On the near south side of downtown La Crosse, Our Savior's Lutheran Church at 612 Division Street is an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation known for the welcome it puts into practice. Come For Supper, its free community meal, now serves roughly 200 to 250 guests on a typical Tuesday, while the Women's Clothes Closet provides free clothing and personal items to women who need them. The congregation is also a Reconciling in Christ church. Its mission is direct: to make the love of Christ known to all as people worship, serve and grow together.
From Norwegian Roots to a Wider La Crosse Welcome
Our Savior's began in 1861 as the mother Norwegian Lutheran Church in La Crosse and marked its 150th anniversary in 2011. Founded within the city's Norwegian Lutheran community, the congregation has long since broadened its identity while retaining a strong Lutheran center. Its history includes a key role in the development of Lutheran Hospital and its affiliation with the early Gundersen medical practice, connecting the congregation's story to the growth of health care in La Crosse.
Senior Pastor Joanne S. Richmond is the 19th pastor called to ministry at Our Savior's. She began full-time service in July 2017 after serving as an associate pastor, campus minister, college pastor, and executive director of the La Crosse Hunger Task Force. Her background reflects the congregation's emphasis on public service as a natural extension of Christian faith rather than an activity separate from worship.
Norwegian heritage remains visible in community life, especially through the Dorcas Society's baking traditions and annual bazaar. The congregation now draws people from many backgrounds and welcomes people of every age, ability, physical and mental health condition, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, educational background, income, and level of faith. That combination of historic roots and an intentionally broad welcome is central to Our Savior's identity.
Sunday at 9:30, Wednesday at Noon
The congregation's main worship rhythm is Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and Wednesday at noon. Both services include Holy Communion. Sunday worship is offered in person and livestreamed, while the Wednesday service is in person only. Pastor Richmond notes that the Wednesday message differs from the Sunday sermon, giving people who want spiritual enrichment during the week a distinct reason to join.
Those who do not want to worship in person can join the Sunday broadcast at 1-877-552-3468. The service is also carried as a live video, and recordings of previous worship services are available through the church's Vimeo channel, with selected archives reaching back to Christmas 2017. The Sunday live stream allows people to participate in the spoken Word, prayers, hymns, and sacrament from home.
Worship is recognizably Lutheran and centered on the Word and the sacraments. Gathered around those elements, people hear and experience God's gracious forgiveness and are renewed for lives of service. Liturgical settings come from the Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal and other resources, while the music ranges across traditional, contemporary, global, and folk styles. The sanctuary's Steinway grand piano and Austin/Hendrickson pipe organ anchor services that also feature cantor, organ, piano, guitar, and occasional vocal leadership.
Communion is served with wafers rather than home-baked bread. Wine and grape juice are prepared for the service, and gluten-free wafers are available for those with allergies. Members can also take part as lectors, ushers, or audiovisual technicians, and the Altar Guild prepares the sanctuary and altar for each sacramental gathering. These roles make worship both a spiritual gathering and a shared congregational responsibility.
Children at the Center of Worship
Children of all ages are treated as full members of the body of Christ, and the sounds and activity of children are welcome in worship. Families can choose the arrangement that works best for them on any given Sunday. The church offers several child-friendly spaces rather than requiring every family to use the same option, allowing a child to be held, active, or quietly engaged while adults remain part of the service.
The Prayground occupies the front-left section of the sanctuary. A soft rug, two child-sized tables, chairs and stools, coloring sheets, crayons, blocks, books, and soft toys fill the area. There are also infant seats, a Bumbo chair, rocking chairs, and a Boppy pillow for families with babies. Near the Busy Bags is a smaller play area with a rug, table, chairs, blocks, and a wooden activity cube.
Children's bulletins based on the day's Scripture readings are available in both pre-reader and early-reader versions. Families may take one home for further teaching. If a child needs to leave the pew, the narthex at the back of the worship area keeps families close to the worship through good audio and sight lines. These choices allow children to participate without requiring them to be separated from their families or the congregation.
Come For Supper: A Free Table Every Tuesday
Come For Supper began because members of the Social Ministry Team asked how the congregation could respond to hunger and poverty in La Crosse. The first meal was served on December 3, 1996, when 35 guests arrived. Today the program is the largest single meal service in La Crosse County and averages about 200 to 250 guests on a Tuesday. It has continued serving every week without interruption.
Meals are served at about 4:15 p.m. each Tuesday in the Fellowship Hall. Anyone can come, no questions are asked, and the meal is free. Twenty-five churches and organizations help serve the weekly meal with a core team of Our Savior's volunteers. Guests can eat in the hall or share the table with volunteers who sit and visit, making hospitality as important as the food itself.
Service roles extend well beyond cooking. Volunteers prepare food, cook, serve, clean up, and welcome guests. The church also accepts needed items for the meal. Deliveries can be made through the covered walkway entrance on Division Street while the office is open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The program reflects the conviction that feeding a hungry neighbor is itself a response to Jesus' call to care for neighbors.
