About Our Church
Mission is Never Static; it is Dynamic, Moving, Active. We, the people of Christ Lutheran Church called together by the Holy Spirit, gifted for ministry and sent into the world, commit ourselves to joyfully proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ through: Living Worship, Growing Faith, Serving Fellowship, and Sending Saints.
About God
God is the Creator and Ruler of all the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
About Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is one with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all mankind by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days which demonstrated His power over sin and death. He ascended into Heaven and returned to his original glory. He will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.
About the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is one with the Father and the Son. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He dwells in every person who believes and has received Christ as their savior. He provides the disciple of Christ with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The disciple of Christ is empowered when he seeks to live under the Holy Spirit’s control daily.
About Humans
Humans are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. They are the supreme objects of God’s creation. Although mankind has tremendous potential for good, they are marred by a sinful nature which causes disobedience toward God. This sin separates man from God.
About Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God to mankind. People can never make up for their sin by self-improvement or good works. The only way mankind can be saved from sin’s penalty is by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness and redemption.
About Eternity
Mankind was created to exist forever. They will either exist eternally separated from God because of sin, or in union with God through the forgiveness and salvation of Jesus Christ. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with God is Heaven. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence.
About the Bible
The Bible is God´s word to all mankind. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, and the sole authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith, and life. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error.
About Marriage
Marriage is an institution designed and ordained by God from the beginning of creation for a lifelong relationship between one man as husband and one woman as wife. The relationship is intended to be complementary and honored with love and respect. It is God’s will and intention that human sexual expression and fulfillment take place only within the boundaries of marriage between one man and one woman. Christ Lutheran Church accepts and teaches the Pastoral Admonition from our LCMC association.
Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) is an association of congregations and individuals who are free in Christ, accountable to one another, rooted in the Scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions and working together to fulfill Christ’s Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations. Christ Lutheran Church (CLC) agrees with the benefits of community and accountability. As members of LCMC, CLC accepts and teaches the LCMC Statement of Faith.
LCMC Statement of Faith
We believe, teach, and confess the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe, teach, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and the gospel as the power of God for the salvation of all who believe in him.
- Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation.
- The proclamation of God’s message to us as both law and gospel is the Word of God, revealing judgment and mercy in the person and work of Jesus Christ through whom God was pleased to reconcile all things to himself.
- The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.
We believe, teach, and accept the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the sole authoritative source and norm of our proclamation, faith, and life.
We accept the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the scriptural faith we believe, teach, and confess.
We believe, teach, and accept the Unaltered Augsburg Confession and the Small Catechism as true witnesses to the Word of God, normative for our teaching and practice. We acknowledge that we are one in faith and doctrine with all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
We believe, teach, and confess the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid expositions of the Holy Scriptures.
We believe, teach, and confess the gospel, recorded in the Holy Scriptures and confessed in the ecumenical creeds and Lutheran confessional writings, as the power of God to create and sustain the priesthood of all believers for God’s mission in the world.
The vision for Christ Lutheran Church began in 1919 when a group of women gathered to begin praying for the establishment of a Lutheran Church in the little logging and railroad town of Whitefish. This community formerly known as “Stumptown” was strategically located at the conjunction of the Great Northern Railroad and the lower end of Whitefish Lake where a sawmill worked the logs that provided railroad ties and building needs for the growing Flathead Valley. Worship services were periodically provided by pastors from Kalispell and Libby.
On October 13, 1925, Christ Lutheran Church was officially organized as a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Reverend Gerhard Arrested was called as pastor. These early worship services were held in homes, in the Masonic Temple, and in the Episcopal Church.
In 1933, a building site was purchased at 2nd Street and Kalispell Ave and the next year in the midst of the Great Depression the church built its first building from salvaged lumber. Over the next few decades the congregation continued to enlarge and remodel its facility.
In 1961, several Lutheran church groups merged to form the denomination later known as the American Lutheran Church. It was at this time that the congregation changed its name from American Lutheran Church of Whitefish to Christ Lutheran Church of Whitefish.
The congregation continued to grow. In 1962 the Sunday School became so large two sessions were needed every Sunday morning. Adjacent property was purchased in 1963 and a library and education building were added to the original sanctuary. In 1991, the original building was replaced with a beautiful new sanctuary and fellowship hall.
By 2000, the congregation had outgrown these facilities and was in 3 services every Sunday morning. In 2003, land was purchased south of Whitefish for a complete relocation of the church and its ministries. In 2007, the congregation moved into the new facility at 5150 River Lakes Parkway. Special consideration was given in the design of this building to the growing ministry needs of Shepherd’s Hand Clinic and the Children’s Sunday School.
In 2009, Christ Lutheran Church left the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) and became a member of the Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC) whose mission more accurately reflects the congregation.
The vision of those early Whitefish pioneers, whose Christian faith, fortitude, prayers, and sacrifice, laid the foundation for the present mission and ministry of Christ Lutheran Church. This vision and their attributes are still vibrantly alive among the people of this church. We invite you to join us as we continue to: “Take the light of Christ into the world!”