Living Word Galena · Galena, Ohio
Helping busy families experience
the grace of Jesus.
Life Works BEST With Jesus.
We get it. Life can feel overwhelming and messy. There’s always something pulling you in a different direction, and it’s easy to feel like you’re barely keeping up. At Living Word, you’re not alone. We meet you right where you are because that’s exactly where Jesus met us.
Our Vision
Where we’re headed
Living Word has grown 26% in the last year, not because of good strategy, but because of God’s faithfulness and a community that keeps showing up for each other. Our five-year vision is 350 people experiencing the grace of Jesus together in Galena and the surrounding counties. Not just attending but experiencing. There’s a difference, and it’s the whole point.
Our Values
What drives everything we do
These aren’t slogans. They’re the convictions that shape how we preach, how we gather, how we serve, and how we treat the person sitting next to you on Sunday.
01
Life works best with Jesus.
Not as a religious add-on to a full life. He’s the One that makes a full life actually work. This is our operating conviction. Everything else flows from here.
02
Families and kids closer to Jesus.
We’re always dreaming up ways to help every member of a family, especially kids, feel genuinely loved and grow in faith together. KidConnect and DelCo Youth exist because of this conviction.
03
Jesus turns strangers into family.
Faith can feel unfamiliar at first. We’ve all been there. But Jesus is patient, and he invites people into his family — where no one stays a stranger for long. This is the value that explains the word Belong.
John 1:12 — he gave the right to become children of God.
04
We share Jesus’ love in our neighborhoods.
Jesus’ love isn’t just for church walls. It’s for every person already around us. We’ve experienced life-changing hope through him, and we want our neighbors to experience it too.
Matthew 28 — as you are going.
How We Live This Out
Grounded. Belong. Going.
These three words organize the whole life of discipleship at Living Word. They’re not stages you graduate through. They’re postures you live from, all at once.
Grounded
Connected to God
A center the chaos cannot move. Knowing who you are and whose you are — no matter what the week brings.
Worship · Grow
Belong
Connected to one another
Fully known and genuinely loved by a community organized around the reception of God’s grace.
Serve (internal)
Going
Connected to everyone
The natural overflow of a life Grounded and Belonging now spilling into your ordinary Tuesday.
Serve (external) · Invite
What We Believe
The theology underneath everything
Living Word is a congregation of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. That means our faith is anchored in some specific, grace-forward convictions that shape everything we teach and practice.
Grace alone · Faith alone · Scripture alone
You do not earn your place with God. Salvation is entirely God’s act. Given through faith, grounded in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Scripture is our authority. Not a pastor’s opinion. Not a trend. The Word.
The Means of Grace
God doesn’t just declare grace from a distance. He delivers it through specific, tangible means. The Word preached. Baptism as God’s claim on a person. Communion as the real presence of Christ for his people.
Law and Gospel
God speaks two words. The Law tells the truth about who we are and where we fall short. The Gospel answers: Jesus has done what we cannot do. We tell the whole story. And it ends with Jesus.
The Lutheran Confessions
As an LCMS congregation we hold to the historic faith as expressed in the Lutheran Confessions, not as tradition for its own sake, but because we believe this is what Scripture teaches.
Want to go deeper?
Connections is how we show you who we are in person. Sometimes over a little food around a table. No pressure. Just an honest conversation about faith and what life at Living Word actually looks like.
Learn about Connections
Visit on Sunday
