Hope Lutheran Church sits on 26th Street West in Bradenton, Florida, a few minutes south of Palma Sola Bay. It is a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, working under the Florida-Georgia District, and it gathers twice on Sunday mornings around word, sacrament, and song. The building houses a sanctuary for liturgy, a fellowship hall for Bible study, and classrooms for children, and out of those spaces the church supports a wide network of community ministries across Manatee County.
Where Hope Came From
Hope's mission is summarized in two short lines that shape everything the congregation does: "Making disciples by sharing God's compassionate love" and "Helping others prepare for eternity." The church describes itself as hope-filled, Christ-centered, and Bible-based, rooted in what the Lutheran tradition calls the solas - Scripture alone as guide, grace alone as the means of salvation. The pastoral team puts it plainly: "We are messy. We are broken. We are sinful. We are far from perfect, and we are in need of a Savior. In the single greatest act of love, God sent His Son, Jesus, to take all our messiness, brokenness, and sinfulness onto himself at the cross where he died, and He defeated the devil by rising from the dead. Our faith in Him gives us hope for the future."
Senior Pastor James Krach
Pastor James (Jim) Krach is the senior pastor. He grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, in a family where ministry was a way of life: his grandfather served more than fifty years as a Lutheran pastor in the Detroit area, his uncle pastored in Saginaw for more than fifty years, and his father was a Lutheran school teacher and principal in Saginaw for more than forty years. Pastor Krach did not sense a call to ministry until he attended a Promise Keepers gathering in Pontiac, Michigan in April 1995. He enrolled at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis and graduated on May 19, 2000, and he was ordained in the LCMS on July 9, 2000. Hope Lutheran in Bradenton is his fifth call. He and his wife Jennifer share the ministry with their daughter Ellie, who works for an online mortgage banking company, and Pastor Krach is also stepfather to Desiree, who lives in Michigan with her husband and two sons.
Sunday Mornings: Two Services, Two Styles
Hope offers two distinct Sunday services under one roof, both of them in English.
- Traditional Worship, 8:30 a.m. This service follows the historic Lutheran liturgy, with classic hymns accompanied by longtime organist Ms. Dottie (Dorothy Feldman). It is the setting that draws lifelong Lutherans and visitors who prefer a more formal rhythm of confession, Scripture, creed, and confession-and-absolution.
- Contemporary Worship, 10:45 a.m. The contemporary service is informal and participatory. Hope's Praise Band leads modern worship covers of the kind played on The Joy FM, members share spoken testimonies from the floor, and the atmosphere is closer to a family gathering than to a recital.
Holy Communion is celebrated at both services on the first and third Sundays of each month. Visitors are invited to read about the church's Communion practices before partaking for the first time; the church provides that guidance in print form.
Between the Services
From 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., the building hums with education. A Bible study meets in the fellowship hall, open to anyone who wants to dig into the morning's Scripture between the two services. In the summer months the Bible study shifts to follow the 9:30 service rather than precede it.
Music as the Heartbeat
Music is treated as a ministry of its own at Hope, not merely a part of worship. Two teams carry most of the load. Dorothy Feldman directs the traditional music and the choir; Aaron Schiavone leads the contemporary Praise Band and serves as lead instructor for the music school that operates on the campus. Alicia Schiavone, Aaron's wife, is the Ministry Support Director and lead instructor for the same program.
Beyond Sunday mornings, the music ministry runs a year-round program of private lessons and worship-leadership training for musicians of all ages. A Music Ministry Scholarship Program helps students who show dedication to learning and a heart for serving through music, whether the applicant is a young instrumentalist or an adult looking to plug into the band or choir. Visitors who want to sing, play, or simply be part of the rehearsal community are invited to reach out.
A separate weekly schedule also offers Music Classes for Babies and Toddlers on campus, with enrollment coordinated through Alicia Schiavone.
Children at Hope
Children are a visible presence in the life of the church.
- Sunday School meets at 9:30 a.m. for children ages 4 through 12.
