On Route 12 in the village of Gales Ferry, just outside Groton and within a short drive of the Thames River, St. Luke Lutheran Church has gathered a Spirit-driven Christian community of engaged disciples "called to serve, love and forgive." The congregation, part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the New England Synod, is known for its open welcome, its handbell choirs, its on-site preschool, and a single-level accessible building that invites the whole neighborhood in.
Sunday Worship at 9:30
St. Luke holds a single Sunday morning service each week at 9:30 a.m., in person and live-streamed on YouTube. The Lord's Supper is celebrated at every service, and all are welcome to commune regardless of denomination, age, or background: "no class to take, no age requirement and no denominational restriction." Wine, grape juice, and a gluten-free bread option are all available. The service typically includes engaging music, relevant preaching, and a brief children's message after the Gospel reading. Twice a month, on the second and fourth Sundays, children are invited to step out with the Kid's Corner leaders for an age-appropriate Bible story, a snack, a simple craft, and songs, before rejoining the congregation for the passing of the peace and communion. On the first Sunday of each month, the Celebrate Team leads a contemporary service in place of the traditional liturgy: the same core elements, with an upbeat, modern feel. Coffee hours, special activities, and additional meetings follow the service on many Sundays; the church calendar and Sunday announcements carry the details.
What Visitors Will Find
Visitors at St. Luke can expect "a warm, imperfect human gathering of people expecting to see God as we support one another along life's journey." The congregation asks newcomers to expect three things: the presence of God, acceptance and love, and the freedom to participate at whatever level feels right. There is no pressure to stand up or introduce yourself; a yellow visitor card is available to share contact information or prayer requests. Dress is whatever is comfortable - "Sunday best" or casual; the congregation is "not hung up on what you wear." Children are always welcome in worship, even the young and boisterous ones. For those who would like it, a paid and trained nursery attendant cares for children four and under from 9:30 a.m. through the end of the service. The building is single level, with two ADA-compliant all-gender bathrooms and worship space that includes traditional pews, padded seats, and areas to accommodate a wheelchair.
An Open Door: Reconciling in Christ
St. Luke identifies as a Reconciling in Christ congregation, inviting everyone into the faith community "without regard to race, gender, age, color, national origin, ethnic background, socioeconomic status, marital status, sexual orientation, or gender identity." The congregation's welcome statement names explicitly that people of all nations and colors, of all genders and gender identities, with faith and doubt, who are single, married, divorced, separated, or partnered, who are straight, gay, lesbian, or bisexual, of all political persuasions, who are poor, wealthy, or somewhere in between, and who are "broken in mind, body, or spirit" are all members of the one body of Christ. The statement leans on 1 Corinthians 12:12 - "For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ" - and grounds the congregation's commitment in the healing, unconditional nature of God's love and grace.
Pastor Heidi and the Staff
St. Luke is led by Pastor Heidi, the daughter of a retired Army chaplain and mental health counselor whose own faith was nurtured in Lutheran fellowships on Army installations in Tennessee, New Jersey, South Carolina, Kansas, California, Georgia, and Aschaffenburg, Germany. A graduate of Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater in 2004, she went on to the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia and Union Theological Seminary in New York City, earning a Master of Divinity. She was ordained in the New England Synod on January 28, 2012, and previously served as pastor of Faith Lutheran Church in Quincy, Massachusetts for over nine years before being called to St. Luke. She lives in Sterling with her husband Ben and their two sons, Oliver and Wesley.
Supporting the ministry is a small but dedicated staff. Gina Williams is the Director of Music and oversees the Technology Team, leading the choirs, handbells, concerts, and the live-stream and projection work in worship. Nancy Rupert is the Director of Grins & Giggles Preschool, a program she founded in 2014 after years of running a similar preschool in Westerly, Rhode Island. Joanne Moorehead serves as Director of Christian Nurture. Rachel Goodman, the Parish Administrator, greets members and visitors and manages the church calendar, member records, worship materials, and technology support; Diane handles bookkeeping and accounting; and Katie Kenney is the Communications Coordinator, managing social media and the midweek newsletter.
