Our History
In 1942, the Spirit of God was at work even before our church was formed. The Depression was over, work abounding, however, few people had cars to take them out of the small community of Gray Manor.
The first services and Sunday School was held in a small U.S.O. building on Parkwood Road. On Good Friday 1943, even before the street was completed, services moved to the remodeled farm house at 212 Oakwood Road, our current location. On February 2, 1947, 40 persons signed the church charter thus forming First Lutheran Church of Gray Manor. These 40 persons had passed, however, our current congregation consists of some of their 2nd, 3rd and 4th generations. On January 29, 1950, ground was broken for the first unit of our church. About 90% of the work was donated by members and friends of the congregation. The Dedication was held on Sunday, April 29, 1951.
“In the beginning was the Word, The Word was with God, and the Word was God, he was with God in the Beginning” John 1:1,2. And so it was, is and will be forever.
Our Values
We are a church centered on the unique Gospel of Jesus Christ, animated by missions and evangelism, grounded in the 2,000 year tradition of Christian faith, and organized chiefly to serve our congregations.
Christ-Centered
Mission-Driven
Traditionally-Grounded
Congregationally-Focused
Our Faith
THE TRIUNE GOD — FATHER, SON, AND HOLY SPIRIT.
- 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 through word and deed, beginning with the Word in creation, continuing in the history of Israel, and centering in all its fullness in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
- The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by the Holy Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation centering in Jesus Christ. Through them the Holy Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world.
- The canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of its proclamation, faith and life, “according to which all doctrines should and must be judged.” (Formula of Concord, Epitome, Part I)
The Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds as true declarations of the faith of the Church.
The Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, acknowledging as one with it in faith and doctrine all churches that likewise accept the teachings of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession.
The other confessional writings in the Book of Concord, namely, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles and the Treatise, the Small Catechism, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord, as further valid interpretations of the faith of the Church.
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 Church for God’s mission in the world.
First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Gray Manor honors and accepts The Common Confession (2005) as a summary of teachings otherwise affirmed in the Lutheran Confessions.