One thing we can always count on at Good Shepherd is for our members to be generous. This Easter, we had three dedication opportunities in which we invited people to make a gift in honor or in memory of someone.  The money received was given away to three important causes including:    ELCA Lutheran Disaster Response- Eastern European Crisis Response    Support Afghan Refugees (GS Partnership in the LSSNCA Good Neighbor Program)      Help Families Affected by Lyttonsville Road Fire (Silver Spring)   Because of the outpouring of gen ..read more

Although we are still waiting for a family to be assigned to our group, preparations continue to be made as evidenced by the 200+ volunteer hours that our team devoted to this project in April.   New “Official” Name:  Our group is now officially called the “Afghan Allies Resettlement Team”(AART). Christ the Servant:  Christ the Servant Lutheran Church in Montgomery Village has been working with us on this project for a while.  They have taken over the responsibility of providing all the items on the Cleaning Supplies Wish List.  Dennis and Meredith met with them o ..read more

AART Update: April 28, 2022   We are a congregation that has been blessed with generous members! In less than two weeks, all the items on our first-round lists have been donated for our Afghan Allies Family. Thank you to everyone at Good Shepherd who responded or considered bringing this phase to closure.   Once we know the composition of the family and the layout of the apartment Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area (LSSNCA) locates for them in Frederick, we may need to create a new Wish List for any additional items needed (curtains, baby items if they have a baby ..read more

Thank you to all in the GSLC community who got our Amazon wishlists of household items off to a good start for our Afghan Allies Family! Our Bedding & Towels list has been fulfilled to date! 8 items remain on our Kitchen list. 18 items remain on our Bathroom/Toiletries list. Our goal is to have these remaining items purchased no later than May 6th. Items yet in Bathroom & Toiletries range from $4.97 to $36.09. Items yet in Kitchen range from $5.99 to $24.97. Three GSLC members volunteered to receive the items on each of the lists. When you purchase an item on Amazon and hav ..read more

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2   The first Stephen Ministry class was commissioned in 1975.  Kenneth C. Haugk, a pastor of St. Stephen’s Lutheran church in St. Louis, Missouri and clinical psychologist, realized that there were more pastoral care needs than he could serve.  It frustrated him that urgent needs were not being met.  Ken and a couple of seminary friends worked through the problem and focused on Ephesians 4, “equipping the saints for the work of ministry”.  Ken realized that God provided gifts o ..read more

It is with great joy that we share the news that Jessica Valenti has been hired as part time Youth Ministry Assistant at Good Shepherd. In this role, Jessica will be supporting our outreach to Middle School and High School Youth; planning and leading Youth Events and reaching out to the kids.     Jessica has many gifts, including personal knowledge and experience of our programming. She joined Good Shepherd when she was in preschool and grew up enthusiastically attending church, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Confirmation and Youth Group. She went to the National Youth G ..read more

Kathryn Weigand has been hired as part time Children’s Ministry Leader at Good Shepherd. In this role, she will help with the outreach to Elementary Youth, provide leadership for Elementary Sunday School, and support Young Family Ministries. Kathryn is an exceptional hire as she has a lot of experience working with children and teaching groups. She currently works part time as a Naturalist at Croydon Creek Nature Center in Rockville, facilitating many camps and developing their curriculum.          Kathryn and her family joined the church a few years ag ..read more

BUCK-A-CHICKS ARE BACK! Support Lutheran World Relief for only $1! Gifting eggs available for purchase this Sunday in the church lobby.   Lutheran World Relief provides livestock to needy families throughout the world, and a baby chick costs $1. That chick can grow up to provide eggs to be eaten or sold. Once that chick has babies, the family is asked to share some of its chicks with other families in need.    The 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders made cute gifting eggs in Sunday School. You can purchase them for $1 each to buy a chick for a family. They are perfect gifts for Easter ..read more

Ash Wednesday Family Service & Prayer Stations There was great excitement to celebrate Ash Wednesday together again in person this year. With 120 participants, families came together to worship, pray and play. We had several families return for the first time since the pandemic—making our “Living Lent: A Time to Reconnect” motto a reality. Our theme was the Benedictine motto: Ora et Labora (translated to “Pray and Work”). St. Benedict taught that what we pray and what we do are partners. When we learn to pray for others, love, justice and peace regularly…our lives will reflect this. This ..read more

SAFE REOPENING UPDATE (and some Changes!)   Our Safe Reopening Team gathered this week and came to several decisions:  Advance RSVPs for in-person worship are no longer required. Please just drop in for worship and Sunday School. We look forward to seeing you.   Seating Capacity will be increased. Our sanctuary is large and spacious and can accommodate many more. Folks who want to be several seats away from others will be able to remain socially distant.   At this point, we will continue to operate with a mask required policy. Those on the platform leading worshi ..read more