On a quiet stretch of East Puetz Road in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, Grace Lutheran Church anchors a community that has long taken seriously the old word "grace." Members greet one another with a handshake and a hymn, children spill out of classrooms at 8537 South Pennsylvania Avenue, and families fill the pews three times a week for worship that always includes Holy Communion. The congregation belongs to the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and is gathered under the care of the South Wisconsin District. Its mission is short and worth quoting: "To celebrate, teach, and share the good news of God's Riches At Christ's Expense among all people." The acronym G-R-A-C-E, members like to say, is the heart of the place.
Worship with Holy Communion, Three Times a Week
Grace Lutheran's regular rhythm of worship is unusually generous. Each Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. and each Sunday morning at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m., the congregation gathers in the sanctuary at 3381 East Puetz Road for a Divine Worship Service with Holy Communion. During the summer, between Memorial Day and Labor Day, the two Sunday services combine into a single 9:00 a.m. service, while the Thursday evening service continues at 6:30 p.m. The pattern keeps the Lord's Supper central to the congregation's life without making attendance feel like a part-time commitment.
All services are livestreamed on Facebook, and recordings remain available afterward for anyone who wants to revisit a sermon or catch up after a missed Sunday. The recordings go back years, allowing members to follow a long arc of preaching through the church year. Visitors watching from home can fill out a Grace Connection Card to let the church know they participated online.
Worship at Grace is liturgical and traditional, in keeping with Lutheran practice. Lay readers, an adult choir, and a praise band all assist, and the service includes a strong choral presence at Christmas, Easter, Confirmation, and other festival days. The congregation follows the lectionary through the seasons of the church year, marking Advent midweek services, Lenten midweek services, Ascension, Pentecost, Holy Trinity, All Saints', Reformation, and the Sundays after Pentecost, and the video archive mirrors that calendar week by week.
A School on the Same Campus Since 1980
Grace Lutheran School has been part of the congregation since 1980, making the school more than four decades old. The day school serves children from 4-year-old kindergarten through eighth grade, and it is the only all-day 4K program in Oak Creek. Every teacher is certified by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, and the curriculum is intentionally Christ-centered, with the stated purpose of "aiding parents in providing a Christ-centered education for their children by teaching and nurturing them spiritually, academically and physically."
Classrooms are organized by grade band: 4K, 5K, first grade, second grade, third and fourth grade, fifth and sixth grade, and seventh and eighth grade. Technology is woven into daily life; SMARTboards are in every classroom, students are issued Chromebooks, and the 4K students begin computer instruction right away. A robust Online Resource Center covers additional subjects, and the school partners with the Milwaukee Lutheran Elementary School Athletic Association for sports.
Lisa Hengst serves as principal and as a middle school English teacher. A graduate of Concordia University-Wisconsin, she has spent more than twenty years at Grace, first as school music director and middle school language arts and history teacher, and now also as the church's Director of Music, organist, and pianist. She is supported by Steve Gettelman, who serves as vice-principal and teaches fifth through eighth grade math after nineteen years on staff. The school has chosen to opt out of the state's Forward Exam, so its public report card reflects that decision.
Beyond the classroom, students can take part in cross country, boys' and girls' basketball, girls' volleyball, co-ed soccer, and co-ed track and field. The campus includes a half-court gymnasium, a cross country trail, and a soccer field. The school belongs to the Milwaukee Lutheran Elementary School Athletic Association and to a wider community of Lutheran day schools across the region.
Early Childhood Center and Camp Graceland
Right alongside the sanctuary at 3381 East Puetz Road sits the Grace Early Childhood Center, a nationally accredited program for the youngest learners. The center offers wraparound care before and after the school day, with morning hours beginning at 6:30 a.m. and evening hours ending at 6:00 p.m. Children in the program move through supervised groups, play in the gym, work on games, and use the computer lab.
When the school year ends, Camp Graceland takes over the same building. The summer day camp serves children ages five through twelve and is also offered during school breaks such as Easter, spring, and Christmas vacations. Activities include themed projects, outdoor sports and games, water play, and reading time, with a half-day rate of thirty-one dollars and a full-day rate of forty-one dollars.
Children and Youth: Sunday School, GEARS, Confirmation, VBS
Grace Lutheran's ministry to children and young people runs on several tracks at once. Sunday School meets on the first and third Sunday of each month, from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m., at the school building. Using the Growing in Christ curriculum, the program covers three full years of Bible stories, walking through the Old Testament in the fall and the life of Christ through the church year in the winter and spring. Classes are open to children from 4K and 5K through eighth grade, and parents from neighboring communities are welcome to bring their children along.
Grace Youth Group, called GEARS (Grace Evangelize Apostle Redeemed Service), is open to middle and high school students starting in sixth grade. Meetings include devotions, food, fellowship, and service projects, with past events including ice skating, Sky Zone outings, and concerts. The youth group hosts the congregation's Easter Breakfast and takes part in a variety of service opportunities throughout the year. In the summer of 2025, the GEARS traveled to New Orleans for the LCMS National Youth Gathering, themed "Endure" around Hebrews 12.
Confirmation instruction runs from September through April each year, for students in sixth through eighth grade. Day school students meet on Monday afternoons, and public-school students gather on Monday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the school. The curriculum uses the Faith Alive Study Bible and the 2017 Luther's Small Catechism with Explanation from Concordia Publishing House.
