Meet Our Staff

Joseph Tallent

Interim Pastor

After spending 10 years working in drug and alcohol abuse prevention, went to seminary and was ordained in 1985. Served at Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Garner, NC until 2002 and Mt. Moriah Lutheran Church in China Grove. Currently serving as the interim pastor for Wittenberg Lutheran.

Melanie Hatfield

Church Secretary

Melanie Hatfield joined our staff December 2024. She comes to us with many years of experience as a church administrative assistant in the Charlotte NC area. She served 8 years at Caramel Baptist Church working in the Sports Ministry and Adult/Membership Ministry. Her love for Jesus is her driving factor in all she does for the church.

Linda Cutting

Church Sexton

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What We Believe

The Church

We believe that belonging to a church community is part of the Christian faith. We believe that the church is a fellowship of those who confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and are called to worship and reveal God in the world. We believe, as members of Christ’s body, that all Christians are called and gifted to serve the world. This church accepts the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds and accepts the teaching of the Augsburg Confession as a faithful witness to the scriptures


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Scripture

We believe that the canonical Scriptures of the Old & New Testaments are the written Word of God. Inspired by God’s Spirit speaking through their authors, they record and announce God’s revelation, centering in Jesus Christ. Through them, God’s Spirit speaks to us to create and sustain Christian faith and fellowship for service in the world. The Holy Scriptures are the inspired Word of God and the source and norm for proclamation, faith, and life.




Sacrament


We are nourished in our faith through the sacraments of baptism and communion. Jesus Christ, the living Word of God, by the power of the Spirit, comes to us through the reading of the Scriptures, the proclamation of preaching, the announcement of the forgiveness of sins, through Holy Communion, and in the gathered community. By the power of the Spirit active in Holy Baptism, this Word—Jesus Christ—washes a people to be Christ’s own Body in the world.

God


Jesus Christ is the Word of God incarnate, through whom everything was made and through whose life, death, and resurrection God fashions a new creation. We teach that all people are sinners. A person is saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. We live in the true freedom of Christian love and responsibility.




OUR PHILOSOPHY

Wittenberg is passionate about being a congregation that welcomes, includes, accepts, affirms, embraces, and celebrates all people. And ALL really means ALL! If you are brown, black, or white, if you are poor or rich or somewhere in between, if you are male or female, young, old, or in the middle, if you are gay, straight, bi, or trans, if you have spent time in jail or on the street, if you are struggling with addiction or mental illness, if you are married, single, or divorced, if you have children or not, you have a place in this community of faith. You matter to us! You are valued in God’s kingdom. Wittenberg cares about you! God adores you!