About Us
History
Good Shepherd began as a mission congregation of the Central Illinois District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in 1993. The first called pastor was Rev. Clarence Mankin. Worship began at Wittenberg Lutheran on the campus of Illinois State University and the congregation was chartered in February 1994.
The church worshipped at various places throughout Bloomington and eventually settled at the McLean County Farm Bureau building. During this time, 10 acres of land in the southeast portion of Bloomington was purchased. At the end of 1998, current pastor, Rev. Chad Lueck was called.
Ground was broke for the current church on September 19, 1999. The dedication to the glory of God for this new church home occurred on August 27, 2000. The congregation of Good Shepherd gives thanks for the blessings of the past and the leading of our Lord in the future.
Beliefs
- That every word of the Bible is the divinely inspired Word of God (II Timothy 3:16 & I Corinthians 2:13) and therefore is absolutely true and without error (John 17:17).
- That God is Triune - that is, one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), three Persons in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Matthew 29:19).
- That man was made by God by a special creative act - creation (Genesis chapters 1 & 2). He fell into sin and became a stranger from God (Genesis 2:16-17, 3: 1-19, , Romans 5:12).
- That every human being is a sinner at conception (Psalm 51:5) and every failure to do what God's law demands is sin (James 4:17).
- The Gospel is God's power to save sinners (Romans 1:16).
- Jesus Christ is the Son of God and equal to the Father in every respect (John 5:23, 10:30, 14:9). He is in His Person both God and man (Matthew 25:31).
- Jesus took the punishment for our sins by suffering and dying in our place on the cross (Galations 3:13 & I Peter 2:24).
- Jesus rose bodily from the dead and lives today (Matthew 28:6, John 14:19).
- We believe in the teaching of justification by God's grace alone, for the sake of Christ alone, received by faith alone.
- Every truly repentant sinner is assured of God's forgiveness in Christ (Luke 18:13-14, Psalm 32: 5a).
- That Holy Baptism is a Sacrament of God that is divinely instituted (Matthew 28:19) and for all ages (Matthew 28:19 & Acts 2:38-39).
- That the Lord's Supper is a Sacrament instituted by Christ and is his true body and blood present in and with the bread and wine (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19-20, I Corinthians 11:23-25).