ABOUT US


sample pic Our congregation is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, a church with over 200,000 members in 600 congregations across the country.

Our Mission: Sherwood Park Lutheran Church participates in God's mission: God brings in, God builds up, God sends us out.

Our Vision: The heart of Sherwood Park Lutheran Church is its experience of God's grace in rich and lively Worship. In this community:

Lutherans believe: As members of the Lutheran Church, we believe in the one true God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God came to this world in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a life of ministry and love and died on the cross to save humankind from sin, death and fears. He arose triumphantly from the dead and empowers his followers with God's Holy Spirit for eternal life.

We believe we are saved by grace through faith alone. God's Word, his revelation to us, enters our life to bring us into faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour and unites us with one another in the fellowship of the Holy Christian Church.

Our new life in Christ grows by the Spirit's work within us so that we might express our faith active in love as we serve others and as we help bring healing and wholeness to our broken world.

HISTORY


Sherwood Park Lutheran Church began as the Danish Lutheran Congregation of Winnipeg in 1910. A local pastor assisted the congregation and worship services were conducted in homes, halls, and other church buildings on a regular basis for a number of years.

In 1919, the congregation called Niels Damskov as its first pastor. He and this active congregation worked toward the goal of establishing a permanent church building. Financial assistance was received from churches in Denmark and the United States. The cornerstone for St Ansgar Lutheran Church at 133 Bannerman Ave. was laid and the construction was completed in March 1927.

St Ansgar was a fine impressive building and seeing it completed instilled pride in her congregation. As the congregation grew, matters of bilingualism (Danish/English) became an issue. St Ansgar began to decline as did the influx of Danish immigrants.

A merger of several Lutheran synods in 1960 found St Ansgar in close proximity to other Lutheran churches. They faced the decision to merge with another Lutheran church in the area or become a mission church and relocate to another community. The option to relocate to the new subdivision of Sherwood Park in East Kildonan was considered. Guided by the Holy Spirit, Pastor Husted Christensen supported and encouraged this choice. Through his wise leadership, St Ansgar relocated to the corner of Tudor Cres. and London St. in 1961. The congregation chose to rename the new church Sherwood Park Lutheran Church.

Again inspired by the Holy Spirit, the new congregation of Sherwood Park Lutheran Church reached out and gathered people from this part of the city and the congregation grew and thrived.

In the late 1990’s, the Spirit once again ignited this congregation to mission, this time in Birds Hill/East St Paul. The first project was a Vacation Bible School. Many members from Sherwood Park were involved in this outreach, gathering families from that community. Those families became a core group that eventually led to the founding of Abundant Life Lutheran Church.

In 2006, a visioning process was begun. We already knew 'Activity is God’s Medicine' and God has blessed us with Sherwood Park Lutheran Church; but to instill excitement and remind our congregation that our work is ongoing, we created a mission statement: "Sherwood Park Lutheran Church participates in God’s Mission-God brings in; God builds up; God sends us out."

Where this process will lead, we are not entirely sure. But we believe it is God’s Spirit at work, inspiring, motivating, strengthening, equipping us to mission, to reach out beyond our own walls to serve and bear witness to those around us.