An ELCA Congregation on the West Side of Lancaster
Redeemer Lutheran Church stands at the junction of Pearl Street and Fifth Street on the west side of Lancaster city, a position it has occupied since 1904. From that location, the congregation has built a reputation that runs in two directions at once: a liturgy-rich Sunday worship that draws on Lutheran tradition, and a wide-reaching social ministry that opens the building's doors to neighbors who have nothing to do with the church calendar. The Thursday Community Gathering Meal, served every week since Redeemer committed to it, has become one of the most visible signs of that mission in the city. Members describe it the way they describe themselves, in relational terms: belonging to the Lord, and therefore belonging to one another and to the wider Lancaster community.
Radical Welcome, Stated Plainly
Jesus was famous for extending a radical welcome to everyone he met, crossing over all human-made lines and boundaries. Having received that welcome, Redeemer extends it to all people, without exception: regardless of race, ethnicity, class, age, gender, marital status, nationality, physical or mental ability, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or family configuration. The congregation also names the historical mistreatment of minorities and marginalized communities by the Church universal and commits itself to racial equity and the work of antiracism. The same welcome is repeated, with each line ending in the same promise.
Daughter Church of Christ Lutheran, Chartered in 1904
Redeemer came into being as a daughter congregation of Christ Lutheran. Worship services began in 1903, and the congregation was chartered the following year. Over more than a century, the building has been expanded twice, in 1963 to 1966 and again in 2003, to accommodate growing ministries and a Sunday school program that once drew children from across the neighborhood. A set of stained-glass windows installed in 1964 and repaired in 2016 still fills the sanctuary with colored light during morning services. Two PDFs documenting the early history (1904 to 1979) and the mid-century expansion are kept on file in the church's online archive.
Sunday Worship at Nine, with Communion Most Weeks
Sunday worship is held at 9:00 AM in the sanctuary. The service is liturgical in shape, drawing on Lutheran rites, and the style of the music shifts with the seasons of the church year. Traditional and contemporary instruments both lead the singing, and the choir and Redeemer Brass contribute anthems for Christmas Eve, Easter, and other high holy days. Holy Communion is served regularly; the order of service follows the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's published liturgies. Dress at Redeemer is casual. The invitation reads, simply, come as you are.
Children are always welcome in worship. Jesus says so, the church notes plainly. For younger children who are still learning to sit through the service, Happy Bags hang on a rack in the narthex, stocked with a coloring book, crayons, books, and other quiet items. Each child can choose a different bag each week and return it after the service. Junior Church is offered during the sermon for children ages three through fifth grade; Pastor Bob announces it after the Gospel reading and the children follow their teacher to the Sunday school room, returning to the sanctuary about twenty to twenty-five minutes later.
Christian Education at Half Past Ten
After worship, an adult Christian Education Hour runs from 10:30 AM to 11:30 AM. Classes rotate among a Women's Ministry study, a Family Focus class, and a Bible History survey. Youth Sunday school classes are not currently meeting after worship; the Junior Church option during the sermon has taken their place. Faith Toolbox materials offer a parallel at-home study path, with PDF reading guides for the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John, the Book of Acts, and Paul's Letters.
Parking, Shuttle, and Accessibility
Parking is not on-site for Sunday worship. The lot reserved for Redeemer worshipers is the Wheatland Middle School lot at the western end of Fifth Street. A church shuttle bus picks up riders in the lot before the service and drops them under the canopied front door; after the service it returns them to the lot. Handicapped parking is available behind the church, where a ramp leads directly into the sanctuary, and several pews have been shortened at the ends to make room for wheelchairs. An elevator serves all levels of the building, and portable hearing helper devices are available at the sound desk for anyone who needs them.
Wednesday Evenings: Faith and Life
On Wednesday evenings at six o'clock, the Faith and Life adult study group meets in the building for an hour of Bible study and discussion. Lesson material rotates, moving through Bible books, theological topics, and occasionally a current book with social or religious content. Recent series have worked through the Old Testament. The group is open to anyone who wants to drop in, and the church's description of the gathering is direct: It's good stuff.