The scale of Come For Supper depends on relationships as much as food. Congregational volunteers work alongside volunteers from other churches and organizations, creating a network of support for people dealing with hunger or poverty. The Tuesday meal has become one of the clearest expressions of Our Savior's identity: a weekly table offered with generosity, hospitality, and no questions about a guest's circumstances.
Clothing, Dignity, and the Women's Clothes Closet
The Women's Clothes Closet began in 1997 as a project by a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse student social worker. Its mission is to support the dignity of all womxn by providing new or gently used clothing, accessories, and personal items to women entering the workforce, already working, or otherwise in need. No questions are asked about income or employment status.
Clothing selection is open Tuesday from 1 to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with no appointment needed. A first-time visitor may choose three complete outfits. Returning visitors may select one outfit per visit, up to twice a month. The closet provides clothing and shoes along with jewelry, handbags, scarves, undergarments, cosmetics, and personal care items.
Clothing donations are accepted by appointment. The closet especially seeks gently used clothing that is fashionable, clean, in good repair, and appropriate for the season. Donors can also contribute new bras, shoes, boots, handbags, scarves, and jewelry. Sandy Schultz coordinates the Women's Clothes Closet, a large network of volunteers supports it, and financial gifts help pay the coordinator's wages. Its separate telephone line is 608.784.5745.
Located within Our Savior's, the closet connects practical assistance with the church's wider commitment to hospitality. It does not require guests to explain their circumstances or prove that they qualify for help. The ministry instead meets people with clothing choices and the dignity of being allowed to select what they need.
Reconciling in Christ at Our Savior's
Reconciling in Christ is a public program within the Lutheran church for seeing, naming, celebrating, and advocating for people of every sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. The program began in 1983, and Our Savior's joined its roster on January 25, 2004. The church uses that designation as a commitment to welcome, inclusion, celebration, and advocacy rather than as a separate denomination.
On the last Sunday in January, Reconciling in Christ Sunday gives the congregation a recurring occasion to reflect on reconciliation. At Our Savior's, members have shared personal stories about what being reconciled in Christ means to them. The church's broader welcome is expressed in the promise that the Good News of God's grace is for all, regardless of age, abilities, physical or mental health, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, education, income, or strength of faith.
That welcome is joined by an active commitment to racial equity in the church and the world. Pastor Richmond has taught and preached on racism as sin requiring confession, honest examination, and listening from people who benefit from systems of privilege. The reconciliation theme therefore appears in worship, public teaching, and the practical work of feeding, clothing, and accompanying neighbors.
The congregation summarizes its theological posture in a simple promise: nothing done, left undone, or yet to come can separate anyone from the love of God. In practice, that promise supports a church where people can take part in worship and service before becoming members. It also connects the Reconciling in Christ designation with Our Savior's wider mission of worshiping, serving, and growing together.
Learning for Every Age
The Board of Christian Education defines its task as teaching people of every age about God's faithfulness and the revelation of God's love through Jesus Christ. AB-Yes!, formerly known as Sunday School and confirmation, offers a flexible alternative to a three-year sequence of weekly confirmation classes. Participants move through a process that culminates in the opportunity to affirm their baptism by saying yes.
Anyone may enroll in AB-Yes! The church recommends that participants be no younger than third grade unless they are entering the first-communion component. This structure allows a family or individual to engage with faith development in a way suited to its needs. Children's Scripture bulletins, worship participation, and the church's education ministries reinforce the same goal of nurturing faith at every age.
Adult education offerings vary, and an active coffee fellowship follows Sunday worship each week. Youth ministry and mission trips receive designated support through giving, connecting classroom learning with service beyond the church. Together, these ministries make room for children, adults, families, and young people to learn, ask questions, worship together, and serve.
Women Serving Women
The Women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have been one of Our Savior's longest-running organizations. All women of the congregation are members of W-ELCA, whose purpose is to grow in faith, affirm gifts, support one another in their callings, and engage in ministry and action that promotes justice and wholeness. Meetings are usually held on the third Thursday of the month.
W-ELCA members are perhaps best known for their work in the kitchen, preparing and serving meals for potlucks and other gatherings. Their commitments also extend to mission, giving, fellowship, and justice. Service has included volunteering for the congregation's social ministries and contributing both time and money to organizations addressing hunger, poverty, and community needs.
The Dorcas Society is a Christian charitable society for women whose aim is to reach into the community, especially among people who are poor or needy. Its name comes from the disciple in Acts who “abounded in good deeds and gifts of mercy.” The society meets on the first Wednesday of most months at 6:30 p.m. Its members organize potluck suppers, bake Norwegian specialties such as sandbakkels, rosettes, and krumkake, prepare for the Christmas bazaar, and gather for fellowship and fun.
The church's quilters also turn handmade pieces into support for Sugar Creek Bible Camp, with every square carrying a story and the sale supporting the camp's work. In these groups, women combine cooking, craft, fundraising, and care into ministries that have continued for generations.
Relief Work That Reaches Beyond La Crosse
Lutheran World Relief is a major part of the Social Ministry Team's year-round work. The congregation assembles four recurring kit types, each designed for a distinct need:
- Baby Care Kits provide hand-knit sweaters, cloth diapers and pins, sleepers, undershirts, receiving blankets, socks, hand towels, and soap for new mothers.
