At 1100 Indian School Road NE in Albuquerque, St. Paul Lutheran Church is known for Sunday worship at 10 a.m., a deliberately broad welcome, and a full life of music, learning, prayer and service. The congregation belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and its Rocky Mountain Synod. People may join worship in the sanctuary, on YouTube, or from the parking lot by tuning to FM 89.7. Across those ways of gathering, St. Paul describes itself as a community of faith in Christ that is radically welcoming, strives for justice, and loves its neighbor as itself.
Sunday Worship With Three Ways to Commune
Every Sunday at 10 a.m., St. Paul gathers for worship, Communion and Bible study. Spoken worship, hymns, choral music, readings, preaching and prayer lead the congregation toward the table. Refreshments following worship have become a familiar time for people to greet one another and newcomers to learn more about the church.
The church has made participation concrete in several ways. The service is livestreamed on YouTube, and the recording remains available afterward. A small supply of disposable masks is available for anyone who wishes to wear one. Parking-lot listeners can participate through FM 89.7, making the car an additional place of worship rather than simply an arrival area. Visitors are also invited to complete a Welcome card in the pew so the congregation can get to know them.
These choices reflect a church that treats accessibility as more than a single building feature. A person can take part from the sanctuary, from home or from a parked car, and the same invitation to worship and receive Communion applies in each setting.
Three Ways to Receive Communion
Communion is offered during every Sunday service. Three distinct arrangements allow worshipers to participate according to their needs and preferences:
- In-person worshipers may pick up a communion kit as they enter and receive the elements while remaining seated.
- Worshipers may come forward to one of two Communion stations.
- Online worshipers are invited to participate from home during the service.
Grape juice and gluten-free wafers are available. The three formats make the table part of the shared service without requiring everyone to approach it in the same way.
Behind the table is a network of trained volunteers. Communion assistants and sacristy teams set the table, prepare the wash station, fill and arrange the elements, ready the candle carts and font, and put everything away afterward. Their work turns a theology of welcome into something visitors can actually experience. A rotating group of volunteers also shares duties for worship, flowers, refreshments and other practical needs around the church.
A Deliberately Broad Welcome
St. Paul's commitment to welcome is more than a phrase at the entrance. Its community covenant recognizes that people arrive with different identities, histories, resources and needs. The welcome extends across:
- age and life stage, from newborn children to people more than a century old;
- citizenship status, culture, racial identity and language;
- economic circumstances, including homelessness and different forms of employment or housing;
- religious background, including Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, agnostic, atheist and no religious affiliation;
- gender, sexual orientation and sexual persuasion;
- family structure, partnership and marital status;
- physical and mental abilities;
- political perspective and spiritual condition.
That welcome is not limited to Sunday morning. St. Paul's participation in Reconciling in Christ affirms the full participation of LGBTQIA+ siblings. The congregation has publicly supported LGBTQIA+ neighbors and Muslim neighbors, taken part in community Pride observances, and joined other faith communities in public witness for peace. It has also supported vulnerable immigrants and refugees through ELCA ministries. These actions grow from the conviction that a community in Christ must love the neighbor as itself.
Radical welcome also has a practical side. Masks are available, three Communion formats are offered, and worship can be joined in person, at home or from the parking lot. The church's approach asks people to be known rather than sorted into narrow categories before they arrive.
Choir Music and the Work of Riley Abbott
Music occupies a central place at St. Paul, not simply as background but as shared ministry. The St. Paul Choir rehearses Sundays from 8:45 to 9:45 a.m. in the Choir Room before worship. The choir welcomes both experienced singers and people who simply enjoy making music together. Its low-pressure atmosphere is intended to help each singer contribute while building confidence, artistry and community.
Director of Music Ministry Riley Abbott leads that work. A bass-baritone vocalist and instrumentalist on piano, guitar, banjo and mandolin, Abbott is pursuing a master's degree in choral conducting at the University of New Mexico. He sees choral music as a means of bringing people together, creating connection and helping singers grow. His long-term hope for the St. Paul Choir is that it will continue to develop musically while reaching beyond the church with a message of light and hope.
St. Paul also has a close relationship with ABQ Coro Lux, its ensemble in residence. Artistic Director Bradley Ellingboe leads the professional choral organization, and St. Paul provides a home for rehearsals and performances. The partnership extends to El Faro Youth Chorus, a Coro Lux program that rehearses at St. Paul on Mondays. El Faro welcomes young singers from second through twelfth grades and divides rehearsals by age, giving children and adolescents a place to experience the discipline and community of choral music.
St. Paul's own livestream has a similar story of adaptation. The congregation began streaming through Facebook during the COVID isolation period and continued afterward so members unable to travel could remain connected. The live service eventually moved to YouTube, where local audio help and a dedicated streaming team created a more reliable process. That technical work makes the sanctuary's worship available to people who cannot be present in person.
