WHO WE ARE
Emmanuel Lutheran Church is a people located in the heart of Venice, Florida on the Gulf. Individually we make up the body of Christ and together we work to make this congregation a welcoming home to all peoples.
We strive to be a congregation through God's work and our hands to make visible the Kingdom of God in the Venice community and around the world. We would love for you to make Emmanuel your home on your journey of faith.
Our music is uplifting and our worship is rooted in the historic liturgy of the Lutheran. As evangelicals, that is "gospel-bearers," God's good news is reflected throughout our ministries. It has been said that there's a palpable sense of God's presence and joy with the people of Emmanuel.
We are passionate about serving our neighbors, a community of faith that lives out God's mission:
To Know Christ and Boldly Make Him Known
CONFESSIONAL
We are confessional because we proclaim together a definite body of revealed truth made known by God through the divinely inspired Scriptures. The Lutheran Church does not see itself as a new invention, but as a continuation of the one historic Christian Church.
Our faith is summarized in the Church’s historic Confessions: the three ecumenical creeds—the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds—and the Lutheran Confessions of the sixteenth century. Through these confessions we humbly and joyfully declare our faith in the Triune God and in all that God has done, and continues to do, for our salvation through Jesus Christ.
In confessing this shared faith, we remain grounded in the apostolic teaching handed down through generations, holding fast to Christ, who is “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), and seeking unity in the same mind and judgment within the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:10).
SACRAMENTAL
We are sacramental because Scripture teaches that Christ gives his grace through concrete and tangible means. God does not leave us to search for God; instead, God comes to us through the Means of Grace—the proclaimed Word of God and the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Through these gifts, the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens faith, forgives sins, and unites believers to Christ. Baptism brings us into God’s promise (Acts 2:38–39), and in Holy Communion we truly share in the body and blood of Christ given for our salvation (1 Corinthians 10:16).
For this reason, Word and Sacrament stand at the very center of our congregational life and worship.
EVANGELICAL
We are evangelical because the heart of Scripture—and the center of our proclamation—is the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ.
We believe that our sins are freely and fully forgiven for the sake of Christ, the eternal Son of God made flesh. Through his atoning death and victorious resurrection, Jesus reconciles us to God. In him we are no longer condemned but live in peace with God and in the promise of everlasting life.
As Scripture declares, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son… that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16–17). This Gospel is the foundation of everything we teach, preach, and believe.
LITURGICAL
We are liturgical because we believe worship is shaped first by God’s action toward us and then by our response of thanksgiving and praise. Scripture calls the Church to gather regularly, receive God’s gifts in an orderly way, and encourage one another in faith and love (Hebrews 10:24–25).
The historic liturgy and hymns of the Church help guide us in reverent, Christ-centered worship. These time-tested forms unite us with Christians across centuries and cultures, allowing the Word of Christ to dwell richly among us through prayer, Scripture, song, and sacrament (Colossians 3:16).
In this way, our worship bears witness to the sacred heritage of the one Church of Christ and to the faithfulness of God, who continues to preserve and sustain people throughout the ages.