Large Print Bulletins

Large-print bulletins are available for worship. Please ask an usher as you enter the sanctuary, and they will be happy to provide one.

Parking & Entrances

Designated parking is located by the west entrance as well as near the east entrance. A covered drop-off portico is available at the west entrance facing Division. An automatic door button is offered on the right-most doors.

Wheelchairs

Marked wheelchair companion seating is available in designated areas of the sanctuary.

Wheelchairs are available for your use while you’re with us. They are located by the front office in the coat area, just outside the fellowship hall opposite the Sanctuary.

Hearing Assistance

Hearing amplifiers are available for your use during worship. Please visit the technology booth at the rear of the sanctuary to request one and a friendly technician will equip you.

Kids with Special Needs

ALL children are welcome and encouraged to attend Kids Ministry activities! Please let us know about their specific needs at check-in. We staff each Sunday with the expectation that some children may need one-on-one attention. Jesus is for everyone!

Lower Level Access

Most ministries and events occur on the main level, making it easy for everyone to access. An elevator to the lower level is provided and can be found on the far end of the Art Hallway (exit the fellowship hall near Luther's Brews Cafe).

Close

Pr. Taran Denning

“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” – Proverbs 19:21

 As a child growing up in Helena, Montana, I had many plans about my future. I wanted to be an NBA basketball player, a pastor, the president, and later (more seriously) a dentist. I know it is quite the spread.

During my undergraduate years, I studied Biology while in full pursuit of a career in dentistry. After graduating from Gonzaga in 2011, I applied for and then served as the Youth Coordinator, here at St. Luke Lutheran Church. My stated plan was for this to be a one-year position to bridge the gap year as I applied to dental school. My top five dental schools, my life plan, and direction felt set.

And then as I began serving in this position something started stirring up in me spiritually. The message came in two forms. It came from within as I began imagining myself at the pulpit proclaiming Christ crucified. I began to wonder and ponder if that was actually my call. But more profoundly, it came from brothers and sisters in Christ, who began to name gifts they saw in me for a future in ministry. Soon those two callings (internal and external) began to be something that I could no longer ignore or even hold back.

So, dental applications were withdrawn as I then applied at Luther Seminary. After further discernment, I was accepted and then enrolled in Luther's Distributive Learning program. This program allows students to remain where they are and take classes both online and doing intensive coursework on campus in January and June. That program allowed me to continue in my role as Youth coordinator while attending seminary. One of the blessings of that was the opportunity to apply learnings from the classroom into context at church. Youth have a great way of pointing out the heart of a theological matter. It felt like taking a chemistry class while also getting to experiment learnings in the lab. It was the learning about alongside the hands-on, doing learning environment.

During seminary, I met and later married my wonderful wife, Curyn from here in Spokane. We were married in the fall of 2018. After about one year of marriage and for the final year of seminary, we moved to Vancouver, Washington.  There I served my yearlong internship at Messiah Lutheran Church and Preschool. That spring, I graduated from seminary (digitally due to the global pandemic).

Over that coming summer God would be up to something else unexpected and exciting. Through the generosity of the congregation, the discernment of the region’s bishops and the call of the church, I was called, ordained and serve now as pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church.

As I look, back it is incredible to see the ways that God’s plans for my life panned out in ways that I could not have expected. Indeed, God’s purposes prevail in whichever vocations we are called to as we live receptive lives out of the abundance of God’s grace.

Your brother in Christ,

Pr. Taran Denning

Pr. Jim Johnson

Pastor Jim Johnson is Lead Pastor at St. Luke Lutheran Church, North Division in Spokane. He has been in parish ministry since he was ordained in 1993. He has served 3 parishes:

  • He was first called to serve as Associate Pastor at Bethlehem Lutheran in Sedro-Woolley, WA. from 1993-1996.
  • His second parish was a solo call to Holy Cross Lutheran near Lake Stevens, WA from 1996-2000.
  • He then came to St. Luke January 1, 2001 as Lead Pastor.

Pastor Jim grew up in Spokane. His father, Wally Johnson, was pastor at Calvary Lutheran (which later merged with Ascension and became Prince of Peace) before retiring from ministry in 1987. Pastor Jim moved away from Spokane after graduating from North Central High School in 1983. He graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA in 1987 with a Bachelor of Arts in Education (BAE degree). He was in secondary education – Social Sciences – before leaving to Minnesota to attend seminary. He graduated from Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. in the spring of 1993 with a Masters of Divinity.

Pastor Jim and his wife Lori married in the summer of 1993. They have four children (three boys and a girl). Together they have enjoyed travel, time with family, sports, music, the arts, reading and movies.

