Transforming Lives, Sharing God's Love
At New Day Lutheran Church, our mission is simple yet profound: to be a beacon of hope and a source of compassion in our community. Join us as we journey together, guided by faith, love, and service.
The Lutheran church came out of the Reformation in the 16th century, which was started by Martin Luther. He challenged the church's theology as well as it's understanding of religion, money, politics, ethics, spirituality, and social justice. Through much study of the scriptures, he came to believe that it is impossible for us to ever rid ourselves of sin and so we must be saved by grace through faith and not by the things we do. This means that we cannot earn our salvation, but instead it is a gift of God through Christ Jesus, our Lord.
So for us, everything we have is a gift from God and everything we do is out of response to the grace, love, and forgiveness that we have received through Jesus' death and resurrection. And God promises to meet us and offer us this grace, love, and forgiveness whenever we turn to God in prayer and are called by the Holy Spirit to come to God in worship, communion and through baptism.
In a nutshell, we believe that we are saved by grace. We don't do things to "earn" our way into heaven or to earn God's forgiveness and love. Through the person of Jesus Christ and through his death and resurrection, we were given full access to God's love, forgiveness and grace now and forever through God's Spirit. And nothing can ever take that away from us.
As it says in Romans 8:38-39, "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord..."
Passion for God, Compassion for All means we strive to be a loving, Christian community who are excited and passionate about sharing the love and grace of Jesus Christ with everyone. Regardless of age, race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religious background or health, you are welcome here!
We invite you to join us as we serve God and others and share the Good News of Jesus Christ with the world.
Love Christ and others by accepting and welcoming all in worship, fellowship, Bible study, and community outreach while celebrating our gifts and talents. Jesus said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another…” John 13:34.
For us it’s simple – Jesus loved all people and so we want to love all people.
We believe the Bible is authoritative in our lives and teaching. However, we do not believe it is the only authority, or even the absolute authority. God speaks to us in many ways and we believe God’s word is still alive and active today. To read more about this, click here.
As a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), we believe that God is 3-in-1 (one God, three equal persons – God the Creator or Father, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit, who continually renews and empowers us) as stated in the Apostles & Nicene Creeds. These creeds were established by the early Christian Church in efforts to bring unity among Christians. Several different church bodies around the world confess these same creeds as well and use them as their basis for belief.
Two of the ways in which we believe God is active today is through baptism and communion. We call these visible signs of God's grace. In baptism, our sinful self is destroyed and we are reborn into new life in Christ, thereby becoming a part of the family of God. In communion or the Lord’s Supper, we are sustained, renewed and empowered by the Holy Spirit through the body and blood of Jesus Christ to serve God and others. You can read more about this in The Use of the Means of Grace.
We believe that God loves all people and all of creation and that nothing can separate us from God’s love. As people continually filled with and renewed by God’s abounding grace and love, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit and are called to love and serve one another as Jesus said in Luke 10:28, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
In 2009, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America boldly stepped out to welcome, affirm, and ordain people of the LGBTQ community. This caused much division throughout the country, including here in Idaho Falls, ID, where First Evangelical Lutheran church began conversation around leaving the ELCA.
In 2010, when First Lutheran took their final vote to leave the ELCA, many members decided to leave First Lutheran. About 30 or so of those former members decided that they wanted to remain with the ELCA and be a voice for the LGBTQ community here in Idaho Falls. So, under the leadership of Pastor Barbara Condon, they began meeting and starting their own ministry. Their vision was to be a worshipping community with passion for God and compassion for all. Their mission was to love Christ and others by accepting and welcoming all in worship, fellowship, Bible study, and community outreach, while celebrating our gifts and talents. They believed God’s purpose for them was to walk alongside people in God’s unconditional love. For the first couple of years, they met in various places, including homes, the basement of the Unitarian Universalist Church, and at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, all the while participating in various social justice activities, such as the Idaho Falls PRIDE Parade.
In 2012, this group, now recognized as a Synodically Authorized Worshipping Community of the Eastern Washington Idaho Synod and calling themselves the Emmaus Lutheran Community, eventually found a more permanent home at First Christian Church off of Woodruff. Throughout the next two years, the Emmaus Lutheran Community began working towards becoming a fully chartered ELCA congregation. Per the recommendations of the Eastern Washington-Idaho Synod, they worked with 21st Century Consultants as many other “New Wine” congregations (i.e., congregations that had split due to the 2009 decision of the ELCA) had done, in conjunction with the Director for Evangelical Mission, Helga Jansons. Under their leadership, the Emmaus Lutheran Community stretched themselves and began the challenging work of figuring out their identity, as well as learning about and trying out new ways of worship and simply “being church.” Part of this hard work led them to change their name to New Day Lutheran.
The next step in the process was to hire a Mission Developer and become a Congregation Under Development. Pastor Regina Herman was called to fill this position in February of 2015. Under her leadership, New Day Lutheran continued to implement the recommendations of the 21st Century Consultants. Part of this was to move worship to a morning time, which led the congregation to move to the Pearl Health Clinic off of 17th Street in Ammon. In 2016, they hired a Music and worship Director, Pastor Connie Day, who helped lead them to experience different ways of worshipping and being church.
The church continued to grow in numbers, as well as in spirit and faith, and became more well known throughout the community. As New Day continued to form its identity as a congregation and within the community of Ammon and Idaho Falls, the members felt that they were drawn more to a traditional style of worship. Out of this desire, the people of New Day Lutheran were welcomed once again by St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Idaho Falls in 2018, where they still worship to this day.
In September of 2018, the Eastern Washington Idaho Synod welcomed a new Director of Evangelical Mission, Mary Morrow. Under her leadership and the continued leadership of Pastor Herman, New Day worked hard to complete the final requirements to become an ELCA congregation and on May 5th, 2019, New Day Lutheran became a full-fledged, chartered ELCA congregation.
New Day Lutheran worshipped on-line during the Covid-19 Pandemic for much of 2020 and 2021 which allowed us to reach people that had never before been connected to New Day. In the fall of 2021, Pastor Gina Herman accepted another call and New Day began the process of calling a new pastor. In the interim, Pastor Ron Nitz graciously served as the supply pastor.
In July of 2022 New Day issued a call to the Reverend Ann Marie Bjorklund. Pastor Ann and her wife Theresa Jones relocated from Minnesota to Idaho Falls in August of 2022 when Pastor Ann and New Day Lutheran began a new chapter in ministry together.
We're here to listen, support, and welcome you into our inclusive community at New Day Lutheran Church. Let's start a conversation and explore together the boundless love and grace of God.