Our Mission
The Mission of Good Shepherd Church is to invite everyone to walk together in the calling of Christ for a life of eternal impact.
Our Vision
We are a community of believers known for what we are for, rather than what we are against. We are For Jesus. We are For Our Neighbors. We are For the World.
Core Beliefs
These are the core beliefs of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church of Naperville, based on the foundational truths taught in the Bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in, and flows out of, Biblical doctrines.
Triune God
There is one eternally existing God who is three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise. God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, justice, and mercy.
Revelation
God has revealed Godself to us through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God. God has also revealed Godself to us through the holy scriptures, and through all of creation itself.
The Bible
Good Shepherd is a Biblically-based church. Therefore, our belief structure emanates from the Word of God. We are confident that God communicates to us the necessary elements of our faith through His Word in the Bible.The Bible communicates to us that God loves the people He created so much that He desires each and every individual to be in a loving relationship with Him.
Humankind
Humans are created in God's image for His glory, to love and be loved and be good stewards of God’s good creation. Humanity is both image bearer, capable of reflecting the beauty of God, and also sinner, capable of causing harm to ourselves and others.
The Fall
There is disorder in creation. There is disorder in our relationships. We experience this personally and corporately every single day. This disorder is caused by sin. Sin is what separates us from God and what separates us from each other. The opening chapters of the Bible tell a story of our first parents who fell in their relationship with God, their story is our story.
Salvation
Knowing that we as human beings often fall short of what He would desire in our behavior and actions, God sends to us Jesus, His Son. Jesus is our Savior who, through His death and resurrection, has brought to each person the opportunity to live in an eternal, loving relationship with God. Through faith in Him, we know we are forgiven and redeemed through His death and resurrection. Salvation is a free gift from God and is offered to everyone. We believe that through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, we can live free lives, knowing we will grow to become more like Jesus.
The Church and The Body of Christ
We respond to God’s generous gift of salvation with a desire to live a life committed to following Him. As a church, we live out God’s Biblical directive that the church is the “Body of Christ”. We trust that God has given every person special and unique gifts and that He will use each individual as a part of the church to serve His Kingdom on earth.
Baptism
We lift up Baptism as a gift from God to all who believe in God’s love for them centered on and within the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. At Baptism God washes us clean and claims us as one of His children. We celebrate both infant and adult Baptism recognizing that as an infant is Baptized, parents play an important role in developing a child’s faith commitment.
Holy Communion
Holy Communion is also an important gift from God that we celebrate on a regular basis during our worship services. The bread and the wine represent the gift of His body and blood Jesus gave for our salvation. We know that Jesus is present at the meal of the bread and wine and that His body and blood are a real gift from God.
Resurrection
Jesus Christ is returning one day to judge both the living and the dead and to usher in the fullness of God's kingdom on earth. What happened to Jesus on Easter morning is our future as well, as we will be resurrected to new life. We believe in a physical, bodily resurrection.
Mutuality
We affirm the overall narrative arc of scripture, which brings back unity between all of God’s people. As sin created hierarchy in the relationship between man and woman, Christ brings mutual submission with Jesus at the head of the Church. We are made one in Christ. Therefore because of this unity and submission to Jesus as the head of the Church, we believe that God calls and equips by the Holy Spirit both women and men any and every office of the pastorate.
The 4 C's of Good Shepherd
At Good Shepherd Church, we are guided by four core values that shape how we engage with one another, steward our resources, and live out God’s mission.
We value Connection
- We value being for each other and one another’s flourishing.
- We value being together through collaboration and partnership.
We value Communication
- We value people being “in the know” and transparency we value consistent and continuous follow-up.
- We want to create a culture that includes productive and humble feedback
We value Compassion
- We value everyone as image bearers of God., We assume positive intent in all things, and when there is a breakdown in a relationship, we work towards repairing the relationship rather than further tearing it down.
- We want to be friends on-mission and strive to create gracious environments, loving conversations, and harmonious relationships.
- We value celebrating the gifts of one another and celebrating ministry “wins.”
- We are stewards of the resources of this entire congregation which includes the gifts of God’s people, the finances of God’s people, and the time of God’s people.
We value Creativity
- We will never put our stakes in the ground and say, “we have arrived,” but instead, we will always seek a better, more excellent, and more creative way to move the mission and vision forward.
- We recognize this mission we are invited into is God’s, and we therefore pray for the creative imagination of the triune God.
- We value cultivating pipelines and pathways to equip and empower people to live on-mission. We are people of God’s mission.
- God is boundlessly creative and innovative. As co-laborers, we are co-creators with God in this world. We value innovating for the sake of the mission and vision, not for the sake of innovation alone.
Reach Out
We'd love to hear from you, and hear your story. Let us know what's on your mind and we'll follow up with you.