A Reconciled in Christ Welcome on Soquel Avenue
St. Stephen's Lutheran Church sits at 2500 Soquel Avenue in Santa Cruz, two blocks east of Dominican Hospital and a short drive from the coast. Since 1953, this congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has gathered around the same Soquel Avenue address. In January 2020, the members approved a Reconciled in Christ welcome statement that has come to define the church's identity:
We welcome all who are seeking God's love and grace. We welcome all because God welcomes all, regardless of race or culture, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or relationship status. We welcome all without regard to addictions, physical or mental health, imprisonment, socio-economic circumstances, or anything that too often divides us. Our unity is in Christ.
That vote made St. Stephen's part of Reconciling Works, the ELCA-affiliated network that supports LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and the welcome now lives at the top of the church's home page beneath the words "Come Worship with Us."
The Santa Cruz church is also tied to communities in El Salvador through the Santa Cruz al Salvador sister-parish program, which several members actively participate in, and to local interfaith efforts like the Association of Faith Communities (AFC) and COPA - Communities Organized for relational Power in Action. Walking in for the first time, those commitments show up less as plaques and more as the rhythm of the building: children in the preschool hallway, a Twelve-Step meeting set up in the Fireside Room, and an open coffee hour after the 10 a.m. service where the same volunteers who host the congregation are packing sack lunches for Habitat for Humanity volunteers.
Sundays at Ten, Plus the Family Room Down the Hall
The main Sunday service gathers in the sanctuary at 10 a.m. Each week follows the ELCA's three-year lectionary, anchored on a printed bulletin and the weekly Celebrate insert that carries the scripture readings and prayers for the day. The mid-week sample of recent Sundays tells the story. The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, the gospel text from Matthew prompted Pastor Jim to write about the parable of the landowner who pays his workers the same wage no matter what hour they came in. "As Martin Luther wrote," the bulletin noted, "in the presence of God's mercy we are all beggars." On the Sixteenth Sunday, the lectionary paired Paul's challenge not to judge one another with Jesus' words to forgive seventy-seven times. On Holy Trinity, the congregation recited the apostolic greeting that begins the liturgy - The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all - and renewed baptismal vows.
Sunday worship features Holy Communion most weeks, with bread and wine shared at the altar. Children are an explicit part of the assembly rather than separated off, and a Children's Church and Sunday School program is usually offered during worship for younger kids. "We love having children in church and all that brings as part of worship," the weekly announcement reads, "the Family Room is always available adjacent to the sanctuary for little one's activities if you need it." That Family Room, sitting just off the narthex, has been the saving detail for many a parent who needs to step out with a fussing toddler.
Worship at St. Stephen's reaches beyond the building as well. The 10 a.m. service is livestreamed through the church's YouTube channel and recorded for later viewing, so members who are traveling, ill, or simply choose to participate from home can follow along. The recording stays up through the week as a permanent archive that, by the count of the bulletins, now stretches back well into the 2020 pandemic era when the church lived mostly online.
Music: Pipe Organ, Choir, and an Ongoing Make-Ever Tradition
Music at St. Stephen's draws on an Abbot & Sieker 14-rank pipe organ, a grand piano, and an electronic keyboard - instruments that Gary Roberts, the long-time Director of Music, plays from a single keyboard bench. Roberts is "equally adept and comfortable" at all three, in the church's phrase, and his presence each Sunday is part of why visitors notice how steadily the hymns land.
The repertoire is described as "a blend" of styles. The choir and the Worship Band each took hiatuses during the pandemic and have been slowly rebuilding since. The tradition itself is older than that. The pastor is fond of an Advent liturgy shaped by the late Rev. Bonnie Bell, who is remembered for weaving familiar Christmas carols into the flow of the regular service so that newcomers who knew only the popular tunes of December could join in.
From time to time the music ministry opens itself to the wider Santa Cruz music scene. NextStage Productions sponsored a "Singing in Community!" choir showcase on the church's campus, featuring the Amica Women's Choral Collective, Key of 3, Pacific Voices, and the Chancel Choir of the Congregational Church of Soquel. Sunday mornings also make room for guest instrumentalists, including the cellist Johnathan Bliss and the teen "All That Brass" ensemble that anchored the recorded Christmas Eve candlelight service. Flowers for the altar are signed up for by members who want to dedicate a Sunday to a person or occasion.
Bible Study on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m.
The congregation's study life is anchored by a weekly Bible Study on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom, led by Pastor Jim. It runs year-round, often walking through the same scriptures that are coming up in Sunday's readings. During the pandemic the study had two slots, mornings and evenings, and the early 2020 bulletins catch the rhythm: "11 a.m. and 7:30 p.m., same Zoom link." Today the single Wednesday evening gathering fits the steady participation the church reports.
