On Thursday, August 14, Epiphany Lutheran Church in Bastrop closed on 5.58 acres that will become the home base for its expanding ministry. A $250,000 loan from the Texas District’s Church Extension Fund enabled the young congregation to combine its own resources and purchase the property for $360,000.

The land sits in a rural yet fast-growing part of Bastrop, about a mile south of TX Hwy 71 and near several new housing developments. Just a couple of miles away, a 1,500-home community has already opened a new elementary school.

Pastor Rev. E. B. Holschuh is quick to deflect credit for the church’s progress, insisting he’s still learning the ropes of planting a congregation. But his confidence in God’s work through the Gospel, combined with his willingness to rely on the diverse gifts of others, has helped the church flourish.

Rev. Holschuh became Epiphany’s first pastor on January 6, 2024—just eight months after the congregation chartered. The church’s roots stretch back further, to when several area congregations joined forces to start a new ministry in Bastrop.

The name Epiphany Lutheran Church was chosen with a clear goal: to hold the first service near the Feast of the Epiphany in 2022. That vision became reality on February 6, 2022, when 44 people gathered for worship.

Today, the congregation meets at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on TX Hwy 21, about 10 miles east of the new property. Plans are underway to begin worship on their own site, and members are excited to finally have a permanent home.

As the late Dr. Charles T. Knippel once wrote in The Lutheran Witness, “Epiphany has a remarkable ‘epiphanizing’ splendor all its own… God emboldens our faith and sets our lives ablaze to be what Christ calls us to be: the light of a dark world… and revelations to others of Jesus’ saving manifestations.”

By Rev. Pete Mueller
Mission Catalyst, Area C