- Nursery is available during Sunday School and the services for children under 4, where caregivers will find Ms. Kym.
- Children's choir and musical training flow out of the music ministry described above.
Hope's campus is also home to Next Generation Academics, a Christian school that serves children of all ages. Special-needs and low-income scholarships are available, and families can find more information through the church.
Bible Study, Confirmation, and New Members
The Sunday-morning Bible study between services is the most public learning option. For deeper formation, the church offers Confirmation classes and New Member classes, both scheduled at the request of the office so that newcomers can be placed in a cohort that fits their needs. Worship, prayer, and small-group study form the triangle of Christian formation at Hope, and the congregation often describes it as "worshiping our Savior, studying His Word, and doing life together in faith, hope, and love."
Reaching Out Across Bradenton
Hope's community involvement page lists five ongoing partnerships, each one tied to a real unmet need in the surrounding area.
- Our Daily Bread of Bradenton. Hope volunteers serve with this local organization devoted to feeding the hungry throughout the year.
- Hope Seeds. A Christian charitable ministry that ships quality garden seed and agricultural education through missionaries and partner organizations to improve nutrition among the world's poorest families.
- Loving Hands Ministry. A faith-based organization in the Bradenton region that works to meet the spiritual, physical, emotional, and material needs of boys and men at risk, often referred to locally as "Save Our Sons."
- Acts of Love Ministry. An evangelistic outreach that fights sex trafficking and sexual exploitation, modeled on the outreach of the book of Acts.
- Blind Ministry. Hope volunteers prepare a meal and host a time of fellowship for adults who are legally blind in the Manatee County area.
Members who want to serve one of these groups can mark their interests on the church's Connect Card.
Prayer and the Women's Book Club
On Sundays, a prayer warrior group meets immediately after the 10:45 contemporary service to lift up the requests that members and visitors have submitted through the prayer-request form. The congregation takes seriously the call to "pray without ceasing," and the prayers are kept confidential when requested.
For women in the church, the Women's Book Club meets on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. in the Hope Church office. Members choose a single book each season and gather to discuss it over food. The book club is coordinated by Jane Pavich, who fields questions and welcomes newcomers.
Livestream, Sermons, and Special Services
Hope livestreams its services through Facebook for members who travel, are sick, or live out of state. Recordings of Sunday mornings, midweek services, and special services are kept online for later viewing. The midweek calendar typically includes Advent and Lent services plus Holy Week worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services are also part of the rhythm of the year. Midweek services and a Christmas Day service are scheduled around the church calendar and reflected in the livestream library.
Giving and Administration
The congregation supports its ministries through three giving channels. Online gifts can be made through the Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF), the financial arm of the LCMS that works with Vanco to process recurring donations without administrative fees. Single gifts can also be made through PayPal. Checks may be mailed to the church office, and a giving box sits in the lobby for in-person offerings. Office Administrator Cindy Stewart - who has served Hope for more than eighteen years - keeps the administrative side running, and congregation president Teena Lichtenberger leads the lay leadership alongside the pastoral team.
What a First-Time Visitor Will Find
Hope Lutheran meets at 4635 26th Street West, Bradenton, Florida 34207. The 8:30 a.m. traditional service is for those who like liturgy and hymnody; the 10:45 a.m. contemporary service is for those who prefer modern worship and a more relaxed feel. Both are followed by a time of fellowship so that newcomers can meet members of the congregation. Sunday School for ages 4 to 12 begins at 9:30 a.m., and a nursery is open for children under 4. The building is a single campus and is easy to find from central Bradenton, with directions available through the church's online map. Worship services are in English, Communion is offered the first and third Sundays of the month, and both services are livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person.
Hope Lutheran Church exists for a simple reason: to make disciples by sharing God's compassionate love and to help others prepare for eternity. Whether that happens at the organ on a Sunday morning, in the fellowship hall over Bible study, at a food line with Our Daily Bread, or in a living room with a women's book club, the congregation is committed to the same calling that has shaped its identity from the start.