Our Church

Church of the Good Shepherd is a multi-generational community seeking to be a sign and foretaste of the kingdom of God in Charlottesville. We are a mix of committed, curious, skeptical, hurting, and hopeful people all being invited to grow into Christ’s likeness—personally and corporately—for the glory of God, for the abundance of our own lives, and for the good of our neighbors. 

For the glory of God [Worship] 

St. Irenaeus once said, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive,” and in worship, we are invited to move ever deeper toward that end. In worship, all of us—amid the many and varying particularities of our stories—are led by Christ through the liturgy, “the work of the people,” to more deeply and sacramentally participate in his once for all self-giving sacrifice for the life of the world. Through song, prayer, word, tithes, and sacrament, we offer our whole selves to God as living sacrifices in thanksgiving for all that God has done for us and for the world in Jesus Christ. 

For the abundance of our own lives [Formation] 

In the gospels, Jesus shares that he has come that we might have abundant life, and He invites his followers to keep company with him and learn the unforced rhythms of grace. We are made for a “with-God life,” and the lifelong process of spiritual formation is initiated and empowered by the Holy Spirit through whom Jesus is our ever-present teacher. In hearing and putting into practice his words we have a sure foundation amid the challenges of life in this world. And it is our hope that, over time, as we learn to be with, listen to and follow Jesus, He will be replacing our false narratives about God and ourselves with narratives that are true, liberating and life-giving. 

We are committed to shared practices modeled by Christ himself that connect us with God and one another and train us for godliness. In community we learn to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us, to rejoice with one another, to weep with one another, to bear one another’s burdens, and to nurture faith, hope and love within one another, all as we participate in “the way of Jesus” marked by life, death, and resurrection. This whole process of transformation is the abundant, “with God,” life we are created for and that Jesus offers us, and it is the path toward becoming more and more like Jesus.

For the good of our neighbors [Mission] 

To be transformed more deeply into the image of Jesus necessarily entails deeper participation in his mission, because being with Jesus also means being led by His Spirit to be where He is and to be with the company that He keeps. We aspire to do this as a community—noticing, partnering with and stepping into the work God is already doing among and around us, and we also aspire to nurture this within our personal lives—empowering one another to pursue beauty, goodness, truth, and justice within the various callings that God has given us. In all of this, we long to live into the glorious calling of being Christ’s body—his hands and feet—in the world and participating, in ordinary and extraordinary ways, in the inbreaking of his kingdom.