Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Welcome to Lord of the Valley Lutheran Church! We are a community of faith that is blessed to live in the beautiful setting of Grand County, Colorado. Ours is a diverse place with a focus on recreation in God’s creation. Many people come to visit the ski resorts, rivers and lakes, golf courses and hiking, biking and snowmobiling trails. From Winter Park to Grand Lake and west to Kremmling, there are many ways to enjoy the many outdoor activities of “our backyard.”
Granby is situated in the middle of all this and just south of town is our church building. We are located right next to City Market and McDonalds. We are a small yet very active congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. We also are the only Lutheran congregation in the county. Our worship is for the most part a liturgical blend of traditional yet somewhat contemporary expressions of our faith in Jesus Christ. Because we welcome people from all over the country and even internationally, we use the more traditional Lord’s Prayer as it is so familiar to so many. We celebrate Holy Communion each Sunday morning. We also live stream our Sunday morning worship over Zoom making our worship hybrid, with worshippers in the sanctuary and zooming in.
Our members include people who l
ive here year-round as well as seasonal residents and those who live in the greater Denver area but have their weekend home up here in Grand County. We are blessed with many gifts and we seek to engage people in their Christian faith both in our community of faith and also in the communities we serve. We offer adult learning opportunities through a Women’s Bible Study that meets twice each month, a Men’s Breakfast Bible Study that meets Wednesdays at 7:30AM, and additional opportunities that are scheduled ocassionally.
Our children are active and participate in Worship, Sunday school (during worship), Vacation Bible School Day Camp, and Confirmation preparation. The first Sunday each month they collect a noisy offering of coins and use the donations to purchase livestock and other agricultural items for households in developing nations. We encourage our children and youth to spend time at Sky Ranch Lutheran Camp in the summer too.
Lord of the Valley is part of the larger community. In October 2020, the East Troublesome Fire blew across northern Grand County destroying many homes and other structures. The landscape bears the scar from this burn. We have partnered with other organizations to assist our neighbors with continued recovery. Annually we partner with Mountain Family Center to provide food items for Thanksgiving Dinner Boxes for local households that might be in need. We participate in their Christmas gifting program by providing several families with gifts. We collect socks in early winter to be distributed though Mountain Family Center and we support their Food Pantry with a monthly in-gathering of non-perishable foods. Annually we host a Cranmer Chapel supper (sponsored by the Episcopal Church of St John the Baptist) that serve the Winter Park resort seasonal staffers and other community members on alternating Fridays each winter. We are also the host site for Al-Anon.
We provide grants for East Grand School District’s 2nd and 5th Grade teachers to purchase books that they give to their students for summer reading.
Lord of the Valley supports a mobile optical and dental clinic that travels to rural communities four times per year in the area around Somoto, Nicaragua. We also provide water filters to households in these same villages. Additionally we support a local Lutheran congregation in Caucali, Nicaragua.
Along the way we make some time for fun and enjoy the environment in which we live and serve. Seasonally we offer fellowship opportunities that include Alpine and Nordic skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and canoeing.
Mostly though we gather in worship and give thanks to God who, in Jesus Christ, has blessed us with promise and purpose. I trust that you will experience the welcome of our Lord Jesus when you join us on a Sunday morning. We gather for worship at 9:30(ish) Grand County time. Afterward we can enjoy some coffee and conversation and get better acquainted.
May you know, live and share the love of Christ!
Pastor Brian Bergum