A Music Program That Rings
St. Luke's music program is large, and most weeks the building rings with handbells. Gina Williams leads the Senior Choir, the Celebrate Team (a vocal and instrumental ensemble for contemporary services), and six handbell choirs spanning beginning children through advanced adults. The Senior Choir rehearses Tuesday nights at 7 p.m. and sings for traditional services, festival Sundays, and special occasions including the Service of Lessons and Carols, Maundy Thursday, and a Tenebrae service on Good Friday. JuBELLation, the advanced adult handbell choir, rehearses Wednesdays at 7 p.m. and rings level 4 music on 5+ octaves of Schulmerich handbells and 6 octaves of handchimes; the group has participated in Handbell Musicians of America Area 1 Festival Conferences for over 20 years. The Belles, an entry-level adult handbell choir, rehearses Tuesdays at 6 p.m. and rings up to 5 octaves of handbells. Grace Notes, a beginning handbell choir for children roughly 9 to 11, rehearses Mondays from 5 to 6 p.m. and joins the Christmas Eve Family Service. All of the choirs come together each June for "Hallelujah for Handbells," a concert of every St. Luke handbell choir.
The church also hosts a free Second Friday Concert Series at 7 p.m. each month, open to the wider community, and a Community Christmas Concert on the first Friday of December, featuring the JuBELLation choir, the Tono Dolce Community Choir, the St. Luke Senior Choir, the Ledyard High School Carolers, and professional musicians. Recordings of past concerts are kept on the church's YouTube channel.
Grins & Giggles Preschool
On the same campus as the church, Grins & Giggles Preschool has been operating since September 2014. The program serves toilet-trained three-, four-, and five-year-olds in small classes built around individual attention. Each week follows a different theme, supplemented with community speakers and field trips. Families can choose a two-day (Tuesday and Thursday), three-day (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), or five-day program, with the school day running 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. from September through June. Tuition runs from $385 per month for two days to $730 per month for five days, plus a $35 non-refundable registration fee. The preschool, led by Nancy Rupert, is built on "principles of Christian love" and gives children a sense of self-worth while developing language, reading readiness, physical, social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual skills. A summer camp runs in addition to the school year.
Children, Youth, and Confirmation
Beyond the preschool, St. Luke offers a Children's Message during the morning service, the twice-monthly Kid's Corner program, a Youth Mission Trip tradition (often ecumenical, joining other local youth groups; a past trip was to Camp Calumet in New Hampshire), and a Confirmation program for youth in 6th grade and up. Vacation Bible School is run jointly each year with St. David's Episcopal Church and the United Methodist Church of Gales Ferry, with a light supper served each evening. A Safe Church Continuing Resolution and ELCA Safe Church Training are part of how St. Luke keeps children and youth protected.
Lay Pastoral Care
Care for one another is built into the life of the congregation. Lay pastoral care is one of three overlapping ministries under the Outreach Team. When families in crisis need a meal, volunteers prepare simple casseroles that only need to be reheated and deliver them. A small group of knitters, quilters, and crocheters creates prayer shawls and baptismal blankets available to anyone in the community. Under the pastors' guidance, lay members send healing cards to those on the prayer list, and the Caring Friends Ministry takes communion to those unable to come to worship and visits members who are homebound. The pastors also maintain a discretionary fund, supported through donations and an annual budget line, used mostly for gas and grocery gift cards to people in need.
Outreach: The Garden, the Furniture Bank, and Beyond
St. Luke's outreach ministry is centered on Matthew 25: 34-40, the call to feed the hungry, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit the imprisoned. The St. Luke Giving Garden, located on the church grounds and run by members, provides fresh vegetables to the United Way Gemma Moran Food Center (which supplies 49 pantries and soup kitchens in New London County), Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries (an additional 13 locations), and people in need in the local community. Production has grown from a few hundred pounds in 2012 to over 1,500 pounds annually.
