Like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, Leading the Way to Share God's Love
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church sits on Street Road in Southampton, Bucks County, with a clear and warm sense of what it is: an ELCA congregation that wants to be a place where everyone belongs. The motto printed beneath the church's name, "Like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, leading the way to share God's love with all peoples," is not a slogan but a working description of how the members organize their week. Five choirs, a long-running preschool, weekly Sunday school for every age, and a sustained ministry that drives volunteers into the Kensington section of Philadelphia on the last Saturday of every month all grow out of that single sentence.
The church's identity is grounded in Lutheran theology with a relaxed, come-as-you-are spirit. Holy Communion is open to everyone who wishes to receive it. Visitors are welcomed in the language of the congregation itself: "ALL ARE WELCOME. NO EXCEPTIONS." Ushers hand out bulletins at the door, coffee and treats follow the service, and a full slate of adult classes, youth programs, and fellowship events fill out the week.
Sunday Morning at Good Shepherd
Worship is offered every Sunday at 9:00 AM in the sanctuary and runs about an hour. Ushers greet visitors at the door with a bulletin that functions as a script through the service. Each week the liturgy weaves together Bible readings, hymns, contemporary Christian songs, traditional liturgical prayers, and a sermon. Holy Communion is celebrated twice a month, and the church teaches that everyone is welcomed and encouraged at the table; it is Christ who does the welcoming.
The service is designed for families. Children are welcome in the sanctuary, and the church provides special worship activities for them. For any parent who wants a quieter option, the service is streamed live into the library, where there are toys. Children making noise is, in the church's own words, "better than ok" - the congregation adores having young children present.
Coffee hour begins at 10:00 AM in Fellowship Hall, where coffee, tea, juice, and snacks carry conversation from September through May. Sunday school for all ages, including adults, starts at 15 minutes past ten and runs until 11:15.
What to wear and what to expect
Dress however you are comfortable. Suits and ties, dresses, jeans, and shorts all appear on Sunday mornings. The expectation is the same for everyone: come, listen, and join in as much or as little as feels right.
Music That Spans Five Choirs
Music is one of the most distinctive parts of life at Good Shepherd. Five choirs serve the congregation: an Adult Choir, a Youth Choir, a Junior Choir, a Cherub Choir for the youngest singers, and a Handbell Choir. Each of the choirs contributes to worship throughout the year, and the Junior and Cherub choirs often draw the strongest responses from the pews - the church notes that applause, cheers, laughter, and tears are all common reactions when the children sing.
Robert Prester serves as organist and is also an accomplished jazz pianist who frequently shares special music during services. Music licensing for livestreamed and recorded services is handled through CCLI, OneLicense, and Augsburg Fortress.
Children, Youth, and the Preschool on Street Road
Children and youth are central to the congregation's identity. Sunday school runs from September through the middle of May, with classes for ages two through twelfth grade meeting at 10:15 AM. Lessons are interactive and are designed to connect with the Bible readings heard in worship so that families can continue the conversation at home during the week.
Older students have a clear pathway. First Communion classes are offered in the fall and spring for first and second graders, with students and parents meeting the pastor for three evenings to learn about the sacrament. The two-year Confirmation program begins in eighth grade and is built around service, worship, and learning together.
The Youth Group is open to students in sixth through twelfth grade. Its mission is simple and direct: to grow their faith, to serve God and others, to love as Christ loves us, and to connect with friends. Activities include seasonal events such as pool parties, hayrides, and rope courses, retreats, overnight lock-ins, dinner nights, service projects, and fundraising. The highlight of the year is a summer mission trip; each July the high school and college-age youth travel somewhere in the United States to serve alongside other youth groups. Past trips have included Week of Hope in Woodbridge, Virginia. Kelli Barulli is the Youth Director.
Vacation Bible School happens every summer, usually during the third or fourth full week of June, Monday through Friday. Children gather at the church for Bible adventures that grow in faith together.
The preschool is one of the church's longest-running ministries. Good Shepherd Preschool has served Southampton families for more than fifty years as a child-based developmental learning center in a Christian environment. Programs are offered for two-, three-, and four-year-olds, with both half-day and full-day options available three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday). Field trips, gym, music, art, science experiments, yoga and mindfulness, and instrument exploration fill out the schedule, and the school admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin. Christine Linso, M.Ed., is the director.
