On Janesville Road in Hales Corners, just southwest of Milwaukee, Hales Corners Lutheran Church fills a 38,500-square-foot sanctuary and shares its campus with a K-8 Christian school, an independent senior living community called Steeple View, and a constellation of mission partners on four continents. The English Evangelical Lutheran Church, as the congregation was first named, celebrated its first Divine Worship on November 18, 1928, with fifteen communicant members and six voting members in 1929. Nearly a century later, the same church still sends teenagers on short-term mission trips to Haiti and Slovakia, still welcomes thousands to weekend worship, and still anchors its ministry in a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod confession of faith.
From a 1928 Mission Chapel to a Multi-Building Campus
By 1938, membership had multiplied more than tenfold. The next leap came in September 1960, when the congregation opened a school for kindergarten through second grade with fifty-six students. By the following fall, enrollment had more than doubled to 122. Over the decades the school grew to multiple classrooms per grade, added specialty teachers in art, computer, gym, music, science, library, speech therapy, and counseling, and earned National Lutheran School Accreditation in 1990. During the 2012-2013 re-accreditation process, the school earned Exemplary Status.
In 1992, leaders with vision purchased land on Janesville Road. Five years later, the new sanctuary was complete, and the original church site, still housing the elementary school, became known as the Grange Campus. Land was also purchased for a Primary School and for what would become Steeple View Senior Community. The 2000 school year opened the Primary School, moving preschool and childcare from the Grange Campus to the Janesville Road location. The 75th anniversary in 2003 brought record growth to seven thousand worshiping members. The 2004-2005 school year added a Middle School and Community Center. In 2018, Phase III of the Janesville Road campus was completed with the addition of Chapel North, a flexible worship space that brought the entire school under one roof from infant care through middle school.
Three Sanctuary Services and a Parallel Bible Study Called DEVOTED
Worship at HCL is described as joyful, lively, and welcoming, blending current and timeless liturgies and hymns with contemporary Christian songs. Five Sanctuary services are held each weekend: Saturday at 5:30 pm, Sunday at 7:45 am, 9:15 am, and 10:45 am. The 9:15 am Sunday service is livestreamed online, on Facebook, and on YouTube.
Running alongside those services is DEVOTED, an adult Bible study held in the Chapel at 9:15 and 10:45 am each Sunday. DEVOTED opens with song and prayer, then moves into small-group conversation around a single book or passage, with the goal of building a community whose hearts are wrapped around the Word. Take A Moment Cafe serves coffee and snacks before and after each DEVOTED session on the lower level.
Holy Communion is celebrated in the Sanctuary on the first and third weekends of the month. The congregation believes that in Holy Communion, believers receive the true body and blood of Jesus under forms of bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins. Rice wafers are available for those who need them, and non-alcoholic wine is offered in the center of each communion tray. Visitors who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior, recognize the true presence, and have examined their lives are welcomed to the table.
Children are an expected part of the worshiping community. Hands-on worship tools are provided throughout the Sanctuary, and two nurseries serve the youngest worshipers. The Infant Nursery, located in the northwest corner of the Sanctuary, is a parent-supervised space for infants through early walkers, with rocking chairs, toys, and a feed of the service. The Toddler Nursery, themed around Noah's ark with a custom-made slide-equipped ark, a book nook, and a craft area, serves children six months through three years old at the 9:15 and 10:45 am services during the school year, and at 9:15 am through the summer.
A Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod Statement of Faith
Hales Corners Lutheran Church is a member congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, and its statement of belief is anchored in Scripture. The church confesses one true God who shows Himself in three distinct persons: the Father, who creates and preserves all things; the Son, who redeems the world by His perfect life, death, and resurrection; and the Holy Spirit, who brings and keeps people in saving faith in Jesus Christ.
The church teaches that God desires all people to be saved and to know the truth, that human beings are sinful from birth and must be born again, and that God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to rescue the lost. Those who believe and are baptized are saved. The Holy Spirit, working through God's Word, Holy Baptism, and the Lord's Supper, brings people to faith, keeps them in faith, and grows them in faith. Through baptism, the Spirit offers new life and makes believers God's children. In Holy Communion, Jesus offers His body and blood under forms of bread and wine for the forgiveness of sins.