The Furniture Bank of Southeastern Connecticut, established in 1982 as an outreach of St. Luke and incorporated as a nonprofit in 2005, is managed by congregation members Mike and Karen Wuesthoff. Each year, grant funds (recently about $60,000) purchase new beds given to people in hardship - victims of fire, flood, and bedbug infestations, disabled veterans, young military families, single parents, immigrants, victims of domestic abuse, people with AIDS or mental health issues, the elderly, and the formerly homeless. The bank no longer accepts most donated furniture due to storage costs but hosts tag sales at St. Luke each spring and fall to help fund the bed purchases.
St. Luke members also serve meals at the New London Meal Center on the first Sunday of each month, participate in the annual Gales Ferry/Ledyard CROP Hunger Walk each October, host American Red Cross blood drives, and support LICEAF (Ledyard Inter-Church Emergency Assistance Fund), a non-profit founded by local churches that makes emergency grants available to Ledyard residents in crisis. At Christmas, Gifts for Jesus matches congregation members with community members in need through a wish list available during Advent. The congregation gives quarterly financial support to a broad network of agencies across the region, including the Katie Blair House, Reliance Health, Thames River Family Program, Covenant Shelter, New London Homeless Hospitality Center, TVCCA, Norwich Human Services, Martin House, St. Vincent de Paul Place, Gemma Moran Food Bank, Friends of Maria, Habitat for Humanity of Eastern Connecticut, the Ledyard Food Locker, and the Preston Food Pantry. One hundred percent of designated donations are forwarded directly to those organizations.
On the global side, the children of St. Luke have long raised money for Heifer International to purchase livestock for families in developing nations, and the congregation has supported Chikumbuso, a grassroots project in Ng'ombe, Zambia, since 2007, providing free schooling for children, vocational training, and income-generating programs for widows affected by HIV and AIDS. The church also supports Church World Service and ELCA Relief & Development.
Growing in Faith Together
Adult faith formation at St. Luke is varied. The St. Luke Women's Group meets the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month at 10:30 a.m. in Classroom 2, an open invitation to female-identifying adults to review the upcoming Sunday scriptures and share joys and concerns. "Lenten Soup & Study" gathers on Wednesday evenings during Lent around an ELCA study curriculum, with participants signing up to bring soup or bread. A multi-week course on the Hebrew Bible, facilitated by Mitch Robinson, has been offered via Zoom, drawing on lectures from Harvard's Shaye Cohen and Yale's Christine Hayes. Devotional resources include God Pause and d365, both available online. Each September the congregation participates in "God's Work, Our Hands," the ELCA's day of visible community service, with members wearing bright yellow t-shirts. Occasional game nights, family fellowship events, and a weekend "Family Hammo" camp at Hammonasset State Park round out the fellowship calendar.
The Stained Glass, the Single-Level Building, and the Calendar
The St. Luke building is single level with two ADA-compliant all-gender bathrooms, and the worship space includes traditional pews, padded seats, and areas to accommodate a wheelchair. A particular feature of the sanctuary is the set of memorial stained-glass windows, conceived and created by St. Luke members themselves; an interactive tour and a Memorial Stained-Glass Windows booklet are available for those who want to learn the stories they tell. The property is maintained by a crew of volunteers who tend the memorial garden, paint, repair, and handle general upkeep. The Scroll, the congregation's monthly newsletter, is mailed to members and posted online, and a shorter Midweek email goes out each Wednesday with announcements and updates. The office, located in the church building at 1830 Route 12, is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and closed most federal holidays.
St. Luke Lutheran Church is, at its heart, a working community of faith that takes seriously the call to share God's love in Gales Ferry, the wider New London County region, and the world, gathering at 9:30 on Sunday mornings, ringing handbells, planting gardens, raising children, and welcoming whoever walks through the door.