Downtown Greensboro, Just West of UNCG
Ebenezer Lutheran Church sits at 310 South Tremont Drive in the heart of Greensboro, North Carolina, on the western edge of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro campus. Its modest downtown location has been the church's address for generations, and the building still anchors a stretch of Greensboro known for its proximity to the university and the surrounding residential streets. For visitors arriving from the UNCG campus, the church is only a short walk away, which makes Ebenezer a familiar presence for college students who drop in on Sunday mornings.
The church describes itself as evangelical (in the older sense of gospel-centered), liturgical, and confessional, with more than a century of Lutheran worship and teaching behind it. Members of the wider community recognize Ebenezer as one of the older Lutheran congregations in the city, and its Sunday morning pattern of two services plus a Sunday School hour has been a regular rhythm on this block for decades.
A Lutheran Witness for More Than a Century
Ebenezer carries nearly 120 years of accumulated history. The congregation's printed bulletins, photographs, and other archival materials are being sorted, scanned, and organized by volunteers Leah Nykamp and Darrell Ambro, with the goal of producing a searchable digital archive of the church's building, events, and people. Members who want to help maintain the archive are invited to volunteer through the church office.
The church is part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS), a fellowship that traces its roots to Saxon Lutherans who settled in Missouri in the nineteenth century and that remains committed to a strict confessional reading of Scripture. Ebenezer accepts the historic Lutheran confessions collected in the Book of Concord and looks to Martin Luther's Large and Small Catechisms as core teaching resources.
Sunday Worship at Ebenezer
Worship at Ebenezer is traditional and liturgical, following the historic patterns of Lutheran liturgy. Sunday mornings follow a familiar rhythm for visitors and longtime members alike.
- Early Service: 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.
- Sunday School: 9:45 to 10:45 a.m.
- Late Service: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
- Unity (Combined) Service: 10:00 a.m. on special Sundays, replacing the two regular services; the calendar lists which Sundays will be combined.
The Eucharist is distributed at every Sunday service. Children are welcome to remain in the sanctuary for the full liturgy. For families who need them, lamb bags with quiet activities are available in the Narthex, and a staffed nursery is provided during the services, with the sermon broadcast into the nursery so parents and small children can still follow along.
Services are livestreamed on YouTube, so members who are traveling, ill, or otherwise unable to attend in person can still join the liturgy from a distance.
The Lord's Table at Ebenezer
Because Ebenezer practices the historic LCMS position of closed Communion, Holy Communion is offered to those who share the confession of faith that the church teaches. Visitors who have questions about that practice are invited to speak with the pastor before the service. Those who do commune may receive the common cup or may take the individual small cup, and the church teaches that Christ is really present in the bread and wine, forgiving sins and strengthening faith through this mystery.
Anyone who chooses not to take Communion is welcome to come forward during the distribution with arms crossed over the chest, and the pastor will offer a prayer and blessing instead. This is a regular and expected part of the liturgy at Ebenezer, so no visitor needs to feel awkward about staying in the pew.
Children and the Sunday School Hour
The Sunday School hour from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. sits between the two Sunday services and is one of the busiest teaching times in the church's week. Classes are organized by age, beginning with Pre-K and Kindergarten and continuing through 1st through 8th grade. Older youth are folded into the adult rhythm of the church and are often visible in the pews at both the early and late services.
The Christian Education team is led by Jaymie Lenoard, who chairs the program and teaches in the Sunday School. Amy McDonald teaches the nursery through Kindergarten classes, and Dean and Billie Wagner serve as additional Sunday School teachers. Children are introduced to the Bible through age-appropriate lessons that the church describes as engaging and interactive, with a focus on building friendships alongside faith.
LWML: Women in Bible Study and Fellowship
Ebenezer's women's ministry is rooted in the Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML), the LCMS-affiliated organization that gathers women for Bible study, fellowship, and service. The LWML group at Ebenezer meets on the third Sunday of each month at 3 p.m. in the church, and all Ebenezer women and their friends are invited to attend. Meetings include a devotional, refreshments, and time in God's Word together.
