St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Bridgeport, NE
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is a Christian congregation in Bridgeport, Nebraska, where people gather to receive the gifts of God in Jesus Christ. We are a member congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, serving individuals and families throughout Bridgeport, Bayard, Morrill County, Scottsbluff, and the surrounding communities of the western Nebraska Panhandle. By God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are focused on hearing, learning, practicing, and spreading the Gospel.
Our congregation began in 1943, when the Rev. George Weber of Scottsbluff conducted Lutheran worship services in the homes of Walter Schmidt and William Batterman. As attendance increased, services moved to the District C14 school and later to the Episcopal Church in Bridgeport. The congregation formally organized in 1945 and called the Rev. Alfred Hinz as its first pastor. St. Paul’s dedicated its first house of worship on November 23, 1947. The congregation continued to grow under the pastoral care of the Rev. Oscar Sylvester, the Rev. Robert Harms, the Rev. Donald Wilke, and the pastors who followed them.
Continued growth led the congregation to expand its church facilities during the early 1960s. The project provided a larger sanctuary, classrooms, a pastor’s study, and additional space for Christian education, fellowship, and service. The illuminated cross and church spire became a visible Christian witness in Bridgeport. Through changing generations, buildings, and pastors, the central purpose of St. Paul’s has remained the same: to proclaim Christ crucified and risen for the forgiveness and salvation of sinners.
A Church Centered on Jesus Christ
At the center of everything we believe, teach, and confess is Jesus Christ, true God and true man. He lived under God’s Law in our place, carried our sins to the cross, died for our redemption, and rose bodily from the grave. Forgiveness and eternal life are given freely by God’s grace and received through faith in Christ, not earned through human works, spiritual achievement, or personal merit.
For this reason, our congregational life is not centered on religious entertainment, changing cultural trends, or human accomplishment. We gather because Christ has promised to come among His people through His Word and Sacraments. In the preaching of the Gospel, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar, God delivers the forgiveness, life, and salvation Christ won through His death and resurrection.
Rooted in Holy Scripture and the Lutheran Confessions
St. Paul’s believes that the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God and the only infallible rule and standard for Christian doctrine. God’s Word exposes our sin through the Law and reveals our Savior through the Gospel. It comforts troubled consciences, strengthens faith, guides Christian living, and gives certain hope in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.
We receive the Lutheran Confessions contained in the Book of Concord because they faithfully confess the teachings of Holy Scripture. These writings include the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, the Augsburg Confession, its Apology, the Smalcald Articles, Luther’s Small and Large Catechisms, and the Formula of Concord. They connect our congregation to the historic Christian faith confessed by the Church across the centuries.
The Lutheran Confessions do not establish a new religion or stand above the Bible. They provide a clear, public confession of biblical teaching concerning the Holy Trinity, the person and work of Christ, justification by faith, the pastoral ministry, Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the Church, and Christ’s promised return. Luther’s Small Catechism remains especially important for teaching children, adults, families, and those preparing to receive the Lord’s Supper.
Historic Lutheran Worship and Pastoral Care
Our Divine Service reflects the worship of the Christian Church across many generations. Through Scripture readings, psalms, historic hymns, prayers, the ancient creeds, faithful preaching, and the Lord’s Supper, the liturgy directs our attention away from ourselves and toward Christ and His saving gifts. We do not worship to earn God’s favor. God first serves us with His mercy, forgiveness, and peace, and we respond with prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and Christian service.
Since 2024, St. Paul’s has been served by the Rev. Peter Preus. He is the youngest of twelve children born to the Rev. Rolf and Dorothy Preus, and nine of his ten brothers are pastors or are preparing to enter the pastoral ministry. Born in Wisconsin, he spent much of his childhood in Minnesota and North Dakota before living for four years in Berlin, Germany. Pastor Preus earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Wyoming and a Master of Divinity from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Pastor Preus and his wife, Taitlyn, have been blessed with five children. His interests include reading, studying, hunting, hiking, singing hymns, watching and playing sports, spending time with friends, and enjoying life with his wife and children. Through preaching, teaching, catechesis, visitation, and the care of souls, he continues the pastoral work entrusted to the pastors who have served St. Paul’s throughout its history.
Welcome to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
Whether you are a lifelong Lutheran, returning to church, new to Bridgeport, or exploring Christianity for the first time, you are welcome to visit St. Paul’s. We invite our neighbors throughout Bridgeport, Bayard, Morrill County, Scottsbluff, and western Nebraska to hear God’s Word, learn the Christian faith, and receive the enduring comfort found in Jesus Christ.