The study flows from a habit Pastor Jim shares with the congregation in his Pastor Text Study, where he and a small group of Lutheran and Episcopal pastors gather weekly, rotate leadership, and work toward "a deeper and more scholarly understanding" of the text before Sunday. Some of those notes - comparisons of the anointing in 1 Samuel 16 with the anointing in John, the death-and-resurrection themes in Psalm 23 read during Lent, the way John uses washing as a baptismal image - have made their way into written pastoral letters, of which more than one hundred are archived.
Women, Circles, and the Bold Women's Cafe
Women's ministry at St. Stephen's centers on the Mary Martha Women's Circle, one of the longstanding Bible study and fellowship groups of the church. They gather periodically on Wednesday mornings and host seasonal events like the annual Aebelskiver Breakfast, a Danish pancake tradition turned fundraiser for the preschool. The pancake balls are cooked on pans that, by tradition, are the descendants of Viking war shields.
Evening life for women runs through Bold Women's Cafe, a monthly dinner-and-devotions gathering held at the church - usually twice a month during heavier seasons of the church year. Members take turns cooking the simple meal and leading the devotion. The Bold group is also the home of an active book club and is closely tied to the Sierra Pacific Synod's Women of the ELCA, sending representatives to the annual "I am Worthy" retreat at the San Damiano Center in Danville. Circle of Promise is a sister group - the boutique-and-bake-sale arm of the women's ministry - that fundraises through rummage sales on the church campus.
Two regular recovery meetings share the church's lower level with these groups. Men's A.A. meets Thursdays at 7 p.m. in the Fireside Room, and A.A. meets Fridays at 7 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall. Both are open in the way Twelve-Step meetings always are: walk in, find a chair, listen. That Thursday-night men's meeting has been on the calendar long enough to appear in nearly every weekly announcement the church posts.
The Preschool Downstairs: St. Stephen's Child Development Center
The lower level of the Soquel Avenue building is the home of St. Stephen's Child Development Center (SSCDC), a licensed preschool serving children ages two to six under the direction of Kathy Berens. The program implements Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences curriculum so that the daily rhythm is built around each child's way of learning - visual, kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal - and includes regular Preschool Chapel times when the children join Pastor Jim in the sanctuary for a brief lesson and song.
The preschool has its own Inflation Donations list that parents and members can pick up at the back of the church, listing Costco and grocery items that stretch tuition dollars. SCU supporters often slip a roll of quarters or a box of diapers onto that same back table. A dedicated CDC Board chaired by parents and parishioners meets every other month in the building, and the director can be reached at (831) 462-4453 or kathy@sscdcpreschool.com. When the preschool year ends each spring, the children lead a short graduation ceremony in the sanctuary and march out to ice cream on the patio.
Reaching Out: El Salvador, Habitat, and COPA
St. Stephen's has had an active relationship with Santa Cruz al Salvador for years. Members have traveled to visit the sister-parish communities, hosted Salvadoran visitors here, and dedicated the 10 a.m. Sunday slot to presentation-style updates when delegations are in town. The congregation's prayer list, week after week, includes the names of people from these partnerships - Lizeth, Bryan, Carolyn, Calvin, "the children of El Salvador."
Twice a year the church loads brown paper bags with sandwiches, fruit, chips, and cookies and delivers them to the Habitat for Humanity build site downtown, feeding ten volunteers on a shift. The dates are published in the announcement list months in advance, and a small sign-up sheet gathers names of those willing to drop off a part of the meal.
The church is also one of the founding member congregations of COPA - Communities Organized for relational Power in Action, the faith-based organizing network active across Santa Cruz County. COPA leadership development, public hearings, and candidate accountability work are baked into the rhythm of the year, and the church periodically shares a video interview with one of its COPA leaders so that members can watch and reflect together.
Interfaith Service: The AFC and Shelter Dinners
Of all the church's community commitments, the one that reaches the most neighbors each month is the partnership with the Association of Faith Communities (AFC). St. Stephen's rotates hosting the monthly AFC Shelter Dinners at St. John's in Aptos, and takes responsibility for the fifth Saturday of every month. Members sign up to provide a main course, a salad, a dessert, or breakfast for the next morning. "We are all worthy of dignity and connection," the announcement reads. "Let's assist them to a better life."
Throughout the year the church also collects socks, canned food, and diapers in baskets at the back of the sanctuary. Socks go to AFC programs serving the unhoused in Santa Cruz; canned food and diapers go to the Walnut Avenue Women & Children's Center. The Sunday announcement list treats these collections as a standing practice rather than a special drive.
Visitors in the pews on a given Sunday will sometimes see a hand go up, a resident from the nearby St. Stephen's Senior Housing being greeted by name. The church maintains a long-running coffee-and-chat gathering with those neighbors, who are also held in the weekly prayer list ("Nancy and friends at St. Stephen's Senior Housing: Jane, Annetta, Bentley and Jeannie. Also for James, John, and Elida").