- Personal Care Kits contain a towel, soap, comb, nail file, and toothbrush for people displaced by earthquakes, floods, conflict, or refugee circumstances.
- School Kits include notebooks, rulers, pencils, sharpeners, pens, scissors, erasers, and crayons for school and adult literacy programs.
- Fabric Kits contain fabric and thread for vocational programs that teach young people useful and marketable sewing skills.
Kits for Kids addresses a different kind of need. Coordinated through La Crosse County Social Services, the project gives children entering foster care for the first time a duffel bag containing a T-shirt, sweatsuit, hairbrush, toothbrush, toothpaste, stuffed animal, night-light, and special book about foster children. The bag gives a child and foster parents some essentials during a difficult transition.
The Giving Tree gathers Christmas gifts for children and women staying at New Horizons Shelter & Outreach Centers and The Family and Children's Center. The congregation also collects fleece blankets for foster teens through Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan and accepts monetary gifts for LuMin campus ministry. The annual effort connects worshiping families with people staying at local shelters and supports children moving into foster care.
Our Savior's also participates in God's Work Our Hands Sunday, a churchwide day of service in which congregations work to make positive change, build relationships, and share God's love. The annual emphasis places service at the center of Lutheran faith and gives the congregation another setting in which worship grows into action.
Music, Communion, and Care Behind the Altar
Music is a visible part of worship at Our Savior's. Liz Bahr serves as cantor; Mary Ender Stutesman is music coordinator and organist; Thomas Haag is organist; Dr. Eddie Kim is pianist; and Colin Stiemke is guitarist. Vocal and instrumental opportunities arise occasionally. Members may also serve as lectors, ushers, audiovisual technicians, acolytes, communion deacons, and Altar Guild members.
The musical resources of the sanctuary include the Austin/Hendrickson pipe organ and a Steinway grand piano. A restored Steinway also supports concerts, recitals, and worship in the Fellowship Hall, expanding the kinds of gatherings the congregation can hold. Earlier capital improvements supported organ renovation, nave lighting, audiovisual ministry technology, kitchen window replacement, exterior signage, restroom remodeling, and an accessible entrance and drinking fountain.
Behind every service is the Altar Guild, a group of committees that prepares the church and altar areas. Members place flowers, fill eternal and altar candles, select paraments for the season, set up for Holy Communion, and care for communion wear, linens, and vestments. Other groups make banners and clean brass, robes, and chasubles. Hand-stitched baptismal napkins are given to newly baptized children, connecting the preparation of the altar with the life of the congregation.
Giving and Membership
Gifts to Our Savior's support both day-to-day ministry and work beyond the congregation. Online and electronic giving can be made by bank account or major credit and debit cards, with one-time or recurring gifts. The General Fund supports staff salaries, utilities, and maintenance. Mission Support funds activities outside Our Savior's, including local and national synods.
Designated funds direct gifts to Come For Supper, the Women's Clothes Closet, Hunger Task Force, WAFER, campus ministry at LuMin, Causeway Interfaith Volunteer Caregivers, world hunger, Sugar Creek Bible Camp, youth ministry and mission trips, and an emergency help fund used for one-time individual crises. An emergency second offering is received every other month.
Stewardship also includes corporate philanthropy. Eligible Kwik Trip rebate checks can be designated to Our Savior's, and Thrivent Direct Choice Dollars can be directed to the church. These arrangements allow supporters to direct part of ordinary household spending toward the congregation's mission.
Membership is not required to participate in worship, ministries, or programs. Anyone can join the shared mission of the congregation, and people considering membership meet with Pastor Richmond to talk about faith, belonging, and their next steps. She also welcomes people with basic questions about Christianity. Members and volunteers contribute time, talent, and money through worship, education, music, social ministry, and administration.
Finding Our Savior's in La Crosse
The church is at 612 Division Street on La Crosse's near south side. Parking is available at both the 6th Street and 7th Street entrances. Two Route 1 bus stops are on the church's block, and Routes 2 and 5 stop nearby on Cass Street. The building has entrances on both 6th and 7th Streets, giving drivers and bus riders more than one approach to the sanctuary and Fellowship Hall.
The church office is open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Thursday and closed Friday. The office telephone number is 608.782.3468. The mailing address is PO Box 97, La Crosse, WI 54602-0097, while the physical address remains 612 Division Street, La Crosse, WI 54601. Additional information is available through the church contact information.
A sign language interpreter is available for worship upon request, with a dedicated request form for arrangements. The Prayground, small play area, children's bulletins, and narthex give families several ways to participate. Coffee fellowship follows Sunday worship. Holy Communion is served at both weekly services, with wine, grape juice, and gluten-free wafers available.
Everything at Our Savior's centers on a public promise: all are welcome, and the love of Christ is made known through worship, service, and growth together. Its free weekly meal, clothing ministry, broad educational life, Reconciling in Christ commitment, musical worship, and service to neighbors make that promise concrete on the near south side of La Crosse.