OUR MINISTRIES
View our list of programs below and click on each title for a drop-down with more information.
ELCA Lutheran Faith:
A living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
When Lutherans talk about faith, we are talking about the relationship God’s Holy Spirit creates with us. It’s a relationship where God’s promise of steadfast love and mercy in Jesus opens us to a life of bold trust in God and joyful, generous service to everyone we know and meet in daily life.
Martin Luther was exuberant when he described the freedom of “a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that believers would stake their lives on it a thousand times.” He once wrote, “Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith. It is impossible for it not to be doing good things unceasingly.”
Faith convictions expressed as statements of belief flow from this confident trust in God. ELCA Lutherans share in the faith expressed in the Apostles’, Nicene and Athanasian Creeds, in the Lutheran confessional writings (collected as the Book of Concord), and in the ELCA Confession of Faith.
At the same time faith does not close our minds to the world and our hearts to others. We continue to listen to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. We listen to the witness of others and we watch for the ways God is active in the world around us. Faith opens a place for engaging others in conversation, for seeking the truth, for asking questions and speaking love in word and deed.
Faith is a full life, liberated for a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
No Sunday School (due to Covid19): Children, ages Preschool thru 6th grade, are welcome to come forward for the Children’s Message each Sunday morning during our 9:00 am service.
Youth are important to our congregation. We are a Tirosh community.
Noah’s Ark Preschool and Kindergarten is a ministry of Bethlehem Lutheran Church. Consistent with the church, our mission is to give children a loving environment and an opportunity to develop to their full intellectual, social, physical and spiritual potential through biblical and faith integrated curriculum, under the direction of teachers who love and honor God. To give parents an early education school that stands for, supports, encourages and provides resources for the faith formation of their children.
Parents interested in enrolling their children at Noah’s Ark Preschool and Kindergarten are welcome to visit anytime between 8:00am – 4:00pm Monday through Friday.
Questions? Please call 480-325-0687 or email noahsarkoffice@blc.phxcoxmail.com.
Click here to visit Noah’s Ark Website
Harvest of Hope Community Garden offers the opportunity to serve the community by providing a planting and growing space along with education on healthy eating, sustainable green spaces and organic farming. We are in a “food desert” location. Our goal is to grow fruit, vegetables, minds and relationships in and around the Bethlehem Lutheran Church community.
Garden beds are available for rent to the public: click here for more information.
Bethlehem is a Stephen Ministry Congregation. Stephen Ministry offers the gifts of listening and caring during life’s times of trials. They are available to members and non-members alike. For information about Stephen Ministry contact the church office.
Women of Evangelical Lutheran Churches of America
All women are a part of this organization. All women who want fellowship with other women gather at 10:00AM on the 3rd Thursday of every month for prayer, care, business meeting, and Bible study from the ELCA publication “Lutheran Women Today”. WELCA sponsors many events at the church, i.e. craft boutiques, special teas or luncheons, provide food at funerals, provide scholarships for our youth as well as members to attend synod conferences, food pantry, etc. WELCA supports local programs statewide such as East Valley Help Care (LSMS) and the East Valley School for the Homeless along with Synod-wide and Global Missions. Click here for more information on WELCA.
Join Pastor Brian via Zoom on Thursdays at 10:00am MST for online bible study.
This is a study of the weekly old and new testament readings.
To sign up call or email the church office.
You are invited to join our awesome quilting ladies and help them create more of their beautiful and practical quilts. No experience? Bring your lunch one Tuesday, and just give it a try. The quilting group operates under the umbrella of WELCA. The quilters make and donate quilts for Lutheran Social Services Christmas families, hospitals, and missions of Bethlehem’s WELCA.
- Meet Tuesdays from 9:00am – noon November through March
- No experience necessary
- Bring your lunch and join us!
We provide an uplifting music ministry for all weekend and special worship services from October through April. Chancel Choir is open to all adults, 9th grade & up, who wish to share in music ministry. We sing Sundays and for special services. We don’t meet, practice or sing during the summer.
Everyone is welcome.
Heart Fire meets one weekday (usually Thursdays at 10am) and Sunday mornings before service at 8:30am to practice. This group is not just guitars. It includes vocalists, banjos, piano, drums, etc. We invite you to audition and join the group with your special talent and abilities.
All are welcome.
Each month we collect food items with a specific “theme” as requested by the food bank. Whether the theme is soup, crackers, and canned beans, fruit and fruit juices, items for a holiday dinner, or peanut butter, cereal, and soup, the members of the Bethlehem family step forward with generosity to provide food for needy families right here in Mesa through the First Evangelical Lutheran Church food bank.
The World Hunger Basket is a continuing mission activity. Everyone is invited to donate before, during, or after worship. Bethlehem also raises money for World Hunger at our annual Souper Bowl event. ½ of the funds are sent to the ELCA World Hunger program, and the other ½ remain at Bethlehem to purchase food for the food bank at First Lutheran when their shelves are empty.
A prayer shawl is a simple shawl lovingly created to be given to someone who needs to be healed and enveloped in warmth and prayers from Bethlehem. The love and prayers knitted and crocheted into a shawl are powerful and important. These shawls are blessed in worship and then taken or mailed all over the world to people to whom they can offer comfort.
Anyone who is making Prayer Shawls (or wants to learn how to make them) is encouraged to come to Bethlehem on the 4th Wednesday of every month from 1:00-3:00pm, when the Stitch & Knit Group meets. We enjoy getting together for fellowship with them.
The Prayer Shawl makers are also welcome to join the quilters on Tuesday mornings to knit & crochet while the quilters do their quilting
The Cursillo is a method of both Christianizing one’s environment and of developing one’s spirituality. It provides a means for continuing Christian growth which is begun with our Baptism and highlighted during the Three Day Retreat. Cursillo fits into the Church structure and is one of the many movements of the Church.
Our Cursillo Grouping meets at 6:00 pm on Mondays in the Social Hall.
I-Help is an Interfaith Homeless Lodging Program supported by Lutheran Social Services of the Southwest. It provides nightly lodging for Mesa area homeless women. Bethlehem hosts these women on the 5th Friday of any month.
Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
1st Thursday of the month. 6:00-8:00pm – Rooms 8/9/10
In Arizona, more than 100,000 children are being raised by their grandparents or other relatives.
Nationwide, that number is more than 5 million. Many parents are unable to take care of their children due to substance abuse, incarceration, mental illness, child abuse or death.
Grandparents raising their grandchildren must deal with school systems, health coverage, legal issues, financial concerns, and complex family situations. This leaves many of these “second-time around” parents feeling overwhelmed.
By providing support to grandparents and other relative caregivers, we help keep children out of foster care. Grandparents who have the primary responsibility for raising their grandchildren often face many challenges. Our support groups give you a place to share experiences, network with others, and find workable solutions to the challenges ahead.
Email: info@duetaz.org
Phone: (602) 274-5022
A Christ-centered yoga class on Tuesdays from 6:00-7:30 pm in Room 9/10. No experience needed. Can be done from chairs or the floor. Bring: yoga mat, comfortable clothes, water, & $5 suggested donation. Questions? Call Renaya VanDusen at 480-717-3477.
We invite you to join us in our service and encourage you to contact us if you have questions about any of our programs.