ABOUT US
WHO WE ARE
Founded in 1866, St. Paul Berea, ELCA is a place where you will always be welcomed. By serving through relationships and love, St. Paul Berea is a space where everyone can grow spiritually.
WHAT WE DO
Our mission is “To know and serve Christ by reaching out in love to all” and we believe in the importance of involving and experiencing God in all areas of your life. There are countless ways to grow in your involvement and your faith at St. Paul; regardless of where you are in your journey, there is a place for you here.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Members and first time guests alike, we invite you to get connected to the community. Whether you're attending service on a Sunday, dropping in on a small group meeting, or stopping by to chat with Pastor Dan, you can anticipate a positive, encouraging experience.
PASTOR SKILLMAN
"We love the God we cannot see by loving and serving our neighbor, who we can see."
Pastor’s Letter
Unconditional Love
God’s mission is love, unconditional love.
Love that doesn’t impose conditions, restrictions, or prohibitions.
Love for all people that generates love between all people.
The words of the beloved apostle in his first epistle speak to this mission far better than I ever could, and I consider them foundational for my life and ministry:
7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the mercy seat for our sins. 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. (1 John 4:7-13)
Unconditional love is the most important thing in the universe.
It’s unconditional love that gives meaning to our day to day lives,
and it’s unconditional love that makes life worth living.
Why do we love?
There is no “why.”
If we had an answer, that would be a condition.
But love is unconditional.
This is the reality into which we are born, for which we are made, to which we are called, and from which we find hope, meaning, and a future.
If I can help people to experience that,
I will have stayed true to the central Reformation doctrine that we in the Lutheran Church make it a point to remember not only in October, but every day of our lives: The doctrine of justification by grace alone.
Unconditional love is what the doctrine of justification by grace is about.
We are justified, we stand in the right, forgiven, valued, and loved,
not because we have earned it or deserved it,
but simply because we are human beings.
As Lutherans, we find our life by being unconditionally loved,
and we try to help others find life in the same
by loving them unconditionally.
We who are justified, in turn, justify others.
We who are loved, in turn, love others.
If I can see this, and realize it more and more each day,
and if I can help others discover it, and live from and in it,
I will have also fulfilled the better part of my promise as a pastor
and a human being created in the image of God.
Pastor Dan
Our Staff
Photo Gallery
Rev. Daniel Skillman - Senior Pastor
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Dale Hukill - Director of Music Ministry
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Richard Shirey - Assistant Organist
Susan Moore - Director of Children's Ministry
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Sherrill Crawford and Dean Firing
Main Office
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Lynnette Ozanich - Bookkeeper
Gail Brandt - Nursery Care Provider