Swamp Evangelical Lutheran Church

Our Name

Many years ago, someone wrote an article in "The Lutheran" criticizing the names of churches that they thought were not liturgical. Swamp was on that list.

Of course, we responded back. No one is sure if we were named after a literal swampy area around here, or one of the small mountains to our north. Yet again, it might be a "Pennsylvania Dutch" euphemism.

Nevertheless, what we know of swamps is that they are breeding grounds of life. They are incubators for helpless youth. They nourish a myriad of species. They protect, insulate, and affirm; without swamps, life as we know it would dwindle. It's a symbiotic relationship.

This lives up to Martin Luther's concept of a catechetical or learning church. Christians gathered in the name of Christ walking together. This is the gospel of grace and freedom that we preach and we share.

Come as you are

We are a church that shares a living, daring confidence in God's grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a whole person--questions, complexities and all.

Join us as we do God's work in Christ's name for the life of the world.

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Ruach Has Special Meaning for Swamp

On February 10, 2010, our social hall was engulfed in flames caused by an electrical fire. On that cold night with the roads covered in snow, firefighters were delayed getting to the church and hampered in extinguishing the flames by freezing temperatures and lack of water. The first relentless advance threatened to overtake the church sanctuary. Then suddenly, a west wind blew, driving the flames back and saving our sanctuary.

The next morning, our pastor's wife proclaimed it a miracle. "The breath of God blew the fire from the sanctuary," she proclaimed. And so truly do we all believe. What man couldn't do, God did for us.