Vacation Bible School is a one-week summer highlight for children ages three through fourth grade. The recent theme was "True North," an Alaskan adventure pointing kids toward Jesus as the steady guide in a wild world. A friendly boys-versus-girls mission challenge raised more than seven hundred dollars for Operation Kid to Kid, a program that turns five dollars into up to seventy dollars of warm clothing for children in need. VBS Superintendent Amy Pankow organizes the week along with a team of teachers and volunteers.
Adult Ministries: Bible Studies, Stephen Ministry, Guilds, and Music
Grace Lutheran's adult ministry offerings give almost anyone a doorway in. On Sunday mornings from 9:15 to 10:15 a.m., an adult Bible class gathers in the school to study the Gospel of Matthew under the title "His Kingdom Forever." Wednesday mornings at 9:30 bring a women's Bible study to the church, and on the second and fourth Saturday of each month, the Rise and Sonshine women's group meets from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. at the school, with coffee mugs welcome. Men who prefer a weekday gathering meet for Tuesday Morning Bible Study and Breakfast at the Oak Creek Diner on South 13th Street, from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m., combining Scripture, prayer, and conversation over a meal.
Stephen Ministry has been a part of Grace Lutheran since 2004. Trained lay caregivers walk alongside members of the congregation and the wider community through times of crisis, including the loss of a loved one, hospitalization, divorce, loneliness, spiritual struggle, unemployment, terminal illness, aging, and many other life challenges. The relationship is confidential, the caregivers are matched by gender, and a Stephen Minister meets faithfully with one care receiver each week for as long as the need lasts. Brochures about the ministry are available in each pew.
The Grace Ladies Guild, founded in 1956, is part of the Lutheran Women's Missionary League, the official women's auxiliary of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. The Guild meets on the second Saturday of each month, September through May, at the school, and welcomes new members at any time. Its mission combines fellowship, mission support, and special projects for the church and community, including the annual Blessed Again Baby Shower.
The Altar Guild is a smaller but deeply committed group, divided into two teams. The Linens team cares for the cloths used at Holy Communion, while the Communion Care team sets the Lord's table and cleans the vessels after services, serving either on the Thursday evening or the Sunday morning rotation. Members commit to three months per year on a rotating schedule.
Music remains a strong thread. The adult choir, directed by Kathy Kolb, rehearses on Thursday evenings from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., September through May, and sings for Christmas, Easter, Confirmation, and a variety of other services. A praise band also leads portions of worship, and the school children sing in church about once a month throughout the school year, with a major Christmas Program and a Spring Concert as their largest performances.
What the Church Believes
Grace Lutheran teaches, believes, and confesses the historic Christian faith in its Lutheran expression. The church confesses one God, eternally existent in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and holds that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. In keeping with the Lutheran confessions, Grace teaches that all people have sinned and fallen from God's grace and cannot, by their own powers, restore a right relationship with God. In His love and mercy, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty for sin through His suffering and death on the cross. The church proclaims that Jesus rose from the dead as victor over sin, death, and the devil, and that all are saved by grace through faith in Christ. The work of God's love is ongoing: "He desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth," the congregation quotes from 1 Timothy 2:4.
Members are organized under a Church Council and board members, working alongside the pastor and teaching staff to carry out the mission, vision, and values of the church. The vision is to celebrate faith through regular worship, to teach the Word through regular study and stewardship, and to share ministry with the community. The core values rest on the foundation of God's love, expressed in Word and Sacrament, lived out in the relationships of forgiven children of God.
The Pastor and a Multigenerational Staff
Grace Lutheran is served by Reverend John Taggatz, who was installed as pastor in August 2020. He can be reached through the church office or directly at 715-467-1231 and pastor@graceoakcreek.org. Pastor Taggatz publishes reflections called "The Word Endures" and is active on social media as @jtaggatz. His wife, Roxanne Taggatz, is the first-grade teacher at the school, and the two relocated to the area when he accepted the call to serve at Grace.
The teaching staff is unusually deep, in part because so many of the educators are also members of the broader Grace community. Anthony Hengst, the middle school music teacher, is himself a graduate of Grace Lutheran School, and his mother, Principal Lisa Hengst, has been part of the school and music program for more than thirty years. Teacher biographies describe a faculty that prizes hands-on learning, creative writing, music in the classroom, computer integration from 4K onward, and an art program that culminates in an annual Art Gallery Night.
Two Campuses, One Ministry
Grace Lutheran's footprint in Oak Creek is split between two locations a short distance apart. The sanctuary, the Early Childhood Center, and Camp Graceland are at 3381 East Puetz Road. The school and the church offices are at 8537 South Pennsylvania Avenue. The church mailing address is the South Pennsylvania Avenue site, and the main phone line is 414-762-8990. The Early Childhood Center can be reached at 414-762-8755, and the day school at 414-762-3655. Online giving is available, and the church's calendar, prayer hotline, and altar flower sign-up are all active tools for staying connected to the congregation's life.
Whether a family comes for the school, an adult comes for one of the Bible studies, or a visitor walks in for the first time on a Sunday morning, the experience is meant to feel the same. Grace Lutheran invites everyone to "join us and know that you will be welcomed," and the rhythm of the week, including school, sanctuary, study, and service, is designed to make that welcome practical, week after week.