Our Worship
Worship is a vital exercise of our faith; but it is not primarily about an emotional experience-it's about Christ coming to us in our sinfulness. Our response is simply to receive forgiveness and be free! If you've ever felt that you're never good enough, well... you're right. Only Christ is "good enough," and every service at our church is a chance to receive Christ's forgiveness. If you've been waiting to come to church until you're good enough, please stop thinking that way! Forgiveness is why Jesus came to earth, and it's the focal point of worship. You will not leave a service at our church determined to "do more and try harder;" our hope is that you will, instead, be refreshed and renewed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
We meet each and every Sunday at 9 a.m. for a one-hour worship service. The service is “liturgical” in nature, which is the original form of Christian worship that keeps the service constrained within biblical boundaries (in other words, nothing weird, awkward, or uncomfortable happens). Everyone gets a worship folder to follow along with, and there are also large screens up front as well.
If you’re new and not sure what to do, here are some tips:
Just sit in the back, read along and/or just watch the service-there is never any pressure to do anything.
After the service, ask as many questions as you possibly can, because everything we do has a meaning.
When the worship service ends at 10:00 there is a short fellowship time. Starting at 10:15 a.m., there is Adult Bible Study and Sunday School for children in Kindergarten through the 8th grade.
It's very common for churches to use the phrase "Come as you are" as a slogan to welcome new people, but after you've been there a while, that phrase doesn't seem to apply anymore-it's only for the newer new people. "Come as you are" gets replaced with "here's another sermon on all the stuff you aren't doing... now get to work!"
That's not what we teach and believe as Lutherans!
We would really like the chance to explain what we do and why we do it here at Risen Savior; you may find out that Christianity is not what you expected.
We are all a bunch of sinners and we don't need to pretend we're anything else. Our faith is focused on Jesus and His amazing love that was expressed on the cross. So consider joining us as we worship the Risen Savior-Jesus Christ.
Our Beliefs
We believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. We base all our teaching on the Bible.
We believe that the only true God is the Triune God of the Bible: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe that God sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to rescue all people from the consequences of sin through his life, death, and resurrection.
GRACE ALONE, FAITH ALONE, SCRIPTURE ALONE
We believe that forgiveness and eternal life in heaven are gifts from God given by grace (undeserved love) alone through faith (trust) in Jesus Christ alone.
The Lutheran church was established in the 1500's on its beliefs (or "confessions") that were in contrast to the Roman Catholic Church at the time; the Lutheran church is the original protestant and evangelical church. The Book of Concord was published in 1580 as a clarifying statement of beliefs; it can be read and studied online here: Book of Concord
The more specific Lutheran beliefs of our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod can be viewed here: What We Believe
Our Synod
Risen Savior Evangelical Lutheran Church is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), which is one of the three major Lutheran synods. The Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) are the other two large Lutheran bodies. WELS is a synod with around 400,000 total members. In general, the WELS is characterized by being more theologically conservative than the other two synods. WELS churches firmly confess, teach, and preach the truths of the bible regardless of societal trends; and "confessional," meaning they hold to (or "confess") the Book of Concord in the specifics of doctrine.
We would love to share more about the doctrine and teachings of our church body and our congregation-please feel free to ask our pastor anything you want to know! If you would like to learn more on your own, you can visit the WELS website (which has lots of information) and the Book of Concord website (which also has lots of information & links about Lutheran beliefs). Also, this is a great website for understanding Christianity from a basic and Lutheran perspective: Understand Christianity
The Wisconsin Synod also operates its own publishing house: Northwestern Publishing House. The mission of Northwestern Publishing House is to deliver biblically sound, Christ-centered resources within the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and beyond. To find, solid, Lutheran resources for yourself, someone you love, or to give as a gift, visit the link below.
Brief History
Risen Savior started with a core group of Lutherans from Eastside Evangelical Lutheran Church in Madison in 1997. Pastor Daniel Sims was assigned here from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. The first worship service took place at the gymnasium of Conrad Elvehjem Elementary School in September 1998. The congregation grew steadily and moved its worship to the McFarland Municipal Building Community Room. In 2002 Pastor Oliver Lindholm replaced Pastor Sims and helped the congregation through the purchase of land in November 2005. Pastor Nathan Fager came to Risen Savior in July 2006. The church building was dedicated in March 2010. A prayer garden was added in 2011. The group has grown to 170 baptized members and about 125 communicant members [September 2012]. Pastor Fager took a call to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Stevensville, Michigan, and departed on January 2, 2013. Pastor Joshua Janke graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary on May 24, 2013, and was ordained and installed as pastor at Risen Savior on Sunday, July 21, 2013. Pastor Yanke has accepted a call to serve Mandan, ND starting June 1, 2023. While in a vacancy other area WELS Pastors are helping us spread the message and have regular services and fellowship until a call is accepted for our congregation.
Growing Bigger!
In November 2005, Risen Savior bought 2.6 acres of land in McFarland on which to build a church. The groundbreaking ceremony was held on Sunday, August 23, 2009. The building was completed in February 2010 and a dedication service was held on March 14, 2010.
10 years after the first groundbreaking, Risen Savior began a building program to make room for our growing congregation; we especially needed more classrooms for all of the children!
On March 10th, 2019 Risen Savior had a groundbreaking service for our new addition (although more snow was shoveled than dirt!):
Here’s the new addition finished!
Our Pastor: Pastor Nathan Berg (Vacancy Pastor)
Pastor Berg is our vacancy pastor from Eastside Lutheran Church in Madison, WI. He will be helping us transition as we look to call a new Pastor. You can read more about his background at https://www.eastsidelutheran.org/church/pastors/
