The Eastside Lutheran Church Community is a unique expression of Lutheran ministry on the Eastside of Seattle. It is a collaboration and partnership of several ELCA churches that recognized the power of living in a relationship as one entity with many sites. It is a collaboration born with the vision to share the love of God in Jesus with diverse expressions of ministry, while having a larger identity together. It allows us to come together in strength to share administrative and organizational tasks. This shared support enables each ministry site the room for imagination and innovation to be the body of Christ in their neighborhood.
Within this shared entity, pastors work in close collaboration with one another and are able to live into particular passions that animate their call to ministry. Together, we invest in and equip lay people to be invested in and participate in shared ministry.
Living together in a shared ministry brings together all of the assets we have in common and allows us to be big and bold in our collective impact and community witness. Pastors and lay leaders invest in various ministry opportunities such as visitation, education, worship, preaching and robust community engagement.
The Eastside is growing. New families and individuals are moving in and are seeking ways to put down meaningful roots. But many do not come from families in the traditional Lutheran tradition. We believe God is presenting us a challenge to meet our neighbors where they are; we want to create a community in the broadest sense while keeping Jesus as the center of our mission.