Adult Learning and Spiritual Growth
Sunday mornings at 10:15 also include options for adults. The Faithweavers class discusses a topic that aligns with the children's lesson, making it easy for families to continue the conversation during the week. Single- and multi-week presentations and seminars are offered throughout the year on topics in Christianity and current world issues.
For something more bookish, the Bookworms Book Club meets on the first Monday of the month at 1:00 PM in Fellowship Hall. Members take turns choosing titles; recent reads have included novels by Hazel Prior and a wide mix of contemporary fiction.
Bible Study groups meet during the week as well, and Healing Services take place on the fifth Sunday of any month that has one. On those Sundays, the pastor and lay leaders offer a laying on of hands at the altar rail in place of Holy Communion, with time for personal prayer.
Cast Your Cares: Soup Kitchen in Kensington
The most distinctive outreach of the congregation is Cast Your Cares, a monthly trip into Philadelphia. Cast Your Cares is a soup kitchen and food cupboard ministry to the needy and homeless in the Kensington section of the city, offering food, water, clothing, and what the church calls "the life-changing proclamation of the Gospel." Good Shepherd members assist by volunteering on the last Saturday of every month. Volunteers meet in the church parking lot at 2:15 PM, carpool to 2438 Kensington Avenue, serve the meal, and are back at Good Shepherd by 7:30 PM.
Helpers can cook or serve, and the menu changes monthly - recipes are circulated ahead of time. For those who want to support the work without going in person, monetary donations can also be made through the church office.
Feeding the Hungry, Sheltering the Cold
Cast Your Cares is one piece of a broader food and shelter ministry. Good Shepherd also collects for the Jesus Focus Food Pantry in Southampton, with bins in the narthex on Sunday mornings. Food can be dropped at church, ordered through Amazon and shipped to the pantry's offices at 1844 Street Road, or delivered directly to the pantry at 1717 Street Road on weekdays between 9:00 AM and 11:00 AM.
Code Blue is the congregation's winter response to homelessness. Whenever the temperature drops below twenty degrees in Bucks County, the Advocates for Homeless and Those in Need (AHTN) coalition, which began in 2009 with several area churches, opens shelters and dispatches volunteers. Good Shepherd members help drive buses, prepare meals, and staff the shelters. The season runs from December 1 through March 31.
Valentines for Vets is an annual February lunch for veterans in the area, hosted at the church. The Giving Tree is a confidential in-congregation fund: members who are aware of a need notify the pastor, who places a "special leaf" on a tree in the narthex; other members take the leaves and quietly meet the need.
Caring for One Another
A cluster of small, steady ministries knit the congregation to its members. Stephen Ministry trains lay caregivers to provide confidential, Christ-centered one-to-one care to people experiencing grief, divorce, job loss, chronic or terminal illness, relocation, or military deployment. Stephen Ministers meet monthly with their leader for ongoing training and continuing education on topics such as depression and anxiety.
Lay Eucharistic Ministers are trained to bring Holy Communion to homebound members who cannot attend worship; anyone interested in serving in this role can speak with the pastors. The Prayer Chain receives prayer requests weekly and upholds members who are hospitalized, bereaved, or in any kind of need.
The Prayer Shawl Ministry meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 10:00 AM. Members knit and crochet shawls that are prayed over and given to people in need of comfort and healing. The same group also makes afghans for Abington Hospice, lap robes for homeless shelters and veterans' homes, baby blankets for Project Linus, and knit hats for children on reservations. Anyone who knows how to knit or crochet - or wants to learn - is welcome.
Meals for Each Other is coordinated by two volunteers and uses an online tool to organize delivery of meals to members who have been recently ill or hospitalized. Ministry in Motion provides occasional rides to church, doctor visits, and the pharmacy for members who cannot drive. The Military Connection Committee keeps the congregation in touch with members, friends, and relatives serving in the armed forces.
Good Shepherd Seniors
Senior Fellowship meets on the third Tuesday of each month at 1:30 PM and runs to 2:30. Programs feature guest speakers, musicians, and historians, with topics ranging from local figures such as Oscar Hammerstein II and John Wanamaker to personal histories such as "Growing Up in Communist East Germany," shared by a visiting pastor. A spring luncheon with a harpist, a fall ice cream social, and a Christmas gathering round out the year.