The church also teaches that the Christian life is not lived in isolation. Through the Church, God equips, empowers, and sends believers to serve Him by serving others and sharing the good news about Jesus. Members are uniquely gifted for good works, called to share His love through intentional relationships, and strengthened in Bible studies and small groups, so that the greatest purpose of life is to bring others into a saving relationship with Jesus their Savior.
NextGen: From Sunday School Through Confirmation
NextGen Ministry at HCL exists to glorify God by raising up authentic Christ-centered families who pass on vibrant faith in Jesus Christ to the next generation, drawing on Psalm 78. The ministry sees itself as a strategic partnership between the church and the home, connecting parents and children with the truth of God's Word, equipping parents to engage actively in the discipleship and spiritual formation of their children, and empowering people at every stage of life to make a difference in the world for Christ.
Four core values shape the work: rooted and sent, home-centered and church-supported, grace and forgiveness, and one generation to another. Sunday School runs during the school year for children of all ages. A teaching team led by Steve Wilson, Director of NextGen Ministry, and supported by NextGen Associates Bethany Dillon and Kelly Liefer, walks alongside parents in this work.
Confirmation Ministry teams with families to equip confirmands with a deep understanding of Jesus while furthering their lifelong relationship with Him. Confirmation Church is a 90-minute interactive worship service held once a month on Sunday afternoons for both the confirmand and parents. It begins with sixty minutes of experiential worship built on Scripture and Luther's Small Catechism, followed by thirty minutes of small-group discussion and life application. Required retreats include the 6th grade First Communion Instruction and Seder Supper, the 7th grade retreat on fighting sin, temptation, and peer pressure, and the 8th grade retreat on writing a personal faith story.
Youth Group meets for middle school students on the first and third Sundays from 3:00 to 5:00 pm, and for high school students on the second and fourth Sundays from 3:00 to 5:00 pm in the community center. A Youth Bible Study runs on Wednesdays during the school year. Buddy Break, a free monthly respite program for parents of children with special needs, fills Sunday afternoons with games, crafts, and fellowship.
Music That Ranges from Festival Orchestra to Praise Band
Music is treated as a core part of worship at HCL. Jana Petersen leads Sanctuary music as Director of Music Ministry, while Riitta Kulinski directs music for DEVOTED sessions in the Chapel.
Vocal opportunities include the Festival Choir, a formal SATB ensemble that performs large-scale Christmas and Easter concerts alongside the Festival Orchestra; the Sanctuary Worship Choir, an SATB group that leads worship with a blend of contemporary and traditional music for Reformation, Patriotic, and other special weekends; the Praise Team, which leads worship once a month in the Sanctuary with contemporary Christian and praise music; rotating Worship Team Singers, who sing SATB parts on mic several weekends a year; and a Soloist Ministry for auditioned performance-level solo, duet, or trio singing.
Instrumental ensembles include the Festival Orchestra, drawn from HCL musicians and Milwaukee-area professionals for the seasonal Christmas and Easter concerts; the Praise Band, a tight ensemble of experienced instrumentalists who play contemporary Christian music for Sanctuary worship; and a Horns and Brass group that plays for Easter, Christmas Eve, Memorial Day, and other weekends with brass fanfare.
Acolytes from the Confirmation Ministry serve during worship by lighting candles and assisting with Holy Communion. Volunteers also operate the screens, sound, and live video feed for worship. Training is provided, and opportunities range from once a month to every week for those who want more.
Bible Studies for Men, Women, Young Adults, and the 55+ Crew
The conviction that iron sharpens iron shapes the small-group culture at HCL. Men and women meet in separate and mixed groups, on weekday mornings and evenings, in homes, restaurants, and on the HCL campus.
