Sunday Mornings: Two Services, One Table
From September through June, Faith Lutheran gathers twice on Sunday at 360 S. Main Street in Andover. The 9:15 AM service is traditional, with organ and piano leading the liturgy. The 11:00 AM service is contemporary, led by the in-house praise band. During the summer months the two merge into a single 10:00 AM blended service that draws on both musical traditions. Holy communion is celebrated at every service, and all are welcome at the table, including those joining online, who are invited to set bread and wine or grape juice at home to participate. Both services are livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel.
What Visitors Will Find in the Pew
Visitors are expected and greeted warmly. The order of service includes written instructions, and the pastor cues the congregation when to sit or stand, so newcomers do not need to know the routine in advance. No one is asked to stand up and give their name; the church would rather meet newcomers at coffee hour.
Children are welcome to stay for the whole service or to leave after a children's message for Sunday School during the school year. For those who stay in the pew, busy bags and a "prayground" area behind the last pews offer space to color, read, or move quietly.
The traditional service uses Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW), the primary hymnal of the ELCA. It contains 893 hymns and ten complete liturgy settings. The contemporary service draws on a wide range of music, from contemporary Christian playlists to gospel, jazz, and original compositions written by the praise band leader. Prayers at the contemporary service follow the day's theme and come from interdenominational resources or are offered extemporaneously.
Music Ministries
Faith has invested deeply in both sides of its musical life. DJ Cleavinger directs the traditional music, drawing on organ, piano, and the ELW hymnal. Ingrid Marstaller leads the praise band and writes original pieces that appear alongside contemporary favorites. Together the music teams support worship at both Sunday services and provide music for weddings and funerals upon request.
Growing Up at Faith: Sunday School, First Communion, and Confirmation
Faith Lutheran welcomes children from PreK through high school into a layered program of faith formation. Sunday School meets during the 9:15 AM service from September through June. Children begin worship with their families, leave after the children's message, and return in time for communion so they can receive the sacrament together.
Middle and high schoolers gather twice a month for Teen Talk, a guided conversation about the Sunday readings and how they meet everyday life. Older youth move into a confirmation program that typically begins in seventh grade and runs for two years, though it can start whenever a youth or adult is ready. The curriculum walks through the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Apostles' Creed, the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, and the Bible, woven together with service projects and relationship-building activities. At the end of the second year, the confirmands write faith statements tied to the five promises of baptism and share them with the congregation on Confirmation Sunday.
First Communion preparation is offered in three weekly classes, generally for those in second grade and up, with the children receiving their first communion with their families the following Sunday. Any child of any age is welcome at the table.
Each summer, Vacation Bible School takes over the building for a week. Recent programs have run July 27 to 31 from 5:00 to 8:30 PM with dinner provided, organized around a themed curriculum with outdoor games, crafts, music, and Bible lessons.
Youth Group and Mission Trips
Melissa Payson, the Youth and Family Event Leader, oversees a Youth Group that meets twice a month for a mix of fun and service. Pool parties, hayrides, beach trips, campfire nights, and outings to Dave and Buster's share the calendar with service projects in the wider community.
Each summer the youth also travel. High schoolers and their chaperones spend a week working alongside a mission crew in the Northeast, painting, repairing stairs and decks, and helping with roofing and siding, opening and closing each day with prayer. Middle schoolers spend a week closer to home. In 2025 the middle school group cleaned up a park, helped with chores at a horse barn, packaged diapers for families in need, and played intergenerational games with seniors at an assisted living facility.
Adults at the Table: Bible Study, Pub Spirituality, and Book Clubs
On Tuesday mornings at 10:00 AM a group gathers at church and on Zoom to walk through the book of Acts together, often lingering over lunch afterward. The Tuesday Bible Study is open to anyone who wants to join, with a Zoom link available through Louise Kress or Cindy Schatz.
Once a month from September through May, a different crowd shows up at Lee Chen's Chinese Restaurant in Lawrence for an informal conversation about a single topic. Past Pub Spirituality evenings have covered prayer, heaven and hell, good and evil, wisdom, and bravery. The group generally meets on the third Wednesday from 6:30 to 8:00 PM.
