WHAT WE BELIEVE

As Lutheran Christians, we confess our faith in the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as witnessed to by the Holy Bible and attested to in the Eccumenical Creeds of the early church.

Furthermore, we subscribe to The Book of Concord: The Confession of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.  We believe the documents therein to be the true and faithful witness of the Christian faith which is put forth and testified to in the Holy Bible.

For a more on what we believe in this Christian faith click here: http://www.lutherancore.org/com_conf.shtml

The Founding of Antioch Lutheran Church

Lutheranism had its organized beginnings in this area when seven "friends of the Lutheran church of Massillon, Allen County, Indiana" established a congregation in the year of our Lord 1850.  Shortly thereafter, another group of Lutherans in Root Township, Adams County, organized a congregation to which they gave the name Concord Lutheran Church.

It wasn't very long until one of the pastors of these congregations, the Reverend Simon Spyker, found some Lutheran people living in the vicinity of Hoagland who were in need of spiritual ministrations.  He started preaching services among them; and on February 17, 1855, a congregation was organized and adopted the name "Antioch".

Antioch Lutheran Church is a congregation of the North American Lutheran Church (http://www.thenalc.org).  The North American Lutheran Church (NALC) was constitued in Columbus, OH at the 2010 Lutheran CORE convocation.  The NALC is geared around four key principals: Christ-Centered, Mission-Driven, Traditionally Grounded, and Congregationally Focused. 

Meet The Pastor

Antioch is currently served by The Rev. Kristopher Madsen.

Pastor Kris originates from Solvang, CA.  He received his B.A. in Religion from California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, CA, in 2004 and his Master of Divinity from Luther Seminary, Saint Paul, MN, in 2008.  He was called by Antioch and began his pastorate in Hoagland in February 2009.  The Fort Wayne area is not completely foreign to him as he served a summer chaplaincy program in 2006 at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.

Pastor Kris enjoys playing church league softball, downhill skiing, Dodgers baseball, and traveling.  Amongst the highlights of his travels was a three week study program in Germany where he toured many of the Luther cities including Wittenberg, Eisenach, and Eisleben and learned about what Christian life was like in communist East Germany.

Pastor Kris is married to his wife Jenn - a native of Orange County, CA.  They were married in July 2009.