Our Ministries
How we honor our mission in God’s service
Worship
To nourish God’s family with Divine Worship: God’s Word, Sacraments, beautiful music and faithful Law and Gospel preaching.
At Grace we are nourished through the Divine Service. That means we sing the historic liturgy as found in Lutheran Service Book, a hymnal of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. Grace is blessed with a wonderful Director of Parish Music, Mr. Jonathan Birner. He has been with us for 20+ years. Within the structure of the Divine Service we use, organ, piano, brass, timpani, bells, chimes, choirs, chant, and congregational singing. The music is wonderful.
You may wonder, what do you mean by Divine Worship? Here is an explanation. In the introduction to Lutheran Worship we have these beautiful words concerning Divine Worship: Our Lord speaks and we listen. His Word bestows what it says. Faith that is born from what is heard acknowledges the gifts received with eager thankfulness and praise. Music is drawn into this thankfulness and praise, enlarging and elevating the adoration of our gracious giver God. Saying back to him what he has said to us, we repeat what is most true and sure. Most true and sure is his name, which he put upon us with the water of our Baptism. We are his.
This we acknowledge at the beginning of the Divine Service. Where his name is, there is he. Before him we acknowledge that we are sinners, and plead for forgiveness. His forgiveness is given us, and we, freed and forgiven, acclaim him ad out great and gracious God as we apply to ourselves the words he has used to make himself known to us. The rhythm of our worship is from him to us, and then from us back to him. He gives his gifts, and together we receive and extol them. We build one another up as we speak to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Our Lord gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink. Finally his blessing moves us out into our calling, where his gifts have their fruition (Lutheran Worship, Page 6 CPH. 1982).
Life is hard. We live in a sinful world and it is dying. People are dying all around us. We are dying. We need to be rescued. We need forgiveness. We need life! The Divine Service brings us what we need! In this service God is present through his Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus, bringing rescue, healing, forgiveness, and his all-encompassing eternal life! Through water, bread and wine, music, the Word, Jesus is present for you! Even when at times we sing off key or the hymn is unfamiliar and not our favorite or the sermon just didn’t hit home or our minds our racing with the 100 things we have to accomplish this week or the liturgy is just falling off our lips without our full attention or or or…the list goes on, one thing remains true, Jesus is here in the Divine Worship serving you! It is our promise to nourish God’s family through Divine Worship.
Thankful when we don’t keep this promise as we ought, God is still working through His Word to keep it for us!
Prayer
To be a family in prayer for and with each other.
Prayer is a powerful gift from God. James writes: Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (ESV James 5:13-16)
When asked by his disciples to teach them how to pray, Jesus taught them the Lord’s Prayer. This is a gift from Jesus that covers all out needs. The Lord’s Prayer is a true gift. We promise at Grace to be God’s family in prayer. We pray for the world, for the church, for the sick and suffering and for anyone in any need, each and every Sunday in the Divine Service. Our prayer life extends outside of Sunday as our Prayer Chain is actively praying for anyone in need and also for those with opportunity to rejoice. But it doesn’t stop there. We strive to have all our members in prayer. It’s what we promise, to be a congregation, a family, God’s family in prayer for and with each other. Maybe there is something in your life that you would like us to bring before the Lord in prayer.
Please send us an email via the 'contact us' link, or email Pastor Lingsch at pastor@graceofnaples.com and we will pray for you this week!
Christian Education
Grace Lutheran Church is a Christian Family of all ages.
We provide educational opportunities for our youngest to our oldest members including Christian education classes, midweek programs, seminars, as well as special events and trips. Contact Director of Christian Education, Kami Jo Mogelvang (239) 261-7421 Ext #7 dce@graceofnaples.com
Sunday School: Sunday school is offered for all ages from birth through adult. We have a variety of classes to help children and adults learn and grow in their faith. Join us!
Youth: Youth are our 6-12th grade students and we meet for a variety of events and activities. The first Sunday of each month is youth night from 5-7pm, we also have several weekend events, District Gatherings and mission trips to participate in. Our 7-8th grade youth also have a confirmation class lead by Pastor and the DCE on Wednesday evenings from 6-7:30pm.
