Sunday School
Children in Grades K - 5 gather Sunday morning at 10:30 am with their parents and worship together until after the Children's Sermon at which time they are excused for their Sunday School lessons.
Sunday School begins each year in September and ends in May.

Release Time
Currently we have 115 children in the 3rd through 6th Grades. Children walk across from the elementary school.

Jr. Youth
3rd - 6th grades meet with Zion Lutheran on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 pm for fellowship, food, study and service. This program provides youth with fellowship and with tools to live a more joyful and meaningful life for themselves, peers and community. Some service projects are included.

Confirmation at First
Confirmation means "firming up" the faith. Our faith is a gift from God, yet we naturally seek understanding about what that faith means. At First Lutheran, Confirmation is a four year program. We meet on Wednesday nights to learn, discuss and grow into the gift of faith God has given us. Currently, 84 students in grades 7-9 from both First Lutheran and Zion Lutheran are enrolled in our Confirmation program. The first Wednesday of the month parents and confirmands grades 6-9 meet for the First Wednesday Confirmation Meal & Lesson.

Confirmation students also participate in the weekly worship service as communion assistants.

Adult Theological Education
Sundays at 4:00 p.m.

October

November

December
No Classes

January

February

March

April

Pastor Aitken's Recommended Reading on Revelation

William Barclay, (Scottish Bible Scholar 1907-1978; Glasgow University)
Many Witnesses, One Lord, John Knox Series
Westminster John Knox Press

Bruce Metzger (NT Professor, Princeton, chair of NRSV Translation Committee)
Breaking the Code - Understanding the Book of RevelationAbingdon, 1993

Barbara Rossing(NT Professor - LSTC)
The Rapture Exposed: The Message of Hope in Revelation
Westview, 2004

John Howard Yoder (Professor of Theology, Univ. Notre Dame)
The Politics of Jesus
Eerdmans Pub. Co 1972 reprinted 2003
See especially Chapter 4 "God will fight for us"
Chapter 8 "Christ and Power"
Chapter 12 "The War and the Lamb"

Pablo Richard (Liberation Theologian: Roman Catholic, Chile)
Apocalypse: A People's Commentary on the Book of Revelation
Maryknoll NT Orbis 1995

Amy Johnson Frykholm (Biblical Scholar, Recovering Fundamentalist)
Rapture Culture: Left Behind in Evangelical America
Oxford Univ. Press

George Buttrick, Editor
the Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, Vol 4, (R-Z)
Article: Revelation
Augsburg, 1973

James Kallas(Professor of Religion, California Lutheran College)
Revelation: God and Satan in the Apocalypse Augsburg, 1973

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer(Assistant Professor of Justice and Peace Studies, Univ. St. Thomas)
Is Religion Killing Us? Violence in the Bible and the Quran
Trinity Press International, London 2003
See Especially: Chapter 1 "Lunatics and Messenger
Chapter 2 "Religion and Violence"
Pages 51-55, 64-69(Apocalyptic Traditions)

Bruce Bawer, Author (Episcopalian)
Stealing Jesus; How Fundamentalism Betrays Christianity
Three Rivers Press, NY, 1997
See especially Chapter 4 "Darby's Kingdom"

Elizabeth Schussier Fiorenza (Harvard Divinity Professor New Testament)
Revelation; Vision of a Just World
Minneapolis, Fortress Press 1991

Hauer and Young (Westminster College Professors of Religious Studies)
An Introduction to the Bible; A Journey into Three Worlds, 5th Edition
Prentice Hall, NJ 2001

Walter Wink(Professor of Biblical Theology at Auburn Theological Seminary, NY)
Ummasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence
Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 1986

Gerhard A. Krodel,(Professor NT Lutheran Theological Seminary, Gettysburg)
Revelation Augsburg Commentary Series
Augsburg Pub. Minneapolis, 1989

Synopsis of the Evangelism Sermon Series
Synopsis of the Reclaiming the "L" Word Sermon Series