Learning in Fellowship Hall and Around the Church
Learning for adults and families takes several forms at St. Paul. St. Paul 101 meets in the Fellowship Hall immediately after Sunday worship. It is a conversational introduction to Martin Luther, the apostle Paul, what it means to be Christian and what it means to be Lutheran at St. Paul. Participants may bring questions and children, share snacks and attend one session or several. The relaxed format leaves room for conversation rather than treating faith formation as a lecture.
Adult Faith Development offers further study. Courses have examined books including Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Amy-Jill Levine's Entering the Passion of Jesus and David Lose's Making Sense of the Cross. These examples reflect an approach that combines theology with books that make difficult subjects approachable. Adult study commonly meets Thursday afternoons from 1:30 to 3 p.m. in the Conference Room, and participation by Zoom can be arranged.
During Lent, the Fellowship Hall becomes the center of a Wednesday rhythm. The gathering begins at 6 p.m. with a table grace, soup and conversation. Bible study follows at about 6:45 p.m., with song and prayer, and the evening concludes around 8 p.m. The meal, study and prayer are one gathering, allowing conversation and learning to continue together.
Another recurring rhythm is the First Tuesday gathering for adults at 1:30 p.m. The meeting place changes, but conversation, shared food and ice cream have become familiar parts of the fellowship. St. Paul also offers scholarships for members pursuing higher education, including support for students attending Lutheran or Baptist colleges and seminaries.
Calico Butterfly Preschool and the Next Generation
Calico Butterfly Preschool is St. Paul's on-campus ministry for young children, led by Director Marisol. It connects families with the life of the church and gives children an early connection to the wider congregation. The preschool provides English and Spanish editions of its family handbook along with enrollment and tuition materials, giving families essential information in both languages.
Children and families are woven through church life beyond the preschool. St. Paul 101 explicitly invites parents to bring their children. The church also participates in multi-church youth collaborations centered on service, relationship and projects for neighbors experiencing homelessness. Choir, worship, fellowship meals and community work give young people ways to belong while learning how faith becomes action.
St. Paul has also welcomed students from Albuquerque High School with cognitive challenges for supervised volunteer work in a safe and supportive environment. Their light, practical tasks help the students develop foundational job skills while contributing to the church. Congregants can assist with those tasks or bring a snack to share, making welcome a shared ministry rather than an abstract ideal.
Food, Shelter and Practical Neighbor Love
Food: Storehouse Barrels and Shared Tables
Barrels near the sanctuary entrance collect nonperishable food and pet food for Storehouse New Mexico. The recurring donation gives worshipers a simple way to respond to hunger while it is on their shopping trip. God's Work Our Hands gatherings extend that pattern into larger service projects, including the assembly of hygiene kits for CNM, UNM, Enlace and Blue Door Neighborhood Center.
St. Paul also raises funds for meals served through Friends Feeding Friends at HopeWorks and supports the shared meal hosted by The Open Table Connection at Luther House. That ministry brings international students together around food and conversation. These efforts connect the congregation's welcome to practical needs involving hunger, hospitality and belonging.
Shelter: The Adopted Families Ministry
Adopted Families has served the community for more than 35 years. It began with a church truck used to collect unwanted furniture and deliver gently used pieces to families in need. As the ministry's volunteers grew older, its work expanded through GiveABQ, which gathers furniture and works with local nonprofits to help people beginning again after homelessness or other hardship furnish empty homes.
The Adopted Families ministry continues to provide financial help, household items and senior supplies. In partnership with Healthcare for the Homeless, it has also helped people purchase bus tickets home or to a safer, more supportive environment. The work addresses both the immediate need for belongings and the longer process of rebuilding a home. Faithful giving can support these ministries through online giving.
Madagascar, Hunger and Wider Relief
The congregation's mission reaches beyond Albuquerque through the Madagascar Girls Camp fundraiser. The annual gathering combines a Malagasy meal, music and an explanation of a program serving girls from remote areas of Madagascar through educational opportunities. It turns interest in global mission into a tangible partnership.
St. Paul has belonged to Bread for the World for more than 40 years. Members write letters to legislators, and those letters have been blessed during worship before being delivered. The church also channels support through Lutheran World Relief for international disaster response. These ministries join local food and shelter work with a wider understanding of Christian mission as service to people affected by poverty, disaster and displacement.
Prayer Shawls, the Labyrinth and Care
Prayer is expressed through tactile, visible ministries at St. Paul. Knitters and crocheters make prayer shawls that are kept in a basket in the Narthex. Anyone attending the church may take one for someone who has been hospitalized, has just had a baby, is seriously ill or simply needs a warm covering. Yarn and patterns are available so that more people can join this ongoing work of care.