Music: Choir, Brass, and Annual Cantatas
Music is woven through the life of the congregation. The Redeemer Choir is made up of singers of all ages from the pews and sings an anthem during the service about once a month, rehearsing on selected Sunday mornings beforehand. Lisa Willitts Sterner, who holds a degree in music education and previously directed choirs and elementary music in the Conestoga Valley School District, conducts the group, leads the Youth Choir, and brings an acting background from stage work across Lancaster County. Redeemer Brass plays for Christmas Eve and Easter services, with a small number of rehearsals in advance, and is open to anyone who plays a brass instrument and wants to join. In recent years the music program has produced multi-part cantatas: What Love Is This? in 2019, Upon This Rock in 2018, A Journey to Hope in 2017, and an earlier cantata in 2015. Recordings of those works are available.
The Thursday Community Gathering Meal
Every Thursday afternoon the church opens its fellowship hall to anyone in Lancaster who needs a hot meal. The Community Gathering runs from 5:15 PM to 6:30 PM and is free of charge. Volunteers from the congregation cook and serve, and the meal is open to the less fortunate, the homeless, and anyone who simply wants the company. The kitchen keeps a wish list for items that guests enjoy, including Tasty Kakes for dessert; donations can be left on the kitchen counter, marked Community Gathering. Gift bags of small, unused toiletries, crew or knee-high socks, knit hats, and scarves are assembled for guests in colder months. The meal is the single most visible piece of Redeemer's ministry in the city and the place where most non-member guests first meet the congregation.
Social Ministry: Twelve Months of Outreach
A separate Social Ministry Committee plans Redeemer's wider outreach, ranging across local, national, and global needs. Each month of the calendar carries a primary project. January focuses on Bethany Services donations; February and March on Tenfold (formerly Tabor and LHOP) giving; April on disposable diapers and wipes and Easter flower delivery to homebound members; May on Baby Care Kits and the Senior Luncheon; June, July, and August on a produce table whose proceeds benefit Clare House, along with Period Poverty donations in August; September on Lutheran World Relief School Kits; October on the CROP Walk and the LWR In-gathering; November on Harvest Home (canned food given at Thanksgiving) and a second Senior Luncheon; and December on Angel Tree, the Heifer Project, poinsettia delivery to homebound members, and ringing Salvation Army bells.
Several efforts continue year-round, including Period Poverty collection of sanitary pads and tampons, ongoing diaper and baby wipe collection, and the items that make Thursday guests comfortable in cold weather. Fair Trade coffee, tea, and cocoa have been served at all church functions since 2004 and are available for purchase, with a portion of the coffee proceeds going to the Lutheran World Relief Small Farmer Fund. Heifer International is supported by an ongoing quarter collection at the back of the sanctuary; the congregation has sponsored fourteen Arks, representing more than seventy thousand dollars in gifts over the years, and accepts Heifer gift cards as alternative giving for birthdays, graduations, and anniversaries. Food left in the Redeemer Food Carts in the narthex and lower level is delivered to the Lancaster County Food Hub and Water Street Rescue Mission, and clothing donated in a separate ongoing collection goes to the Lancaster County Clothing Bank.
Shiloh House: Two Affordable Units, $175,000 Still to Raise
Redeemer's most ambitious current project is the renovation of a former parish house on Sixth Street in the Jewels neighborhood of Lancaster city into two units of affordable housing. The building has been renamed Shiloh House, a translation that lands on place of peace or place of tranquil abundance. Since the 1940s the structure had served as housing, gathering space, and church offices, but structural problems noted two decades ago left it in use only as storage. Recognizing the housing crunch in Lancaster city, where roughly a third of households are housing-cost-burdened, the congregation partnered with Chestnut Housing, a Lancaster-based organization serving people at risk of homelessness, to convert the building back into residences.
