40 Years of Faith and Family Celebrated at Community Church

Focusing on faith and family, the Sheperd of the Lakes Lutheran Church celebrates 40 years in the community this summer.

Serving residents from both the Brighton and Hartland communities as well as other communities in Livingston County, Senior Pastor Mark Milatz described the large congregation as “welcoming and accessible” to a variety of ages and backgrounds. 

“We’re a large church that can offer lots of programming, but we’ve still kept a vey family-feel and we’re very friendly,” he said.

It’s an accomplishment the church is proud of, according to Milatz, who said maintaining an environment we’re everyone feels welcome helps focus their mission of teaching families “the word of God.” 

But it was a moment, standing in front of the more than 900 member congregation on a Sunday morning this past July where Milatz said he felt the full power of that message and blessing. 

While typically the church offers multiple services throughout the day, to help celebrate the 40th anniversary, all services were combined into one. 

“It was really a striking sight,” he said. “To see everyone together and unified, it was a real moment. And to see that what unites us… Him… really is greater than what divides us.”

While the past 40 years has seen the church grow, continuing in their mission of education and caring for others continues to be the main focus. 

And helping to further that goal and strengthen that focus, the church will be creating a new ministry this fall that hopes to offer a “fresh start” for people who may be searching for more education and compassion in their lives.

Genesis, the ministry named for new beginnings, will be an informal setting that meets on Sunday evenings, according to Milatz, and will not only provide a free meal for attendees, but an opportunity for more discussion and questions as well. 

“We thought it was time to do something new and bigger,” he said, “and we started realizing that we meet a lot of people that we help with financial needs but we wanted to find a way to build deeper relationships with.”

Moving forward and continuing to serve with the lessons the congregation has learned in the past is what Milatz says he hopes the next 40 years will bring for his church.

"The mission stays the same," he said. "The context changes, but the mission stays the same."