Pastor Jim has been very fortunate to have experienced opportunities that have further developed his skills and education as a pastor, and in turn have been a blessing to the parish:

  • He completed the Pastor-Theologian Program in 2006 (a 3 year interdenominational cohort study program through the Center of Theological Inquiry - CTI - at Princeton).
  • He received a Louisville Institute Grant for Pastoral Sabbaticals in 2008, providing he and his family the opportunity to travel to Europe where Pr. Jim studied Martin Luther’s Writings.
  • He was selected to participate in the 2009 Cousin’s Foundation 2 week pilgrimage to Israel with 19 other clergy from various denominations from around the USA, lead by a NT professor from Princeton Seminary.
  • In 2014, on his 2nd sabbatical while serving St Luke, he received the Clergy Renewal Grant from the Lilly Endowment to travel with his family to Turkey, Greece, and Italy on a Pauline pilgrimage studying Paul’s preaching ministry.
  • In 2019, he completed a Doctor of Ministry Degree in Preaching from the Association of Chicago Theological Seminaries (ACTS) through The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC).
  • In 2022, he received another sabbatical in which he studied the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He also received a Share Grant from the Northwest Intermountain Synod of the ELCA to travel to Malinyi, Tanzania to visit the Tumaini Lutheran Seminary with which St. Luke had partnered and supported the construction of a wall surrounding the school, the purchase of text books, the making of a library and renovation of a science lab and class room.
  • Pr. Jim was honored with the 2024 Alumnus of the Year award from North Central High School in Spokane.
  • Pr. Jim is currently enrolled in a ThM (Master of Theology) degree program through Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN. He is studying Martin Luther’s writings with a focus on Luther’s understanding of baptism and its implications for daily life. He expects to complete this degree in 2027.

The passion to preach the gospel - to share the good news of God’s gracious act of forgiveness, love, and salvation through Jesus Christ crucified and risen from the dead; that freedom to live down to earth and embrace the world and the neighbor as gift, which results in a compassion to serve the neighbor in need as we have been served by God’s grace - continues to be the driving force in Pr. Jim’s life and ministry. To this calling he continues to serve the Church, and calls the congregation to serve the neighbor, creation, and the world.

Subscribe

Weekly Witness Subscribe

Quick Message to

Quick Ministry Contact Form

Plan Your Visit

We look forward to meeting you!

Visiting a new church can feel like a big step.

We get it. That’s why we’ve tried to make our Sunday mornings as approachable and comfortable as possible. Keep reading for a better sense of what you’ll find when you arrive.

What to Wear?

Come as you are!

You’ll fit right in at St. Luke. Each Sunday you will see a full range from jeans and t-shirts to suits and dresses. Those attending events throughout the week typically dress casually, while Christmas and Easter tend to be a slightly more dressy affair. Please come wearing what you would feel best in for worship. Worshiping here isn’t about trying to impress anyone. It’s a shared moment of grace.

Getting Here

Arrival and Parking

The primary entrances are the doors under the portico that can be seen from Division Street. Feel free to drop your kids off at the nursery (open year-round), or at Sunday School

Our friendly staff and hospitality team will greet you and make sure you have everything you need while you’re with us.

Get Directions
Accessibility

Choose a Service

Every hour-long service offers live music, a Christ-centered message from our pastors, open communion, and an opportunity to connect and socialize afterwards at Luther’s Brews Café. No matter which service you choose, the Lord is definitely present with us on Sunday mornings.

8:30 & 10:00 am

These worship services incorporate a variety of traditions in a liturgical setting.

Though these services tend to lean more traditional, you’ll be delighted to hear some newer songs, too.

11:15 am – Modern

This service leans into contemporary music and service flow more akin to many large-church expressions. You’ll notice our Lutheran roots are still present throughout the service, but in a more relaxed and informal setting.

Kids @ St. Luke

During all Sunday morning services, year-round, the nursery is open for for those ages 0 – 4 years old. During the school year, we offer Sunday School at 10:00am. Kids Ministry meets downstairs, led by a team of Sunday School teachers. *Kids registration? Better yet, pre-register prior to check-in to save time.

More About Kids Ministry

Youth (7th-12th grade)

Youth meet for Sunday School at 10:00am in the loft. This space is designed just for them and they are the only group that uses this space. It’s a really fun atmosphere and a great space for discussions, games, snacks, and more!

More About Youth Ministry

Luther’s Brews Café

Visitors are invited to enjoy a complementary drink from Luther’s Brews Café.

Our Café is open after each worship service and provides not-for-profit specialty drinks and local coffee from Indaba Coffee Roasters here in Spokane.

All donated proceeds support special ministry needs, such as youth camperships, outreach initiatives, and one-time ministry projects.

View Menu

Communion

No matter your denominational background, if you desire what is promised in this meal, God’s presence and the forgiveness of sins, you are welcome to commune with all who are gathered to receive God’s grace.

Gluten-free bread and grape juice are always available.