The church's Prayer Labyrinth offers another path for prayer and reflection. Walking the labyrinth can provide space for stillness, perspective and attentive listening. For people who seek direct pastoral support, Pastor Kristi Koppel and Pastoral Intern Darra Kingsley share the church's care ministry.
Memory also has a physical place at St. Paul. Engraved bricks in the landscaped entrance can honor a person or preserve the memory of someone who has died. The bricks turn individual remembrance into part of the church's shared landscape.
Public Faith in Albuquerque
St. Paul's description of itself as a community that strives for justice is expressed through public witness. Through the Rocky Mountain Synod and the ELCA, the congregation engages priorities that include:
- welcome and protection for immigrants, refugees, asylees and people facing displacement;
- advocacy against hunger and support for food access;
- faithful civic participation, voting rights and nonpartisan public education;
- peace, human rights and concern for Palestinian siblings in the Holy Land;
- care for creation and the well-being of the whole community.
The congregation has supported voter registration, offered faithful civic education and blessed advocacy letters sent to legislators. Its connection with Global Refuge, AMMPARO and Lutheran Family Services has brought attention and support to refugees and new arrivals in New Mexico. These ministries embody the church's understanding of Christian mission as accompaniment rather than distance.
Public witness also takes the form of prayer, study and support for peace. St. Paul has joined other faith communities in ringing its bell for peace, treating the sound as a public statement that violence is not normal and that faith calls people toward life, love and justice. The congregation has also expressed solidarity with Muslim neighbors at moments of opposition and prejudice.
Justice at St. Paul is not a separate department from welcome. The same conviction that every person is welcome regardless of status or identity shapes how the congregation serves food tables, homes, refugees, students and public questions. Its public life asks members to speak with care, participate as citizens and stand with neighbors whose dignity may be overlooked.
A Campus Made for Gathering
St. Paul's campus contains several distinct spaces for worship and community. The sanctuary centers Sunday worship. The Fellowship Hall welcomes families, potluck meals, congregational gatherings, St. Paul 101 and Lent suppers. The Welcome Center and Narthex provide places to greet people, find refreshments, pick up a prayer shawl or complete a Welcome card. The Choir Room, Conference Room, preschool spaces, church offices and Prayer Labyrinth each support a different part of the church's life.
The address is 1100 Indian School Road NE, Albuquerque, NM 87102. The church office is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The office phone is 505-242-5942, and general inquiries can be sent to info@stpaulabq.org. The church also has a formal process for facility use, making space available for appropriate community gatherings.
For Sunday visitors, the practical choices are simple: worship begins at 10 a.m., Communion is offered in three ways, masks are available, and participation is possible from the sanctuary, home or the parking lot. The landscaped entrance, Welcome Center and shared rooms make it clear that St. Paul is built around more than the Sunday service. They are places where people learn, eat, sing, serve, remember and belong.
Pastoral Leadership and Shared Ministry
Rev. Kristi Koppel is St. Paul's pastor. Her ministry has emphasized welcome, vocation, justice and the formation of leaders who can serve both the congregation and the wider church. Darra Kingsley serves as pastoral intern, sharing in worship and leadership while developing in the ELCA's candidacy process. Her internship includes leadership, preaching, teaching adults and youth, theological articulation, pastoral care, administration, stewardship, social and justice ministry, and equipping others.
Riley Abbott leads music ministry with an emphasis on choral growth, connection and service beyond the congregation. Marisol directs Calico Butterfly Preschool, helping families and young children find a place within the wider life of St. Paul. Together, these leaders model a church whose work is carried by clergy, staff, students and many volunteers.
Ushers move offering baskets through the sanctuary. Communion assistants prepare the table. Choir members rehearse early Sunday mornings. Hospitality volunteers bring refreshments. The streaming team tends the livestream. Knitters and crocheters replenish the prayer-shawl basket. Members write advocacy letters, assemble hygiene kits, collect food and support students and families through local ministries. This shared work keeps the church's mission active in ordinary days, not only on major program days.
At St. Paul, hospitality is designed rather than merely declared. A visitor can arrive at 10, find Communion in a seated kit or at a station, join from home or a car, and then enter a wider rhythm of music, learning, prayer and service. The same community that welcomes around its sanctuary table supports food shelves, homes, refugee ministries, civic witness and the growth of children and adults in faith.
St. Paul's future is shaped by these enduring habits: open doors, shared tables, a choir room that welcomes new voices, a preschool at the heart of campus and neighbors treated not as projects but as fellow participants in God's mission. At St. Paul Lutheran Church in Albuquerque, the welcome is the doorway, while the work of justice and love continues in community.