St. Luke Lutheran Church

St. Luke Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon is an member church of the and of the larger ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America). It is located in the Maplewood community of southwest Portland near the intersection of 46th Avenue and Vermont Street.

St. Luke was founded in 1943 and has a current membership of over 1300 members which includes 532 households. In 2008, St. Luke will be celebrating their 65th anniversary.

Worship is at 8:30am, 9:45am and 11:00am each Sunday. The first service is a traditional Lutheran worship. The 9:45am service is a blended service with traditional worship components as well as contemporary worship elements. The 11:00am service features a contemporary worship service with focus on music and prayer.

The spirit of this congregation is represented by their Vision Statement:

Marked with the Cross of Christ, we joyfully worship as a community and pass on the faith by:

* enhancing personal spiritual growth
* building generational bridges
* serving our neighbors
* teaching tolerance
* striving for peace

We ask God to help and guide us.

Perhaps one of the features making St. Luke rather unique among churches is the commitment of parishioners to Social Concerns and Community Outreach. In 1969, St. Luke began a program of giving back the community the first 10% of the annual budget. From 1969-1993 this "off the top" portion of the church's annual receipts amounted to 1.5 million dollars that was "invested" back into the community through various programs serving the social needs of individuals and families. Throughout the years this amount has increase and in 2008 the first 25% of the annual budget is committed for this purpose.

St. Luke's Ministry of Outreach includes: Social Concerns, Service to our neighbors and community, Mission trips to Mexico and New Orleans, the Grauer Back-to-School Project (providing new clothes and school supplies for needy children in the community), Habitat for Humanity, Project Adnon, Community Table, and the annual Giving Tree. All these St. Luke Outreach programs, as well as countless other community service and outreach programs, are funded by a policy of contributing the first 25% of the annual budget to these programs.

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