The Lutheran Church of Our Savior has called Oakwood, Ohio home since the late 1950s, gathering in a 1924 English Tudor estate built for the family of a National Cash Register Company president. The congregation belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is part of the Southern Ohio Synod, and it identifies as a Reconciling in Christ community, welcoming people of every sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ability, age, and faith background. Set among the tree-lined streets of Oakwood - a walking, family-oriented suburb close to downtown Dayton and the University of Dayton - the church is known for its historic mansion sanctuary, two distinct weekend services, a deeply musical worship life, and a long record of community outreach that stretches from kindergarten weekend food packs to college care packages.
Two Weekends, Two Styles of Worship
The congregation holds two weekly services that offer very different atmospheres. Saturday worship begins at 5:00 pm in the chapel room of the Patterson-MacMillan House, an intimate space; during warmer months the service sometimes moves outside to the courtyard. On Sunday morning at 10:00 am, the congregation gathers in the main sanctuary, a 1960 addition next to the original house, for a celebratory liturgy with organ and choir. Communion is offered at both services, and anointing for healing is set aside for the third Sunday of every month. The Sunday morning service is livestreamed on Facebook.
Greeters meet arrivals at the front or side doors of the Sunday sanctuary. A Children's Sermon invites younger members into the worship space during the service, and after many services a punch bowl is set out for fellowship, giving newcomers a low-key chance to meet members of the church family.
The Patterson-MacMillan House
The church's most unusual feature is its home. In 1895, John H. Patterson, founder of the National Cash Register Company, built a 43-room European chalet-style residence on a hilltop tract that had once been owned by his grandfather, Colonel Robert Patterson. The estate was known as "Far Hills." After Patterson's death, his only son Frederick Beck Patterson had the frame razed and replaced with a 31-room English country Tudor, designed by the New York architect Harrie T. Lindeberg and finished in 1924. Its dramatic Scottish slate roof, hand-carved European wood paneling, imported stone window surrounds, English brick entryway, and stained glass windows from a Spanish castle in Cuba remain part of the building today.
Frederick Patterson sold the property in 1940 to John A. MacMillan, founder of the Dayton Tire and Rubber Company. After both Mr. and Mrs. MacMillan died, the home was willed to Miami Valley Hospital for use as a nursing school residence; when the hospital could not use it, the Lutheran Church of Our Savior purchased the building in 1955. The original living room became the worship space, with overflow seating in the library. A 1960 building program added the sanctuary, offices, and fellowship hall. An elevator was installed in 1999 for accessibility, and a long-awaited HVAC system came online in 2008. Today the first and second floors and parts of the basement serve ministry and program work. Restoration and enhancement projects continue.
Music at the Center of Worship
Music is woven into nearly every aspect of the congregation's life. The Chancel Choir, directed by Ginger Minneman, practices weekly and sings every Sunday from September through May, leading the congregation in hymns, ritual songs, and anthems. The church teaches that music is the art that binds the body of Christ together here, and that the whole congregation is the ultimate musical ensemble. A Handbell Choir under director Joe Beal rehearses weekly and rings on select Sundays during the program year.
Throughout the year the church also welcomes a wider circle of musicians to its worship and concert life. Partners include Sacred Harp singers, the Kettering Children's Choir, a Music Together early childhood program, Wright State University vocalists, MUSICA, and cello and oboe soloists. The Saturday chapel service is supported by a smaller Saturday band for a more casual musical style.
Sacraments of Baptism and Communion
The Lutheran Church of Our Savior teaches that baptism is the beginning of a relationship with God rather than a one-time profession of belief. People of any age, including infants and adults, can be baptized, and baptisms normally take place during regular worship services so the whole congregation can welcome the newly baptized and commit to their spiritual nurture. Adults baptized at the church also join the congregation, and at least one parent of a young child being baptized is expected to be a member. Sponsors, sometimes called godparents, may be family, friends, or fellow church members and may be active in another Christian community.
