About

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Our Shared Mission Vision and Core Attitudes

mission

Growing multicultural and multigenerational disciples of Jesus who love and serve.

vision

To be a diverse community created by God that gathers to worship Jesus and grows through the Holy Spirit. We care for and serve people in response to God's love for us.

 
 

Core Attitudes

  • Commit to showing Christ's love by serving our community in Northeast Dallas and, as we are able, serving those beyond.

  • Connect with people where they are in relation to a suffering world, and work together towards healing in our relationships with God and each other.

  • Look to discover what God is doing around us and join that work as we live out a missional calling.

  • Celebrate what God is doing in, through, and among us.  

 
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Our Story

Bethel has been in the Lake Highlands community since 1953.    It has always been a ministry of the good news of Jesus, offering worship, growth, and care in the name of Jesus. Daycare has been a ministry since 1965, when the present facility was built, and we have offered many other ministries to our community over the years.  Bethel is a Lutheran church, meaning we find our historical roots in the Protestant Reformation  of the 1500’s in Germany, as well as from Lutheran immigrants to this country in the 1840’s.  Our forbears settled first in Missouri; thus we are associated with a group called the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS for short).  We honor our past, but are firmly in the present, offering an opportunity for people to encounter God and to help shape their lives around His Word, as well as being a church that knows God has put us in this community at this location for a reason.

Bethel is a Lutheran church. Lutheran followers of Jesus trace their roots to Martin Luther, who lived in the 1500’s in Germany, and started a reformation in the church to bring it back to the good news of Jesus and the teaching of the Bible. Bethel is a member of the Lutheran Church- Missouri Synod, (LCMS), so called because settlers from Germany came to the USA for religious freedom in the 1800’s, landed at New Orleans, and came up the Mississippi River to settle in Missouri. Synod is simply a word that means a group of like-minded people. Lutherans are what is considered a main line denomination. Emphasis on salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and reliance on God’s Word alone to direct our teaching and living are hallmarks of Lutherans.

Basic beliefs include belief in the Trinity, that God has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, acceptance of creeds such as the Apostles’ creed and Nicene creed, the use of two sacraments, Baptism and Holy Communion, and above all, that we are saved by grace through Jesus Christ and all He has done for us.

 
 

Bethel honors its past while looking ahead to our future. These are some significant milestones in the life of Bethel.

 

  • First worship service in 1952

  • First building on Peavy Rd.,  1953

  • Education:  Day care begun in 1965

  • Current building on Northwest Highway dedicated in 1965

  • Gym dedicated in 1980

  • Contemporary worship begun in 1994

  • Narthex and music suite dedicated in 1998

  • Highland Meadows Elem. mentoring program begun in 2014

  • Worship in Spanish begun in 2017

  • Worship in Kinyarwanda begun in 2019

 
 

Our Beliefs

Bethel is a diverse, multicultural community of Jesus followers, who live to honor God and love all people. What follows is a brief introduction to our beliefs. If you're not sure about some of this stuff; that's ok! Jesus always invited people to follow Him first and then unpack what that meant as they continued in that journey. We invite you to join us as we together seek to grow in our understanding of who God is, and the amazing life that we have been called to live.

Throughout the past 2,000 years, Christians have used "Creeds" as short, memorable statements that summarize the hope that we have learned from God's Word. The Apostle's Creed is one of the oldest and most concise:

"I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth,

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into Heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, from there He shall come to judge thn. e living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen."

We are part of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, and associated with the Texas District of the LCMS, a church body that confesses the core teachings of the church as found in the Bible and the Creeds. These are centered on the good news or gospel of the life and teachings of Jesus while on earth as the Word of God made flesh. The Lutheran church started with the efforts of Martin Luther to reforms some harmful practices within the church in the 1500’s. These efforts of Luther and others led to what has become known as the Protestant Reformation.

Our Beliefs as Lutheran Christians include the following:

• We believe in God revealed as Trinity: Father, Son (Jesus), and Holy Spirit.

• We believe that this God is the creator of all things, and this creation was perfect, without fault.

• We believe that humans have disobeyed God and through our disobedience God’s good creation is now corrupted. This disobedience is called Sin.

• We believe that sin is to be understood as both original and actual. Original Sin is a condition we are born into. We also believe in Actual Sins, or individual acts of disobedience and harm against God and each other.

• We believe that because of this Sin, we are by nature separated from God and cannot fix this condition by our own actions or desires.

• We believe that God sent his Son, Jesus, 2000 years ago to live as a person, walk this earth, and ultimately take the punishment for our Sin by dying on the cross.

• We believe that three days after his death Jesus rose from the dead: thereby declaring victory over death, sin and all evil.

• We believe that all who believe and proclaim this Jesus as Lord and Savior are forgiven of their sins and now have the promise of eternity with him in the new heavens and earth.

• We believe that Jesus will return someday as promised in full glory as the ultimate judge of all humanity.

• We believe that life on this broken earth is difficult and that following Jesus is not an easy journey.

• We believe in two Sacraments (sacred acts) Baptism and Communion that are commanded by God and hold the blessing of the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.

• We believe that all of us have a part to play in sharing God’s Love Story to the world.

• Finally, we believe that followers of Jesus should be known for their love and service to each other and the whole of God’s creation.