Beyond the neighborhood, Faith-Lilac Way walks with Cherish All Children, an ELCA-affiliated ministry that works to prevent child trafficking and supports survivors; the ministry's annual 5K Run/Walk in the Twin Cities draws a team from the church each year. The congregation also supports the broader work of the ELCA through the Minneapolis Area Synod and contributes to ELCA World Hunger. As an ELCA congregation, Faith-Lilac Way is part of a church body that stretches from Robbinsdale to the global mission field.
The church also maintains the ministries of presence: Parish and Lay Visitors who check in on members who cannot easily get to worship, and a Lay Eucharistic Minister team who brings Holy Communion to those who are homebound. Hospitality is treated as a form of discipleship - the church's newsletter regularly reminds members that, in welcoming the stranger, they may be entertaining angels unawares.
What Faith-Lilac Way Believes
The congregation has identified eleven core values, adopted by the Long-Range Planning Committee in December 2001 and still in force today. They value being a welcoming community because God unconditionally welcomes each of us; the God-given gifts of people and helping individuals put those gifts to work within and beyond the bounds of the congregation, citing Ephesians 4:12's call "to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ"; the gift of stewardship as individuals and as a congregation; the life-long growth of discipleship, with the willingness to take risks for the sake of belief; the active participation of all members regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or circumstance; open communication of joys and sorrows; the congregation as a "training ground" for serving and being served; the church as a "safe haven" where needs and anxieties can be shared in confidence; the importance of linking with other entities whose mission complements their own; Faith-Lilac Way as one unique presence of the greater church across time and space; and the celebration of relationships with God and with one another.
The wider Lutheran conviction that we are saved by grace through faith and that Scripture is the authoritative source for Christian life and teaching shapes both preaching and teaching. The sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are recognized as central means of grace, and the liturgy follows the historic patterns handed down in the Lutheran tradition. New members are received joyfully in the spring and fall following a New Member Orientation, and the church is open to formal members, long-term visitors, and one-time worshipers alike, with the conviction that "every single person who enters our doors can expect the kind of hospitality that God extends to us all."
Plan Your Visit
The church building is fully ADA accessible, with on-site parking as well as free parking on the street. Worship begins at 9:30 AM on Sunday mornings, with Sunday School for children at 8:30 AM. Visitors will find coffee, water, and refreshments in the library just outside the sanctuary, and on many Sundays the Fellowship Hall downstairs is open for conversation after worship. Treats and Talk in the Narthex and Library at 10:30 AM offers a relaxed way to meet members of the congregation.
The dress code is whatever a guest is comfortable in. A contact sheet inside the bulletin makes it easy to share a name and stay in touch; visitors can place it in the offering plate during worship. The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, and the office staff welcomes questions by phone at 763-537-4523 or by email at office@faithlilacway.org.
Online Worship and Bulletins
Sunday worship is livestreamed on YouTube, and recorded services with full acknowledgements and printable bulletins are available on the church's online worship archive. Worshippers who cannot attend in person can follow along with the bulletin, hear the sermon, and sing the hymns from home. Printable bulletins are posted in the days after each service and remain available for those who want to revisit a particular Sunday or share a service with someone who could not be there.
Giving is accepted online, and an estimate-of-giving card is available for members and visitors who wish to support the congregation's ministry. The monthly newsletter, the Banner, is published regularly and shared online, as is the most recent annual report.
A Church on Welcome Avenue
Faith-Lilac Way Lutheran Church has been meeting on Welcome Avenue for more than eighty years, and the address has become more than a piece of geography. It is, in a small way, a theology: the belief that every guest who walks through the doors - and every neighbor who never does - is welcomed in the name of Christ. Grow in faith. Go in grace. Serve the Lord.