A Welcoming ELCA Congregation on Foulk Road
The Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd sits along Foulk Road on the western edge of Wilmington, Delaware, where its sanctuary, community garden, meadow, and fellowship hall have become gathering places for both the congregation and its North Wilmington neighbors. The congregation belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is part of the Delaware-Maryland Synod, and it identifies publicly as a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) community that opens its life to people of every background, orientation, and circumstance.
Good Shepherd is best known for three threads that run through everything it does. The first is a hybrid worship pattern that gathers the same congregation in the sanctuary, on Zoom, and on YouTube every Sunday at 9:30 a.m. The second is The Shepherd's Community Garden, a vegetable-growing ministry that has delivered more than 23,000 pounds of produce to local food pantries since 2017. The third is a long list of hands-on service partnerships that includes Emmanuel Dining Room, Lutheran Community Services, Lutheran World Relief, Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center, and Family Promise.
A Reconciling Welcome
Good Shepherd's welcome is on the door, not just in the bulletin. The congregation's Reconciling in Christ statement, adopted after a season of intentional conversation, reads in part: "Following Christ, we promise to provide a loving welcome to all, regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, race, age, nationality, ethnicity, marital status, family configuration, political affiliation, and economic circumstance. We especially encourage LGBTQIA+ people to make Good Shepherd their spiritual home."
The statement also commits the community to opposing racism and resisting bias of every kind. The closing image, "like a well tilled and tended garden, love grows here," connects the welcome directly to the work done in the soil behind the church. Visitors who want to learn more about joining are invited into Growing in Faith Together, or GIFT, a process of conversation and connection that pairs newcomers with a sponsor from the congregation.
Sunday Worship at 9:30
Sunday morning is the heartbeat of the week. Worship begins at 9:30 a.m. in the sanctuary, on Zoom, and on the church's YouTube channel, so members at home and members in the pews are sharing the same liturgy at the same moment. The service follows a fourfold pattern of Gathering, Hearing God's Word, Sharing in God's Meal, and Being Sent into God's World to Serve. Time-honored phrases from scripture weave through the liturgy: "Peace be with you," "Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us," and the Aaronic blessing, "The Lord will bless us and keep us… in his peace."
Holy Communion is celebrated every Sunday, in person and on Zoom. At the altar, the minister drops a wafer into outstretched hands, speaks the words of blessing, and invites each person to take a pre-filled glass of grape juice at a distanced station. On Zoom, a communion minister welcomes each household by name in a breakout room. Communion at Good Shepherd is open to everyone regardless of church affiliation, and those who do not take bread and wine are welcome to come forward for a word of blessing. Children who wish to begin receiving the meal can arrange instruction with the pastor.
Children are always welcome in worship. A children's message is offered most weeks, and a GraceSpace is available toward the front-left of the sanctuary so younger children can move and play while still taking part in the service. Child care for infants through age four is available in the nursery down the hallway on the right, across from the restrooms. Those joining online can also find a worship video archive going back several years, with full services and shorter highlights for individual moments.
Visitors are asked to enter through the main Chatham doors, and greeters are on hand to answer questions. The offering plate is not passed; gifts may be placed at a designated station, given online through the church's electronic giving portal, mailed to the office, or transferred as appreciated stock. A coffee hour in the narthex follows the service for those who want to linger.
Music That Leads the Liturgy
Music at Good Shepherd is built around the conviction that a "joyful noise" is what worship needs, not a perfect one. The Good Shepherd Choir, made up of adults and teens, leads congregational singing of hymns and liturgy and presents anthems throughout the program year, with a pickup choir carrying the summer months. Psalm 100's call to make a joyful noise is treated as both mandate and invitation.
Handbells have rung at Good Shepherd since 2004. The Memorial Handbell Ringers, directed by Margaret Love, play on a 5-octave and a 2-octave set of Schulmerich handbells and a 4-octave set of Suzuki handchimes, and they offer music in worship about every four to six weeks. Junior Handbells introduces younger ringers to music reading and ringing, and an intergenerational Instrumental Ensemble gathers wind and string players for festival services. A folk ensemble supports the "Of the Lands and Seasons" liturgy, and summer Sundays feature vocal and instrumental solos from musicians of every skill level. Dr. Christian Lyons, who joined as Minister of Music in 2026, brings degrees in composition from the University of Delaware, West Chester University, and the Catholic University of America, along with more than a decade of church music leadership.