Holy Communion is offered at every service. The congregation extends the table to all who wish to receive, regardless of background. Both intinction (dipping the bread into wine or white grape juice) and individual communion cups are available, and gluten-free wafers can be requested.
Children, Youth, and Confirmation
Children are welcome in worship through a Children's Sermon that engages them in the week's scripture. On the first and third Sundays of the month during the school year, younger members step out for "Bible Blast," a Sunday school class held during the 10:00 am worship hour.
Confirmation, more formally called Affirmation of Baptism, is offered to youth in seventh and eighth grade. The confirmation class meets on Monday evenings with Pastor Stefan Rickman and centers on scripture and Luther's catechism. At the confirmation service, each confirmand speaks individually to the congregation with a personal statement of faith before joining the group in a public affirmation of their baptism promises. The triennial ELCA Youth Gathering, which brings together about 30,000 high school youth across the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, gives local youth a larger gathering point every three years.
Open-Hearted Welcome
The congregation's welcome statement is direct and concrete. Members affirm people of any sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, socioeconomic status, age, ethnicity, race, ability, and faith tradition, and they commit to racial equity and to standing against marginalization and oppression. As a Reconciling in Christ congregation of the ELCA, the church participates in a wider network of Lutheran congregations working for full inclusion of LGBTQ people in the life of the church. The building is accessible by elevator.
Decades of Community Service
Outreach is a defining feature of the congregation. The community service committee oversees programs that have grown over many years.
Through the DECA Prep Elementary weekend food program, members provide weekend food supplement packs to K-4 students at an inner-city charter school who experience food insecurity. The packs include breakfast, lunch, and snack items, with families, service groups, and individuals signing up to pack and deliver. For more than thirty years, the congregation has also collected and delivered food monthly to the New Hope Food Pantry at New Hope Lutheran Church in north Dayton, and members regularly help stock shelves and assist families selecting items.
Each Christmas the congregation adopts up to eighteen families recommended by local social workers, providing clothing, toys, household items, and ALDI gift cards delivered right before the holiday; an additional Easter gift card extends the support into the spring. A clothing donation barrel near the main office entrance collects clothes that go to the clothing closet at Christ Lutheran Church in Old North Dayton. Every October the Community Service Committee sends a note of encouragement and a small gift to all college-age members of the church.
The congregation also provides ongoing financial support to partner agencies. Gifts go to Christ Lutheran Church's "Makery" program for neighborhood children in Old North Dayton, to Jeremiah's Letter, Inc., which runs programs such as Passages (helping people obtain state IDs and birth certificates), Starter Packs for clients moving from the street into public housing, and emergency food boxes, and to Oesterlen Services for Youth in Springfield, a mental health and social services agency for youth and families.
A Campus Shared with the Community
Blessed with a large property, the church extends use of its buildings to a number of community groups that share its mission. Al-Anon and Alcoholics Anonymous hold meetings on site. The campus hosts Boy Scout Troop 320 and Girl Scouts Troop 32325, as well as the Oakwood Historical Society and Wright Library programming. MUSICA, the Kettering Children's Choir, and Wright State University music programs use the space for rehearsals and events. Music Together holds early childhood music classes, and the Dayton Sacred Harp community gathers here as well. A New Life Food Cooperative is connected to the campus as another resource.
Pastoral Leadership and Visiting
The Reverend Stefan Rickman serves as pastor, presiding at worship, leading confirmation, and walking with members through questions of baptism, membership, and pastoral care. Choir directors Ginger Minneman and Joe Beal help shape the musical worship that the congregation calls the core of its life together.
The church office is open Tuesday from 9:30 am to 2:30 pm and Wednesday from 9:30 am to 1:00 pm. An online Bible and book study meets on Monday evenings at 6:30 pm, with an invite link available from the office. The address is 155 East Thruston Boulevard, Oakwood, Ohio 45419. Online giving is available, and the building also houses Top of the Hill Preschool. The sanctuary's history as the Patterson-MacMillan house is visible everywhere, in stained glass from a Spanish castle, in slate from Scotland, and in English brick that was once a London street.