A Little About Us

Welcome to the Advent Lutheran Church online community! We are so happy you have found our spot on the web! We are a diverse community of real people striving to live into the Micah 6:8 mission to seek justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God. Being church in the world looks different today, as we emerge from our pandemic lockdowns. How do we re-engage with each other and the world?

This year, as we began to regather, church leadership decided it was time to define our values as a congregation. Members, council, and staff were all asked to reflect on the most important parts of our ministry together. The feedback was used to create 4 core values, outlined below, that are meant to represent who we are to the community as well as guide us in our daily walk with God.

SERVICEActively and generously, we respond to the needs of the community with care and compassion.
LIVING FAITHSharing our spiritual journey, we cultivate joy, growth, and connection through studying the word of God and worshipping together.
AGAPE LOVEFulfilling God’s plan by fully embracing each other, our neighbors and our world using Jesus Christ’s life and ministry as our guide.
BELOVED COMMUNITYWith courage, we strive to answer God’s call to equity, advocacy, and respect for all people.

We believe that everyone could use more of the radical love modeled by Jesus Christ these days and we hope that you will find examples of that love here at Advent. You can join us for worship in person with masks optional or online Sundays at 10:00 a.m. The service is streamed live each week – the link to our YouTube channel will be posted here at 9:45 a.m. 

Meet Our Pastor

WARD MISENHEIMER

I never imagined being ordained (I’m sure it was a shock to many others, too!), much less serving as a pastor at Advent for almost 13 years!  But, now I can’t imagine being anywhere else. This congregation has watched me grow as a pastor and extended much grace to me when I’ve completely dropped the ball. We have celebrated together when goals have been attained. They have loved me in the midst of the ups and downs of life. And I hope that I’ve shared as much grace and love with them as I have experienced.

Read More About Our Pastor

Advent is blessed to have the liturgical art of Ernst Schwidder in our sanctuary. These three pieces, the reredos, altar and pulpit, are beautiful pieces that add to our worship each week. His mahogany wood sculpting is easily recognizable for its long, lean, flowing lines, as well as for its idiosyncratic uppercase lettering of Scripture passages. In the craft of an artist, Schwidder did not intend to produce lifelike images, but to design through wood carving and other media visual theological truth apropos to the church setting and ministry in which his work had been commissioned.

The body of Jesus on this cross is not dying – it is the risen Christ. His hands indicate a servant posture as he returns to serve the world, which is reflected in the circle behind the cross. The clouds at the top of the circle show Jesus “coming on the clouds” – this proclaims Jesus as the bridge between heaven and earth. There are 8 stars. The center star is the “morning star” from Revelation 2:28 heralding the dawn and representing resurrection. The other seven stars represent the Christian churches in Asian Minor from Revelation. As John was instructed to write to these churches, we ponder what John would have to write about Advent today as we strive to live into the light and love of the resurrected Christ.

www.schwidderart.org

  • Advent Lutheran Church
  • 8840 University City Blvd.
  • Charlotte, North Carolina  28213
  • Email Us
  • 704-549-1555