Children, Youth, and Faith Formation
Faith formation at Good Shepherd is built for the long arc of a life with God. Children preschool-aged gather as Little Sprouts on Sunday mornings at 9:00 for singing, stories, and connection. Older school-age children meet for Sunday Church School on Zoom at 10:45, after the service, for a time of sharing and prayer. Eager Beavers, a monthly group for elementary-age children, gives kids another on-ramp into the life of the church.
Confirmation, or the Affirmation of Baptism, is a multiyear walk for seventh and eighth graders that includes classes, mentors, service projects, and reflection on worship. The curriculum explores how to read and interpret scripture, who Jesus is, how to think about God as Trinity, and how the Holy Spirit shows up in the world today. Families with teens also have Youth Group, where middle school and high school students gather for faith formation, retreats, service projects, and a healthy amount of fun. The annual Youth Dinner, planned and cooked by the youth themselves, is one of the highlights of the year. Vacation Bible School, run as a week of evening singing, games, crafts, and food, has been reimagined as a multigenerational gathering that draws children and adults together.
The Shepherd's Garden and the Meadow
Behind the church building, The Shepherd's Community Garden is one of the most visible signs of Good Shepherd's outward-facing ministry. The garden was started in 2017 in response to a request from Lutheran Community Services for more fresh produce for its food pantries. It has grown from a handful of beds into seven large beds tended by church members, all of whose harvest goes to LCS, plus 34 additional beds rented to community gardeners who agree to donate 10 percent of their harvest back to the pantry. Since its founding, the garden has supplied more than 23,000 pounds of produce to local food programs.
Neighbors who do not garden are invited into the work through the Pantry Donation Cart, which sits at the church for scheduled Wednesday drop-offs between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Volunteers greet donors with a wave and a few words, and the cart is delivered to the St. Stephen's Food Pantry. Excess produce from home gardens can be dropped off on Wednesdays through October for the same delivery route. The garden is led by coordinators Becca Biggio and Linda Ulmanis, both University of Delaware Master Gardener Interns, who are available to answer gardening questions from across the community.
Beyond the vegetable beds, Good Shepherd has set aside part of its property as The Shepherd's Meadow, a habitat of native plants and grasses that supports pollinators and local wildlife. The meadow has been certified as a Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and is registered as a Monarch Waystation. The work was made possible by a grant from First State Resource Conservation and Development and the Delaware-Maryland Synod.
Service Beyond the Walls
Serving joyfully is one of the three core values that shape the congregation's life, alongside connecting gratefully and growing faithfully. The list of ongoing service ministries is long, and many of them have been part of the congregation for decades.
On the 9th of every month, a Good Shepherd kitchen team gathers to prepare 12 pans of lasagna, about 252 servings, for the lunchtime guests of the Emmanuel Dining Room; on the 10th, another team serves it. The lasagna has been a fixture of the dining room's monthly menu for more than 30 years, and the guests know when it is coming. A separate team makes 252 servings to go during the COVID era, when the meal had to be packaged rather than shared at the table.
Good Shepherd's quilting group has been tying Lutheran World Relief Mission Quilts since 1998 and has completed more than 2,000 quilts that have been shipped around the world. The group meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month at 9:00 a.m., takes a mid-morning break for devotions and prayer, and finishes around 11:30.
Four times a year, the congregation hosts families experiencing homelessness through Family Promise, providing meals, van driving, and overnight hosting. The church supports Hilltop Lutheran Neighborhood Center in Wilmington's Hilltop neighborhood with year-round giving, a Christmas adopt-a-child program, Thanksgiving meal donations, and a winter scarf and mitten tree. The whole congregation takes part in the ELCA's Godly Work, Our Hands day of service on the Sunday after Labor Day. A clothing collection gathers new and gently used items for distribution in Wilmington, with donations directed to the Friendship House Clothing Bank during the pandemic. A Property Team meets monthly to care for the building and grounds so that the campus remains a welcoming neighbor and a place where the carbon footprint is kept as low as possible.
For more than 60 years, Good Shepherd has partnered with Lutheran Community Services in food, housing support, and other services for vulnerable populations in Wilmington. Members volunteer at LCS food pantries, donate garden produce, host events on the church campus, and serve on LCS leadership. The church also walks alongside the Lutheran Volunteer Corps by hosting volunteers as a church family for dinners and fellowship, and supports Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Delaware, the ELCA World Hunger and Lutheran Disaster Response appeals, and Lutheran World Relief.