Young Adults: Our young adult group loves to try new things and grow in fellowship time. We meet quarterly for a variety of events from volleyball and beach picnics to paintball events. The target age is for those in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s but everyone is welcome!
Women Bible Study: Our Women’s Bible study is led by the DCE and happens Thursday mornings at 10am in our Fellowship Hall. We do a range of Bible studies that focus on growing as Christian women. This is a highly discussion based class and we would love to have you join us!
Adult Bible Study: From November to Easter, Pastor Kudart leads an Adult Bible Study in Fellowship Hall for Adults at 10:30am. Everyone is invited.
Confirmation: (Call)
Adult Information Classes: (Call)
Human Care
To provide human care for God’s family at Grace.
Our goal at Grace is to provide Human Care for God’s family at Grace, including our friends and neighbors in the Naples area, with their spiritual, emotional, and physical needs wherever we find them. Additionally, we seek out new opportunities to love and serve those in need. We accomplish this by visiting our sick and shut-ins at least once a month and bring them hope, encouragement and most importantly, the Lord’s Supper. Rev. Keith Lingsch and our seasonal pastor, Rev. Larry Kudart do this on a regular basis. Deaconess Linda Nobili, our seasonal deaconess, visits our shut-ins monthly also.
We also provide fellowship events, such as: packing over two hundred Thanksgiving food baskets for the community, celebrating the good Lutheran tradition of Oktoberfest, as well as other fellowship events.
Deaconess Linda is also available for one-on-one spiritual counseling and grief support for women.
If you are interested in meeting the needs of those around us, please contact Deaconess Linda.
Outreach and Evangelism
Grace exists to receive and share God's gifts!
We are an active and bold congregation that shares the message of God's love for everyone. It is our sincere hope that you will visit us and become acquainted with the people and ministries at Grace. We have many opportunities in which we can serve our Lord and community. Our congregation invites you to attend our church services and outreach events. Come and join us.
Stewardship
We are truly living a Stewardship Life of Time, Talent and Treasures.
At Grace our congregation promises to be “All In “when it comes to volunteering of our Time and Talents. When it comes to our Treasures we believe that Everything we have is a gift from God that we are to use to help others.
Here are some suggestions as summer is coming to a close and volunteer opportunities are on the horizon, this would be a good time to evaluate how you can help. Volunteering is rewarding and gratifying, when you use your God Given Time and Talents to provide for the good of our Faith Community.
Volunteer opportunities on the horizon to name just a few, could be, but not limited to: Honor Flight, Spirit of ’45, Altar Guild, Choir, Properties, Public Relations, join a committee, GriefShare, Fellowship, Usher, Greeter, Thanksgiving Outreach project. Come on! Join the Grace Volunteer Team, Where the Satisfaction is Heavenly.
Please check out the new Giving Tab where there are more options for giving. You can now make a one- time contribution, or just make your regular contribution online. You can also make a contribution to the Grace Lutheran Church Endowment Fund.
Public Relations
Helping to share the gifts of God with our community.
The basic objectives of this Board are the presentation to the public of a Christian image which will reflect favorably upon the work of Christ and of the congregation as His instrument, the publicizing of the work of the congregation through various channels and the general integration of the congregation’s work into the life of the community.
We support and communicate the 2013 Grace Promise Strategy and the Outreach Initiative of LCMS, building bridges to the community and back. The advertising we do and promotional materials that we use reflect the congregation’s commitment of outreach to the community.
Women of Grace
The Women of Grace function as an LWML (Lutheran Women in Mission) group which is part of a larger organization that encompasses a local zone, a district affiliation, and the national organization that has been serving missionaries around the world for over 77 years!
All our fundraising efforts go to support missionary work and the training of future pastors and deaconesses at our two seminaries. We hold an annual Rummage Sale and Bake Sake, as well as other events to accomplish this purpose.
We also meet for fellowship events such as our annual Christmas Luncheon/Tea, where we auction off some of the beautiful quilts that our Quilters make.