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Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, MN

A Three Mile an Hour God Church Welcome to Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church, the only Presbyterian Church in Chaska - Home of Dialogues - where we celebrate God's unconditional love for everyone by feeding the soul and challenging the mind in the name of Christ. We sometimes think of ourselves as a Three Mile an Hour God Church, a way of thinking of God posed by Asian theologian Kosuke Koyama, the inaugural speaker of Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues in 2006. The God we meet in Jesus of Nazareth travels not only at the speed of light and cyberspace but at the speed of a patient walker. God is patient and slow to anger. God is compassionate. At Shepherd of the Hill, God's gracious Presence causes us to get off the treadmill and slow down to keep pace with the Three Mile an Hour God. A thoughtful, powerful word from the pulpit is something we expect every Sunday. We are blessed by the nationally recognized preaching of our Pastor, Gordon C. Stewart, whose sermons appear in two volumes of Harper-Collins Best Sermons collection. Click on "Sermons, etc." on the menu for a sermon and other reflections. We also anticipate the music of Momoh Freeman, whose soulful improvisations of familiar hymns like "Precious Lord" and "Amazing Grace" often take our breath away. Momoh's renditions combine classical, gospel, and jazz in ways that bring tears to our eyes. The combination of Pastor Stewart's preaching and Momoh's music means that our hearts are stirred and our minds get blown in worship, all in the name of a God who loves everyone unconditionally and expects us to do the same. The voice of Shepherd of the Hill reaches the Upper Midwest over the airwaves of Minnesota Public Radio's (91.1FM) "All Things Considered" in the form of guest commentaries by Pastor Gordon C. Stewart on the intersection of faith and the news of the day. Click here to listen to a commentary. Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues also has become known in the last two years for providing a public forum that examines critical public issues locally and globally.

Worship This Sunday 9:30 AM "God's Dance Floor" Gordon C. Stewart Preaching Click "Worship" on menu bar. Finding Us It's simple. But the online maps make it difficult! They place us at the NE rather than the SE corner of Engler and State Highway 41. Click "Location" on menu bar for directions and map Now less than a mile south of new 212 by Chestnut Street exit. Church Office Hours 8:30-2:30 Mon-Wed.; 8:30-12:00 Thurs. Phone: (952) 448-3882

Feeding the Soul - Challenging the Mind Our core mission is "Share the message of God's unconditional love for everyone." Recently we've added a second description: "feeding the soul - challenging the mind." We're not an ideal church (that's always an illusion) but we like to think Shepherd of the Hill makes a natural home for people whose questions have broken open old belief structures. Jesus said that new wine requires new wine skins. He also said that the Spirit, the Counselor, would lead his followers into fuller understanding and expression of the love of God for the world. To us that means, in part, a continual openness, following the invitation of St. Paul to resist being "conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." We gather each Sunday and seasonally for Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues for the renewing of the mind, to be transformed into the likeness of Christ with lives of joyful praise and service. God in Jesus Christ is the center of our life, leaving no one by the roadside and insisting that the church mirror God's unconditional love for all people. We don't always succeed. But we do our best to love unconditionally and to put aside the human distinctions and predudices that mock God's love. At Shepherd of the Hill we've given up the idea of an ideal church - a place of perfection. That's always an illusion of spiritual pride. We'e re-define the notion of "the ideal church" along the lines of the little 12-stool Ideal Diner in Minneapolis where this sign hangs on the wall in front of the lunch counter: "The Ideal Diner: where regular people feel special and special people feel regular." Everyone is welcome.  Everyone eats.  Everyone is part of a lively conversation.  It's what we call "the priesthood of all believers."  We serve as priests to each other, eating with each other at the lunch counter of God's love. If you're looking for an "ideal church" like that where the soul is fed and the mind gets challenged; if you want walk less anxiously with the Three Mile an Hour God who encounters us Jesus Christ; if you're hungry for worship that gets you out of yourself and into the presence of the Living God, join us for worship next Sunday or come for a Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues event. You'll always be welcome.

Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues Coming September 30 "One in 100"  Reclaiming Community in a Lock-Down Society Click "Dialogues" on menu bar) Honorable Esther Tomljanovich MN Supreme Court Associate Justice (retired) kicks off the Fall Series, reflecting on the intersection between Jesus' parable of the 100 sheep and the recent Pew Center report that one in 99.1 adults in the U.S. is incarcerated, on parole or on probation. Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues is a community forum of Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church that explores critical public issues locally and globally, free and open to public. email: info@shepherdofthehillchurch.com. A Three Mile an Hour God Church Feeding the Soul - Challenging the Mind

Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska - Home of Shepherd of the Hill Dialogues - celebrates God's unconditional love for everyone, feeding the soul and challenging the mind with worship, education, outreach, and community gatherings that re-create the public square and promote the common good in the name of Christ. Gordon C. Stewart, frequent guest commentator on Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) "All Things Considered", is our Pastor. Music by Momoh Freeman and Linda Livers.