Men's small-group Bible studies meet weekly in four different rhythms: Mondays at 7:00 am at Open Flame Restaurant, Tuesdays at 6:00 pm in Room 1018, the first and third Thursdays at 6:30 pm in Room 1029, and Saturdays at 8:00 am in the Large Conference Room. Three-week topical studies, often led by one of the pastors, dive into books like Ecclesiastes. Co-ed volleyball draws adults 18 and older to the gym on Sunday evenings from 6:00 to 8:30 pm.
Women's ministry includes two morning Bible studies during the school year. The Tuesday group meets the first, third, and fifth Tuesdays from 9:00 to 11:00 am in the Large Conference Room, with childcare available. The Thursday group meets weekly from 9:00 to 11:00 am in the same room. Women of Faith gathers on Tuesday evenings for worship, prayer, large-group Bible study, and small-group discussion, with Zoom available for remote participants. The Lutheran Women's Missionary League (LWML) gathers on the third Monday of each month at 12:30 pm in the Steeple View craft room. MOMs groups meet twice monthly, with one morning group in the Serenity Room and one evening group in Cubeville, and childcare is provided for the morning session.
For those in the college-aged to early-30s range, a post-high-school Bible Study meets every other Tuesday from 7:00 to 8:15 pm in the HCL Library. The 55+ Ministry organizes cookouts, game nights, special presentations, day trips, Brewers games, Fireside Theater outings, line dancing, and Wednesday Bible studies for adults ages fifty-five and older.
Care Ministries for Grief, Addiction, Divorce, Cancer, and Special Needs
The Care Ministries team at HCL has built a wide network of layperson-led support groups for people navigating grief, illness, broken relationships, addiction, and mental health struggles. Most are free, all are confidential, and most can be reached through careministries@hcl.org or the church office at 414-529-6700.
An Alcoholics Anonymous group meets every Tuesday at 6:30 pm on the HCL campus. DivorceCare runs on Sunday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 pm for individuals at any stage of separation or divorce. Lighthouse Ministry offers counseling through a licensed psychotherapist, by appointment. GriefShare provides a warm, caring environment for those who have experienced the death of a loved one, with a variety of groups that meet year-round. A separate group for those grieving a miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss meets monthly by Zoom, with periodic in-person social events.
For cancer, Breast Cancer Mentors pairs women diagnosed with breast cancer with one-on-one emotional and spiritual support, while Cancer Care Mentors extend that to any cancer diagnosis, and a Cancer Care Support Group meets offsite on the first Tuesday of every month. Crossroads: Life Changes helps people lean into God through life's transitions. A Parent Support Group for those with prodigal or rebellious loved ones meets the second Monday of the month from 6:30 to 8:00 pm. An Estranged Grandparent Support Group meets monthly for those experiencing parent-child alienation. Mending the Soul is a faith-based group for women coming out of abusive relationships.
The deaf and hard-of-hearing community is served by assisted hearing devices and an ASL interpreter available during the 10:45 am worship service on the first, second, and fourth Sundays of each month, and at special events upon request. Financial Peace University offers Dave Ramsey's budgeting and debt-elimination course. Homebound Visitation brings communion and a pastoral presence to those who cannot attend church. A Meals Ministry delivers short-term meals to families in times of loss or illness.
Special-needs ministry runs a constellation of programs: Supported Family Worship, Buddies (an inclusive Sunday School), an ASL interpreter at select services, Buddy Break respite afternoons, a Serenity Room, and Sensory Rich Activity Bags. The church also partners with GriefShare and Wild at Heart prison ministries, sending volunteers to a men's medium-security prison in Sturtevant, a women's prison, and the Racine Correctional Institute.
Serving Greater Milwaukee: Local Mission Partners
HCL walks alongside more than a dozen ministry partners across the Milwaukee area. Ebenezer Stone Ministries operates a food pantry, Wednesday lunch, and Saturday breakfast at its 35th and Scott location and a food distribution center at 45th and Burnham in West Milwaukee. Hope Street Ministry offers shelter, addiction recovery support, and a community center called Shechem. Hope Tree is a Christmas gift program that each year sees HCL members buy gifts for hundreds of children from dozens of families served through Ebenezer Stone. LINC Milwaukee is a network of local churches and ministries pooling their efforts to share the love of Christ in the city. Emmanuel MKE walks with men toward healing and freedom in Christ.