For readers, the Chick Lits book club meets roughly every other month, mostly reading fiction with a dash of non-fiction. The 2026 schedule includes Andrea Catalano's "The First Witch of Boston," Steven Rowley's "The Celebrants," Amanda Peters' "The Berry Pickers," and Glenn R. Miller's "Doorman Wanted," with gatherings both in person and on Zoom.
Men's and Women's Gatherings
The Men's Fellowship Breakfast meets at the church on the third Saturday of each month from fall through spring. New faces are always welcome, with no agenda beyond good food and good company.
Each fall the women of the congregation gather at Camp Calumet on the shores of Lake Ossipee in New Hampshire for a weekend of fellowship, spiritual reflection, and the kind of conversation that only happens when a group gets away together.
Serving Locally: Bread and Roses, Habitat for Humanity, and Beyond
Faith Lutheran's outreach to the Merrimack Valley is broad and recurring. On the second Monday of each month, three or four members travel to Bread and Roses in Lawrence to help serve dinner from 3:45 to 6:00 PM. On the second Saturday of each month, members aged 16 and up gather at 8:30 AM for a Habitat for Humanity build day that runs to 4:00 PM, working under Tom Baird, a Habitat site supervisor and Faith member who coordinates the program. No prior building experience is required.
Throughout the year the church collects food for the People's Pantry at North Parish in North Andover, with a focus tuna drive in January and periodic collections of dried beans, rice, and peanut butter. Members support Lazarus House through the "Hike for Hope" in October and by providing toiletries and fleece blankets for the shelters it runs. During Lent, the congregation joins an interfaith diaper and underwear drive organized by Communities Together, an organization that also provides after-school programming for children in Lawrence.
At Christmas, hundreds of gifts pour through the church's Hat and Mitten drive and Giving Tree, supporting Bread and Roses, Lazarus House, and Ascentria Care Alliance. Once or twice a year, members prepare bag lunches and hygiene kits to distribute outside the night shelter in Boston or in conjunction with Common Cathedral on Boston Common.
From Andover to Zimbabwe
Faith Lutheran's longest global partnership stretches from Massachusetts to a small community in Zimbabwe. Since 2003 the congregation has supported the Lutheran Church in Rwehanga and its community school, sending school supplies and, with matching funds from Thrivent for Lutherans, raising significant money for building and repair projects at both the church and the school. The congregation has helped develop a sustainable chicken farm and set up a grinding mill to make it easier for neighbors to mill their corn. Sixteen members took a mission trip to Zimbabwe in the spring of 2024.
Closer to the wider world, the church assembles Lutheran World Relief kits in response to disasters and conflict. After the war in Ukraine, members hosted coffee hours featuring a member's grandmother's Ukrainian blintz recipe to raise money for refugees through the Lutheran World Federation.
Beliefs and a Welcoming Table
Faith Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The church's motto is "Loving God…Serving Others."
In a Welcoming Statement adopted at a special congregational meeting on June 2, 2024, Faith Lutheran named what that love looks like in practice. Each person is a beloved child of God. The church welcomes all, regardless of race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or relationship status. It recognizes each individual's inherent dignity and worth, rejoices in the presence of people of every ability, age, race, socioeconomic situation, personal history, or legal status, and is committed to working for racial equity and justice.
The mission statement frames the rest: the congregation strives to share God's love and grace through worship and caring service to neighbors and the world, growing in faith so that each person models their life after the example of Jesus.
Core values hold those commitments together: Welcome, Worship, Nurture, and Serve. Welcome means making room for anyone, at any point in their journey of faith. Worship means appreciating a variety of meaningful worship experiences. Nurture means engaging sermons that speak to daily life and relationships that carry people through difficulty. Serve means generosity to the Merrimack Valley and beyond.
Faith Lutheran Church gathers at 360 S. Main Street, Andover, for two Sunday services from September through June, a single blended service in summer, baptisms and weddings by arrangement, Bible studies and book clubs through the week, and a steady stream of outreach to the Merrimack Valley and to the Lutheran Church in Rwehanga, Zimbabwe.