The early phases are complete: the basement walls have been reinforced, a sump pump installed, drawings and contractor quotes obtained, and zoning approval received from the city. A volunteer day drew twenty-five people from inside and outside the congregation to clear carpet, wallpaper, and stored items. More than one hundred thousand dollars in grant money has come in from the ELCA Lower Susquehanna Synod and the City of Lancaster, leaving roughly one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars still to be raised against the budget. A free public concert series, with performances scheduled at three in the afternoon on Sundays throughout the year, has helped move the work forward. Megan Snell and Brané Nichols chair the Shiloh House committee. Concert-day parking follows the usual Sunday pattern: the Wheatland Middle School lot, with shuttle service to and from the church.
Children, Youth, and Senior Members
The Junior Church program during the sermon is the main children's ministry on Sunday mornings, with simple take-home bags for younger children. The Youth Choir, directed by Lisa Willitts Sterner, gives younger singers a place in the music program. Adult Sunday school classes cover women's ministry, family topics, and Bible history. Senior members are remembered twice a year, in May and November, when Redeemer holds a worship service and luncheon for them. Members in nursing homes or who are homebound are picked up for the gathering when transportation can be arranged, and the parish extends the same welcome to those who can no longer attend Sunday worship regularly. A recorded In Memoriam section honors members who have entered the Church Triumphant since the start of the church's current year.
Fellowship on Saturday Mornings and Wednesday Lunches
Outside the Sunday pattern, Redeemer keeps a steady social calendar. A free Neighborhood Pancake Breakfast is held on the first Saturday of most months from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM; guests enter through the glass doors on Fifth Street and a friendly face directs them to the fellowship hall. The Ladies of Redeemer share a monthly brunch on the last Saturday of the month at ten in the morning, rotating among Lancaster-area diners, with no brunch gathering in December. The Gentlemen of Redeemer share a monthly lunch and conversation on the first Wednesday of each month at noon at the Columbia Diner, with no reservation required.
What Lutherans Believe, in Redeemer's Own Words
Redeemer describes itself as a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and a member of the Lower Susquehanna Synod. Lutherans, in the language of the congregation, are Christians who believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully divine and fully human, and that in Christ God bore the human condition and its sin to save us and restore us to a right relationship with God. Lutherans are Protestants, the first protestants, beginning with Martin Luther's ninety-five theses in 1517, with salvation by grace through faith rather than by works at the center of the difference with Rome. Lutherans love the Bible without reading it literally, holding that Scripture is the Word of God inspired by the Holy Spirit and the story of God's love for us, with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ at its heart. Lutherans are liturgical, gathering on Sundays to sing, read, preach, and receive Holy Communion, and Redeemer joins that pattern at nine o'clock in the morning.
Pastor Bob Ierien
Pastor Bob is a native Texan and a United States Navy veteran. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1996 and from the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg in 2004, and he served congregations in Minnesota and Delaware before arriving in Lancaster. He completed a residency in pastoral care at Lancaster General Hospital, working as a chaplain in critical care, emergency medicine, and palliative care. His stated interests in ministry include preaching, teaching, the study of Scripture, spirituality in daily life, and equipping others for ministry in the world. Outside the parish, he turns wood, reads history, tends a garden, and remains, in his words, a Star Wars geek. He is married to Gretchen and is the father of Rachel and Megan.
Pastor Bob's regular office hours run Sunday through Thursday, nine to five, by appointment. He is always reachable for emergencies through his pastoral phone line. Kim Grabusky, the church secretary, holds office hours on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, nine to four, and on Thursdays, eleven to six, and she is the day-to-day point of contact for most questions.
Joining Redeemer
Giving is handled through a third-party giving platform, and Sunday services are livestreamed on Redeemer's YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person. The community gathering meal on Thursday evenings and the pancake breakfast on first Saturdays are the easiest ways to walk through the door without committing to a full Sunday morning. The congregation's stated welcome, radical, no exceptions, working outward from the welcome of Jesus, is the simplest description of who Redeemer is, and the front door on Fifth Street is the easiest place to test it.