Welcome! I’m Pastor Erik of Messiah New Hope. I’ve been serving here since January of 2023 after serving for several years in Rapid City. I’m, originally, from the Twin Cities and attended seminary at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. I love Minnesota sports, theatre, music, and craft beer (to name a few).

My call to ministry stems from a passion for renewal: the church needs reformation and, I believe, the Spirit is leading us through the necessary transformation. It is faith not in the church as is, but as it will be as God continues to work on and through us. Transcending every change, however, is the Good News of Jesus Christ’s love and forgiveness and Christ’s promised presence in the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion.

If you visit MNH, I hope you will hear, from me, a message of radical, unconditional grace: “You are enough; you are accepted; you are loved”. In a world of winners and losers where “nothing is free,” the Gospel message of free grace and undeserved love for all is truly counter-cultural. Jesus preached “The Kingdom of God” as a new reality wherein all lives are valued, all have enough, and all know the love of God. By faith, followers of Jesus can live into this reality right now, building the kin-dom that Jesus proclaimed. I believe this is what the Church should aspire to be: a place and a people where the Kingdom of God can be experienced in the present.

As a congregation, we are on our own journey. We have not fully realized this aspiration, but we trust God’s presence and leadership along the way and invite you to join us as we seek to experience God together.