Each summer that does not include an ELCA Youth Gathering, high school youth and adult chaperones travel together to Workcamp, a week of home repair in places of need. Past trips have included Prince George, Virginia, Keansburg, New Jersey, and Schenectady, New York, with local Workcamps in Wilmington in some years. Closer to home, the church partners with the Blood Bank of Delmarva to host community blood drives in the fellowship hall several times a year.
Community Connections and Civic Outreach
Good Shepherd is also a presence on the wider civic landscape. The church is a designated polling place for county, state, and federal elections, and members welcome voters with coffee and snacks on Election Day. The congregation partners with Chatham, a neighboring residential community, to co-host summer picnics, outdoor movie nights with popcorn and water ice, Easter egg hunts, and a safe Halloween stop for neighborhood children. Members participate in Pacem in Terris, a local interfaith group working for peace and justice, and the church opens its facility to Able Arts, a non-profit theater company that brings together performers with and without disabilities.
Nurturing Care and Small Groups
Caring for one another is treated as a central work of the congregation, not an afterthought. Coffee Hour gathers members and guests after worship in the narthex for coffee, tea, and conversation. Easter morning begins with a shared breakfast, and the Christmas season brings a caroling outing to members who are homebound. Each year, the women of the church, their friends, and women from neighboring congregations gather for a retreat that has been held in places like Ocean City, Maryland, and Mar Lu Ridge. Good Shepherd also hosts Griefshare, a Monday-evening grief recovery support group that is open to the wider community.
Pastoral care extends through a Home Communion Ministry that brings the sacrament to members who are ill or homebound, a Prayer Chain of volunteers who carry requests through the week, and a Care Cards team that sends handwritten notes for both hard times and milestones. Shepherd's Vine, a telephone tree that began during the COVID-19 shutdown, keeps members connected when in-person contact is difficult. The name is a reminder that Jesus is both the Good Shepherd and the life-giving vine.
For deeper study and conversation, several small groups meet on a regular rhythm. Share and Care meets on Thursday mornings at 9:30 on Zoom. Tuesday at Two, a lay-led Bible study, gathers on Zoom from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, with recent studies on the Book of Acts and on Galatians. Good Shepherd Reads meets periodically to discuss current books on faith and society, and Together in Prayer gathers on the first Sunday of the month after worship to share God sightings and pray together.
Living Generously
Good Shepherd treats giving as a spiritual practice, not just a budget line. The congregation gives by mail, through an electronic giving portal, by setting up Good Shepherd as a payee for online bill pay, and through gifts of appreciated stock that can be transferred directly to the church's brokerage account. The church also holds a Mission Endowment Fund that has grown through careful investing and is governed by a policy of conservation of principal, breadth of beneficiaries, and quarterly rebalancing. Disbursements from the endowment have supported Hilltop Center, ELCA Disaster Response, Lutheran Campus Ministries, Lutheran Community Services, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the Shepherd's Garden, and the Synod's Hunger Task Force.
Pastoral Leadership and Staff
The congregation is currently served by Rev. Dr. Kibreab Gudeta as Interim Pastor. A native of Ethiopia, Kibreab holds a Bachelor of Theology from Mekane Yesus Theological Seminary, a Master of Philosophy from the Norwegian School of Theology, a Master of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg, and a Doctor of Ministry from Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. He is an ordained minister of word and sacrament in the ELCA and a board-certified chaplain with the Association of Professional Chaplains, currently serving full time as chaplain at the Wilmington VA Hospital.
Dr. Christian Lyons joined as Minister of Music in 2026, with a Bachelor of Music in composition and applied piano from the University of Delaware, a Master of Music in theory and composition from West Chester University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts in composition from the Catholic University of America. Margaret Love has directed the Memorial Handbell Ringers since 2004, with prior experience as music director at Hope Lutheran Church in New Castle, Delaware, and at First Unitarian Church in Wilmington, and is active with the Music School of Delaware and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Lynn Ziemer serves as Office Administrator, Rosie DeFrank as Office Assistant, and Bob Bateman as Sexton.
Worship is held on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in person, on Zoom, and on the church's YouTube channel. The church office can be reached at (302) 478-3030 and lcgsde@gmail.com, and the campus at 1530 Foulk Road in Wilmington is a place where, as the congregation likes to say, the garden is open to all.