About Our Church
Early in 1954, members of Christ, St. Paul and Zion Lutheran Churches decided the western part of Fort Worth was the best site to establish a new congregation. The new church was organized as a mission project of the Texas District-Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in cooperation with the Fort Worth Mission Society of the Lutheran Church with an initial membership of thirty three souls with sixteen communicants. The first service was held in the auditorium of the R.D. Evans Recreation Center in Fort Worth on August 1, 1954. Seventeen voting members signed the charter at the end of the first month. Four months later, four acres of land at our current location between Williams Road and Highway 377 were purchased. In 1956 the parsonage and parish hall, which originally served as the Sanctuary, was completed. The new Sunday School wing was built a year later.
On July 1958, our daughter congregation, Trinity Lutheran Church, Weatherford, Texas had its beginnings. In 1962, Redeemer Lutheran Church became self-supporting and established Redeemer Lutheran School with one kindergarten class of eleven students. In December 1962, Redeemer's second daughter congregation, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Azle, Texas was began. Construction of our current Sanctuary was begun in 1965, and it was dedicated in 1966.
In 1995, the first phase of the new Family Life Center began, and the gymnasium, kitchen and additional classrooms were added. In that same year, we welcomed Pastor David Grassley as our new pastor. On August 1, 2004, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary in the service of God and our community. We continue to thank Him for all the opportunities he has provided for us to do His work, and we pray for his continued blessings in the years to come.
Pastors
1954-1960 Herbert A. Rast
1960-1961 Richard W. Pratt (Interim)
1961-1966 Keith C. Fox
1966-1967 Chaplain Carl C. Reiter & Harold Hein (Interim)
1967-1973 Arlin A. Holtz
1973-1974 Harold Hein (Interim)
1974-1981 Paul J. Short
1981-1982 Victor Neeb (Interim)
1982-1989 Carl C. Reiter
1989-1990 Harold Hein (Interim)
1990-1992 Thomas Bode
1992-1995 Richard A. Nelson (Interim)
1995 - present David A. Grassley
Vicars
2001/2002 Andrew D. Guagenti
2002/2003 David C. Bott
2004/2005 Troy D. Scroggins
2005/2006 Stephen Kieser
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What We Believe
We believe...
- The Bible is the inspired and inerrant Word of God. It is the only and final authority of all doctrine and life claiming to be Christian. Its main purpose is to proclaim the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Understanding Holy Scripture comes from properly distinguishing between the Law and Gospel. The Law shows us our sin, demands good works of us, and threatens us with punishment, both temporal and eternal. The Gospel, shows us our Savior, offers us forgiveness, promises us eternal life, and comforts and strengthens us. Both are essential elements of the Christian life.
- In the Holy Trinity. The true God consist of three coequal and eternal Persons within one divine Essence: God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This teaching was revealed most clearly by Jesus Christ, the only son of the Father.
- Jesus Christ is true God, eternally begotten of the Father, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, and is the only Savior from sin and Mediator between God and humanity. Jesus earned forgiveness and everlasting life for every person by living a sinless life and suffering death on the cross in our places. Jesus rose bodily from the dead on the third day. Jesus ascended into heaven and reigns at the right hand of God as Lord over all; He will come again on the clouds of heaven to judge the living and the dead.
- We cannot get to heaven by trying to be good, for we can never be good enough. God demands perfection. For this reason, we do not receive forgiveness of sins or righteousness by our own good works, love, or holiness. We become righteous before God by His grace, for Christ's sake, through faith when we believe that Christ died for us and that for His sake righteousness, forgiveness, and eternal life are given to us. This is what the Bible means when it says that we are “justified by faith apart from the works of the Law”. Faith is not a good work that we do, but the empty hand that receives the gift of righteousness and forgiveness that Jesus won for us. Faith itself is a gift.
- Holy Baptism, water applied in the Name of the Triune God according to Jesus' institution, truly saves, causes one to be born again, delivers and applies grace and the forgiveness of sins, unites the one being baptized to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, gives the gift of the Holy Spirit and causes one to become a member of Christ's body.
- Holy Communion (or the Holy Supper), instituted by Christ Himself, is the true body and blood of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ, given under the forms of bread and wine, for Christians to eat and drink, for the forgiveness of their sins.
- The Christian life is one of constant repentance (sorrow over sin), then belief that our sin is forgiven for Christ's sake. To daily turn away from sin and turn to Christ for the forgiveness of sins is the true, Christian life under the cross. Such a life is pleasing to God and brings about good works, the fruit of faith.
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