The Building: Fireside Room, Fellowship Hall, and a New Kitchen
The Soquel Avenue campus is a single worship building undergirded by a busy lower level. The first-floor sanctuary opens into a narthex large enough for the All Saints' and Día de los Muertos remembrance tables each November, where members are invited to bring a framed or unframed photo of departed loved ones to be displayed. Adjacent to the sanctuary, the Family Room holds quiet space for children who need to step out of the service.
Downstairs, the Fellowship Hall is the all-purpose room: AA meetings Friday nights, the Bold Women's Cafe dinners, choir rehearsal before the second service, Scout troop meetings on Tuesday evenings, and the reception after a funeral or a baptism. Just off it, the Fireside Room hosts the smaller Thursday-night Men's AA meeting, mid-week Bible study on Zoom-broadcast large screens, and any number of church-council conversations over coffee. Trinity Tuesday, held on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. at Discretion Brewing Co. on 41st Avenue, extends the building's hospitality off-site and into a pub: one hour, one faith question, one drink, described as "honest conversation and genuine community."
Through 2025 the church completed a top-to-bottom kitchen upgrade, with photo albums showing eight different "days" of work - cabinetry, appliances, lighting, layout - culminating in a completion album. The new kitchen now supports Coffee Fellowship on Sunday mornings, the Bold Women's Cafe suppers, Habitat sack lunches, and the Aebelskiver Breakfast fundraiser for the preschool. A Back to School Blessing on the second Sunday in August sends students, parents, and educators out from the sanctuary with prayer; the first week of October brings the Blessing of the Animals in the parking lot, marking the Feast of St. Francis with pets, photos, and a few goats.
Membership, Leadership, and the Wider Lutheran Church
St. Stephen's is governed by a Church Council with elected officers: Renee Rice as President, Jay Johnston as Vice President, Alyssa Burkhardt as Secretary, and Kent Madsen as Treasurer. Council members at-large include Shelly Barker, Robert Bartee, Paul Cunningham, Steven Hendrickson, and Bill Schraft. The list of "Ministers of St. Stephen's" names Rev. James P. Lapp as Pastor, Leslie Lapp as Church Administrator, Gary Roberts as Director of Music, John Hopping as Custodian, and Kathy Berens as Preschool Director. Pastor Jim holds office hours on Wednesday mornings in the building and is reachable at revjim@ststephenslutheran.org or (831) 476-4700.
Becoming a member of St. Stephen's begins with a class that walks newcomers through what it means to "know God and be partners" with the congregation. The congregation is part of the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, which links the Soquel Avenue church to seven hundred other ELCA congregations across Northern California and Nevada - a relationship that brings Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutheran World Relief, the women of the ELCA's retreat network, and Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary into the picture.
The church is also a member of Thrivent's Simply Giving program, participates in e-Scrip, and accepts donations through a dedicated Virtual Offering Plate that combines the Vanco electronic giving platform with PayPal, Venmo, and Zelle. Members can also mail a check to the office or drop one through the secure mail slot during weekday business hours.
The Choir Showcase and Other Annual Traditions
Among the recurring traditions that mark the year, three stand out. In late January, NextStage Productions brings together four choirs - Amica Women's Choral Collective, Key of 3, Pacific Voices, and the Chancel Choir of the Congregational Church of Soquel - for an evening choir showcase hosted at St. Stephen's. In early Advent, the sanctuary fills twice with brass as the recorded Christmas Eve candlelight service, featuring the teen "All That Brass" ensemble, is posted; an outdoor candlelight gathering in the parking lot, complete with a fire pit and a few warm blankets, meets at 3 p.m. that same afternoon. And on Reformation Sunday in late October, St. Stephen's celebrates its founding anniversary with a joint worship-and-Oktoberfeast that doubles as the church's birthday meal.
The Aebelskiver Breakfast each fall pulls together the same circle of pancake-flipping volunteers that supports the preschool throughout the year. Blessing of the Animals in early October brings a few dogs, the occasional cat in a carrier, a bearded dragon or two, and lots of photographs to the front steps. The boutique and bake sale from Circle of Promise fills the parking lot with donated housewares, baked goods, and gently used clothing twice a year.
Coming and Going at 2500 Soquel
Visitors driving up for the first time will find plenty of parking on the Soquel Avenue lot, a low-profile signage at the corner, and a friendly welcome inside. The sanctuary is at ground level, the Family Room is clearly marked, and the office opens its doors Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. with Leslie Lapp ready to greet walk-ins. From the parking lot, it is a short walk to the nearest bus stop on Soquel, and ride-share to the building is straightforward from anywhere in Santa Cruz.
St. Stephen's Lutheran Church is a congregation in the middle of its seventh decade on this corner of Santa Cruz, drawing on a Lutheran tradition that goes back to Martin Luther and the 1500s, attentive to the neighbors a few blocks in every direction, and rooted in a welcome large enough to hold the next chapter. Anyone who walks in the front doors will find the building busy, the bulletin laid out on a table near the entrance, and the same invitation that has been there since 1953: come worship, take part, and see what happens next.