Care Net Pregnancy Center of Milwaukee has served the northwest side of the city since 1985 with free, confidential support to women and families facing unplanned pregnancies. Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity partners with HCL and Thrivent on the annual Faith Build, with plans to construct, rehab, and repair homes in the Midtown Neighborhood. Loved Ministries works to ensure that youth in Wisconsin foster care group homes know they are loved and important. Soles For Jesus distributes shoes and the gospel to underserved communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Warm Hugs Quilt Group meets Mondays from 9:30 to 11:30 am year-round in the Steeple View craft room, making roughly a hundred quilts each year for various ministries.
From Alaska to Central Asia: A Global Footprint
Across the oceans, HCL supports a network of mission partners that includes Alaska Mission for Christ, Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care on the U.S.-Mexico border, Mission Experience Haiti, the Center for Christian Education in Slovakia, Lutheran Bible Translators, and mission work in Central Asia.
In Haiti, HCL has worked alongside Mission Experience Haiti for more than seven years at God's Garden Orphanage just outside Port au Prince. Together, the two ministries are building Grace Academy, a school eventually designed to serve five hundred children on the orphanage grounds. Lutheran Bible Translators is the partner for the Dhirayta Old Testament Translation in Ethiopia, helping fund the translation of additional Old Testament verses.
Short-term mission trips leave from HCL each year. The application process involves a deposit, passport and vaccination preparation, and ten weeks of team meetings before departure, with debriefing sessions after returning home. Teams have served in El Paso, Alaska, Haiti, and Slovakia, with new opportunities opening as partnerships expand.
A K-8 Christian School on the Same Campus
Hales Corners Lutheran School has been part of the congregation's DNA since 1960, and today it serves infants through eighth grade. Students follow a Christian curriculum grounded in the same confession of faith as the congregation. Specialty teachers in art, computer, gym, music, science, library, speech therapy, and counseling support the academic program, and the school maintains National Lutheran School Accreditation with Exemplary Status.
The Primary School opened in 2000, moving preschool and childcare from the Grange Campus to the Janesville Road campus. Learners Club, another children's program, began in 2003. The 2018 addition of Chapel North brought all programs under one roof: infant care, toddler care, preschool, elementary, and middle school. Toddler Time, designed for two- and three-year-olds alongside a parent, gives young children their first exposures to a school environment and the love of Jesus.
The school's nondiscriminatory policy, posted publicly, admits students of any race, color, and national or ethnic origin to all rights, privileges, programs, and activities.
The Janesville Road Campus, the Columbarium, and the Foundation
The Janesville Road campus is a multi-building ministry center. The Sanctuary, completed in 1997, seats more than a thousand worshipers. Chapel North, added in 2018, is a flexible worship space that hosts DEVOTED sessions and other gatherings. The Community Center, opened in 2004 and 2005, is home to youth group meetings and other events. A gymnasium hosts co-ed volleyball and other activities.
The Columbarium Memorial Garden offers a sacred place for cremated remains. The Common Grounds Library, located adjacent to the east entrance, stocks books to feed the spiritual appetite, and Common Grounds serves coffee and snacks after services. Take A Moment Cafe serves coffee and snacks before and after DEVOTED sessions on the lower level. The Altar Flowers ministry offers ways to honor loved ones or celebrate special occasions through floral dedications.
Adjacent to the campus, Steeple View Senior Community operates as an independent Christian living community for older adults, with its own craft room hosting the LWML and the Warm Hugs Quilt Group.
The HCL Foundation is a separate nonprofit that supports the mission and vision of Hales Corners Lutheran Church and School today and into the future. It is a resource on stewardship, biblical generosity, and legacy. The Foundation is governed by its own board of directors, invests in professionally managed funds, and offers both endowed and non-endowed fund accounts. Income from the Foundation advances missions and outreach, worship and music, education, and facility maintenance.
For urgent pastoral needs outside regular hours, the main church line at 414-529-6700 routes to a Pastor on Call system that connects the family in need with the on-call pastor as quickly as possible.