Tips for Visitors

If this is your first visit to First Christian, we wanted to share a few things to make your experience comfortable and enjoyable.

How To Get Here-   We are located at the SpringHouse Ministry Center, 610 W. 28th Street in Minneapolis.  SpringHouse is a partnership of three Protestant congregations: First Christian, Salem English Lutheran Church and Lyndale United Church of Christ. We are three separate congregations that share one building.  To find out more about SpringHouse and to get directions, Click here Nursery- We have a nursery attendant available from 9:15 until the conclusion of worship.

Christian Formation- We have a few options for those who want to take part in Christian Formation on Sunday mornings.  These include:

Children’s Sunday School: Our children’s Sunday School is conducted jointly with our SpringHouse partners Salem Lutheran and Lyndale UCC. The Children’s class takes place on Sundays at 9:15 am.

Adult Sunday School: Led by Rev. Jay Hillestad, this class studies a specific book of the Bible.  It will meet on Sundays at 9:15AM in the Timothy Room.

Super Simple Sunday School- Think of it as our “no muss, no fuss” class. This new class is part Sunday School and part devotional.  We will gather on Sundays at 9:15AM to read and discuss the Lectionary Text and then pray together.

Wednesday Lectionary Study: This weekday class will take one of the upcoming Lectionary texts to study.  It meets at 6:00PM on Wednesdays.

Men’s Group: This group meets in the Lounge on Saturday mornings at 9:00AM.

Worship: Worship begins at 10:30am (10am during the summer) and lasts about 75 minutes.  It’s a traditional service with a choir and piano (and sometimes organ), a sermon and communion every Sunday.  During the service we take part in a passing of the peace where we greet one another in the peace of Christ.  Feel free to take part.  Also don’t worry about having to dress up for church.  If you want to wear a suit and tie, that’s okay.  If you want to wear jeans, that’s fine too.

During the service, there is a time for the Children’s sermon.  Your children are welcome to come forward and hear a message geared for them.  Afterwards, they are free to go back to sit with you, or they can go to the nursery until the end of service.

A few words about communion.  We come to God’s Table every Sunday.  Most Sundays, the deacons pass the trays down each pew.  One tray has small square bread wafers and a few round gluten-free wafers.  The next tray has a small serving of grape juice.  Take the bread and drink the grape juice as they pass.  Remember to put the cup back in the tray.  Don’t worry if forget all this.  Someone sitting nearby will help you out.

Fellowship: This takes place immediately following worship in the Fellowship Hall upstairs.  Feel free to join us for a snack and drink.

By the way, you probably want to know why we are called “First Christian.” That’s because we are part of a denomination called the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  Disciples are not very well known here in the land of Lutherans, but we are part of a family of 700,000 spread accross the United States and Canada.  To find out more about the Disciples, please go to this link .

Hope to see you on Sunday!