An LWML Bible Study series titled Messiah: Revealing Jesus in the Old Testament is offered periodically, and a recurring Saturday gathering at 11 a.m. combines a New Member Class with a Small Catechism review, giving those exploring membership and longtime members a chance to refresh themselves in Luther's foundational teachings.
Music That Supports the Liturgy
Music at Ebenezer is built around the organ and the choir, in keeping with the congregation's traditional worship style. Daniel Johnson serves as organist and accompanist, supporting the congregation's hymns and the liturgical singing of the service. Brittany Kaehler directs the choir, which is also described by Pastor Scheuermann as including members of his own family; his son Aaron is a member, elder, choir member, and cantor at Ebenezer.
The pastoral team also makes clear that music is meant to serve the liturgy rather than to overshadow it, and the choir's role during the church year reflects the seasons of the Christian calendar as observed by the LCMS.
What Ebenezer Believes
Ebenezer teaches that the Bible is the divinely inspired and inerrant Word of God and that the doctrines and practices of the LCMS are guided by Scripture alone. The congregation is grateful for the life and witness of Martin Luther and accepts the Lutheran confessions as found in the Book of Concord, including Luther's Large and Small Catechisms, as faithful expositions of biblical teaching.
In his monthly newsletter column, Pastor Scheuermann regularly returns to the same core themes: the hope of the resurrection, the gift of baptism, the Lord's Supper as the Christian family meal, and the call of God's people to be authentic in worship and bold in witness. Visitors who want a fuller picture of these teachings can ask the church office for catechism materials or sit in on the Small Catechism review on Saturday mornings.
Pastoral Leadership
Pastor John Scheuermann has served as Ebenezer's senior pastor since 2023. Born in Alameda, California, and raised in Claremont, he attended Lutheran High School in La Verne before earning a teaching degree at Concordia, Nebraska. He taught high school and coached basketball at Lutheran schools in Southern California and Queens, served as principal of a Lutheran school in Glendale, New York, and spent two decades as Director of Education at St. Luke in Reno, Nevada, while completing a Master's degree in theology through Concordia University, Irvine. He was later called as Associate Pastor at St. Luke, then as senior pastor at Trinity in Gardnerville, Nevada, before being called to Greensboro.
Pastor Scheuermann is married to Martha, and the family is closely tied to Ebenezer: their son Aaron is a member, elder, choir member, and cantor at the church, and is married to Narae; their son Andrew lives in Reno. Pastor Emeritus James McDaniels, whose detailed bio is pending, remains connected to the congregation he formerly shepherded. Jenny Rayna, the Administrative Assistant since March 2024, came to Ebenezer in 2011 and previously volunteered at Wesley Long Hospital and with the American Cancer Society.
Getting Involved
Visitors interested in joining Ebenezer are invited to attend the recurring New Member Class & Small Catechism Review on Saturday mornings at 11 a.m., which doubles as an introduction for newcomers and a refresher for current members. Anyone interested in volunteer roles, boards, or committees is encouraged to contact an elder or the church office, or to check the calendar page for upcoming opportunities. The church maintains a private church directory for members, with instructions for accessing it available through the Members section of the site.
Offerings can be placed in the plates at the sanctuary entrance during worship or mailed directly to the church at 310 South Tremont Drive, Greensboro, NC 27403. Office hours are Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and the office is closed on Fridays.
An Older Lutheran Voice in a College Town
Ebenezer Lutheran Church occupies a particular place in Greensboro: old enough to be working through a century's worth of archival bulletins and newsletters, close enough to UNCG that students wander into the pews, and confessionally Lutheran enough that newcomers are likely to encounter a liturgy they may not have seen before. The combination of traditional worship, weekly Eucharist, a full Sunday School program, and an active LWML makes the church a recognizable fixture on South Tremont Drive, and a place where first-time visitors can settle into a service, receive a blessing, and return the following Sunday to do it again.