Welcome to Gloria Dei!

We are a city-wide and globally-connected parish committed to ministry in the Hillside neighborhood of Duluth, MN. Gloria Dei is a member of the Northeastern MN Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Founded by Swedish immigrants in 1870, Gloria Dei is one of the oldest Lutheran churches in Duluth and the region, but it sees God’s redeeming love active in the world today and embraces a vision for God’s mission that gathers together people wonderfully diverse in age, race, ability, background, and experience.

Gloria Dei is also a Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Church, meaning that we welcome and strive to incorporate all persons, regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation, into full participation in the church.

Adopted in 2004 after a visioning process involving mostly lay leaders, its key components are clear: the source of power for mission is Christ’s love, the congregation participates in this love by reaching out and by its inclusive welcoming, and both worship and social action are avenues for outreach and welcoming. For the congregation’s self-identity and its identity in the community, this concise articulation has brought focus, and newcomers mention clarity ofmission as a primary reason for becoming involved at Gloria Dei.

“Our work begins with three great listenings,” says Pastor Stephen Bouman, Director of Evangelical Outreach and Congregational Mission of the ELCA: “listening to God, through scripture and prayer; listening to the community, through one-on-ones both inside the congregation and in the community; and listening to one another to discern where we are being called to participate in God’s mission.”

Through practicing such intentional listenings, a Vision Statement was proposed and adopted in 2012 as an articulation of the church we seek to be and to become, through God’s work in and among us.

“By God’s grace, we’re here for good.”

This informal slogan, printed on a banner last year that hangs in the fellowship hall and is taken to events in the community (e.g. Martin Luther King Jr. Day walk, Pride Parade), also reveals the church’s conviction that God has a mission for Gloria Dei in the inner city, despite times it was asked to consider closing or relocating away from homelessness and poverty. In the minds of members, “for good” indicates the church’s trust in God’s purpose for its ministry and for the durable future.

“God has given us everything we need to do ministry in this time and place.”

This statement by our long-time bookkeeper captures something of God’s faithfulness in providing enough, and providing what is needed for ministry. A helpful reference point that has been communicated in times of tight finances, it supports the Vision Statement’s affirmation of “the abundance and the value of God’s gifts,” and it echoes the Constitution’s identification of God’s Spirit as the giver of all gifts, for use in members’ life together and for their calling in the world.