Faith on the Calendar
The church's calendar is full of recurring weekly and seasonal rhythms. Lenten Soup Suppers gather the congregation on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 PM in Fellowship Hall during Lent, with members bringing soup or a dessert to share. Midweek Lenten services follow.
Worship in the Park moves the 9:00 AM service outdoors to Tamanend Park on a Sunday each summer. Members bring chairs or blankets, sunscreen, and water.
Other community favorites include the GSLC Community Family Fun Day (held at Warminster Community Park each fall with food trucks, crafters, a car show, a bounce house, and games for kids), Trunk or Treat in the church parking lot, an annual Craft Fair, a Cash Bingo night, an Italian Dinner and Trivia Night fundraiser for the youth mission trip, a Winter Soup Supper and Fellowship, a Lenten Soup Supper series, an Easter Breakfast hosted by the youth, a Thanksgiving Eve service followed by pie in Fellowship Hall, a Cookie Walk, hayrides, ice cream socials, and Breakfast with Santa. Country Line Dancing afternoons fill Fellowship Hall with music several times a year, and a four-week Faith and Fitness Dance Class meets on Wednesday evenings in the summer.
An annual Golf Outing at Five Ponds Golf Course in Warminster brings together golfers and non-golfers alike for a spring banquet.
Beliefs and Sacraments
Good Shepherd teaches a straightforward Lutheran faith rooted in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The congregation confesses a God who loves all that is into being, who loves humanity so much that God became human in Jesus to bring people closer to God, and who lives with, sustains, loves, and guides people through the Holy Spirit.
Two sacraments are central to the life of the congregation. In Holy Communion, the earthly elements of bread and wine are joined to the Word and promise of God; participants are forgiven, renewed, and nourished for God's work in the world, and are united with all other believers. The table is open to everyone. In Holy Baptism, ordinary water is joined to the Word; through baptism, the church teaches, a person becomes a child of God, all sins are forgiven, and they are joined to the Body of Christ, the Church.
The congregation summarizes its Lutheran convictions in a few short statements: God's love is unconditional; people are simultaneously saint and sinner; people are saved by grace through faith, not by works; all believers share in the priesthood of all believers, sharing God's word and doing God's work; and the church is imperfect and, when faithful to God, is continually changing.
Pastors, Staff, and Council
The pastoral team includes Pastor Hopgood and Pastor Harkness. Both serve the congregation in worship, preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and the sacraments. Pastor Hopgood frequently appears in connection with Holy Communion, baptism, and the Giving Tree; Pastor Harkness appears in connection with the Bookworms Book Club and the archives of sermons.
Liz Francisco is the Music Director, coordinating the five choirs that lead worship. Robert Prester is the organist and shares special music on the piano. Kelli Barulli is the Youth Director, overseeing the youth ministry and the summer mission trip. Christine Linso directs the Preschool. Debbie Brady serves as Business Administrator.
The Church Council is led by Harry Leach (President), Wayne Goerlich (Vice President), Chris Simcox (Treasurer), and Tracy Gannon (Secretary), with additional council members Jennifer Trotter, Paul Kusowski, Will McGowan, Wendy Slear, Kevin Sokolowski, Robert Karch, Mary-Jane Kusowski, Dianna Maurer, Cheryl Pearce, and Miranda Zambino.
Members who wish to get involved can join one of several ministry teams: Church Growth, Fellowship and Family, Mutual Ministry, Communication, Finance, Property, Community Outreach, Member Care, Stephen Ministry, Stewardship, Sunday Church School (Children), Sunday Church School (Adults), Tech, Vacation Bible School, Worship and Music, and Youth.
Staying Connected Throughout the Week
The church livestreams its 9:00 AM worship service on YouTube and archives sermons online for later viewing. The Wednesday e-newsletter keeps members informed of upcoming events, study materials, and prayer requests. Online giving is available through a secure portal that allows one-time or recurring gifts to the General Operating Fund, Challenge Offerings, the Pastor's Emergency Fund, and other designated accounts. Prayer requests can be submitted through the church office by phone or email.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM at 877 Street Road in Southampton.