Mount Hope Lutheran Church is a home mission start-up in every sense of the term. In September of 2024, Pastor Thad Bitter, with his family and his missionary’s heart, arrived in Bend, Oregon, after serving in Portland for 20 years. The ministry is blessed by his understanding of the cultural challenges for confessional Lutheranism in the Pacific Northwest. On his arrival, the small core group did not have a church name or a location. The closest WELS congregation was in Salem, 104.33 miles away, according to the WELS Locator.
The Lord placed seeds in our hearts years ago that eventually would lead us to be part of this core group. While living in Appleton, Wis., in the early 90s we met a retired couple who relocated to Denver to volunteer in a ministry setting. Their reasons were sound: retirees have time to volunteer; have experience, talents, and abilities to share; and have a need to stay active once retired. Their example stuck with us as an option for retirement even though that milestone was over 30 years in the future.
As our June 2025 retirement date drew closer, we contacted WELS Home Missions, and they referred us to Mission Journeys. Mission Journeys helps WELS members to serve the Great Commission through mission experiences, short-term mission trips, or long- term service opportunities. Every core purpose of Mission Journeys seemed fitting for new retirees. Our interest was a long-term service opportunity in a home mission start-up somewhere in the western states.
In April 2024 we received an email: Would Bend, Oregon, interest you? From there the transition began, and in mid-July 2025, we relocated from the Milwaukee area to Bend.
Much has happened in a little over a year. We attended a mission, vision, and planning workshop in March 2025 that provided direction, purpose, and benchmarks of progress. The chosen name, Mount Hope, is the name of the middle mountain of the Three Sisters—snow-covered peaks just west of town. In the past year, Mount Hope has leased, furnished, and utilized an excellent location in the bottom half of a two-story office building. Our launch service took place on Palm Sunday 2026, and the Lord has provided our core group with many blessings and opportunities to share the gospel with our community.
Membership in a home mission start-up is a life changing experience. As WELS educators during our full-time working years, we had always been members of active, long-standing WELS congregations, each with their own culture, traditions, worship styles, and yearly routines both understood and followed by the members. Stating the obvious, in a home mission start-up everything is new. It’s energizing to work with Pastor Bitter and other members in laying the groundwork for Mount Hope.
We, like many retired members of WELS congregations, are here simply to serve! We have time, experience, and a desire by God’s grace to advance the Great Commission in Bend. Activities include cleaning our worship space, canvassing, running errands, shopping for supplies, attending events, being available when needed, and asking Pastor Bitter, “What do you need us to do?” A weekly activity is greeting people on Saturdays as they walk by our pop-up canopy on their way to the large community farmer’s market a block from church.
Home mission start-ups don’t need us, but they need people like us. Retired folks who are present, available, supportive, and willing to do what needs to be done. It’s been a wonderful way to serve in retirement.
And for certain, there is plenty of time to enjoy the sights, activities, and opportunities of Bend, the state of Oregon, and the western region of our great country. We are blessed to be here.
Written by John and Anna Kolander, retirees that joined the new mission, Mount Hope Lutheran Church in Bend, Oregon.
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