How does someone start?

Go and listen, then talk to a pastor when you are ready. There is no test and no deadline.

• Go and listen on a Sunday. You can sit near the back, stay in your seat during communion, and leave during the last hymn. Nobody will ask you to speak. What happens, part by part.
• Read along first. This Sunday on this site takes about three minutes, so the readings are not new when you hear them.
• Talk to a pastor. Asking these questions is an ordinary reason to meet one. You do not need to be a member.
• Baptism. People who decide to follow Jesus are baptized: water, with Jesus’ promise attached. It happens once. For an adult there is usually a conversation or a short class first. It is not a test. About baptism.

Here is an email you can copy and send to any Lutheran church near you:

Find a church near you · How to find a pastor

Where it is in the Bible

• Luke 19:1–10 Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house before Zacchaeus has changed anything.

  Read Luke 19:1–10

  ¹ He entered and was passing through Jericho. ² There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn’t because of the crowd, because he was short. ⁴ He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was going to pass that way. ⁵ When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶ He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully. ⁷ When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, “He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.”

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →

• Matthew 28:19–20 Jesus sends his followers to baptize and teach, and promises to be with them always.

  Read Matthew 28:19–20

  ¹⁹ Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

  World English Bible, public domain. The whole chapter on Free Scripture → · Read in the NRSVue, the ELCA’s standard translation →