Paster Jon

Welcome to

Hope Lutheran Church

Pastor Jon Barsness

Welcome to Hope Lutheran Church! We are a vibrant community of followers of Jesus Christ who are committed to being disciples that make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20).

About Pastor Jon

Pastor Jon was born and raised in Minnesota, Pastor Jon’s journey to ministry happened after spending twenty years in the business world. He pursued theological studies at Grace Christian University, where he earned two master’s degrees in ministry and theological studies.

Vision and Mission

Pastor Jon's vision for Hope Lutheran's vision is rooted in the Great Commission: to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20). He is passionate about discipleship, community outreach, and family ministry, believing in the transformative power of the Gospel (Romans 1:16). Under his leadership, we strive to be a church that lives out the call to love one another as Christ loved us (John 13:34-35).

Personal Life

Beyond the pulpit, Pastor Jon enjoys golfing, reading, great coffee, and wineries and breweries, and has a dangerous sweet tooth, all of these things allow him to connect with people from various walks of life. He is married to Anna, and together they have one son, Ethan, who brings joy and inspiration to their lives.

Get in Touch

Pastor Jon is always eager to connect with the congregation and newcomers. Feel free to reach out to him at pastorjonhlsp@gmail.com or join us for our services on Sundays.

Want to connect with Pastor Jon? Stop by during office hours at the church. Email Pastor Jon at pastorjonhlsp@gmail.com. Call/text Pastor Jon at 612-477-4673. Looking forward to connecting with members, regular attendees, and guests. Pastor Jon is in his Hope Lutheran office Mondays and Thursdays from 7:30-Noon.
To easily schedule a time to meet Pastor Jon, go to this link!

Hope Lutheran - Minneota

Bethany-Elim - Ivanhoe

St. Paul’s -
Minneota

Message from Pastor Jon

How We Take the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and The Lord’s Supper into Monday - Saturday

For many the individualism of our society has seeped into the life of the church, especially as it relates to our sacraments. The attitude towards baptism, that it is not about the congregational role in the baptism, nor in their responsibility towards raising up the new believer, infant or adult, represents the way many evangelicals think about the ordinances. For many, baptism is essentially about my personal profession of faith, an expression of my obedience to Jesus.

Regrettably, this individualism characterizes how many Christians even think about the more obviously communal ordinance, the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is purely about my of Christ’s sacrifice,my confession of sin, or my in the Lord’s return. So with eyes tightly shut and hearts pretty well indifferent to who may or may not be in the room, the Lord’s Supper becomes nothing more than an act of private devotion—just one we do in proximity to a lot of other Christians.

The Bible, however, paints a very different portrait for how the ordinances function in the life of the church. Let me submit three ways the Bible shows us how the ordinances should shape our relationships with one another, both on Sundays and throughout the week.

1. BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER CREATE DAY-TO-DAY COMMITMENTS

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not hermetically sealed events in the life of the church—“flash in the pan” moments that interrupt our regular routine of worship. Instead, these are events that create day-to-day responsibilities toward one another. Going back to our opening illustration, when Thomas is baptized on Sunday morning, that baptism has implications for Dustin on Monday. In baptism, the church is making commitments to the believer and the believer is making commitments to the church.

Where do we find this in Scripture? Baptism is how the church marks out the people of God. In the Great Commission, Jesus authorizes the apostles, and by implication the church, to administer baptism to “disciples” (Matt. 28:18–20). When someone is baptized they are not only going public with their faith, but the church is also affirming their profession as credible. The church, after all, is the one administering the baptism, giving as it were their stamp of approval to that person’s profession of faith.

And what happens after someone is baptized? They join the church. Baptism doesn’t just mark someone’s commitment to follow Jesus, it also marks their commitment to Jesus’ people. Throughout the New Testament, new believers joined up or “were added” to the church by baptism (Acts 2:14; 1 Cor. 12:3), and once added to the church, the church loved and spiritually nourished them (Acts 2:42–47).

So when church members watch someone get baptized, we aren’t just celebrating their private profession of faith. We are making a commitment to them to oversee the well-being of their Christian walk, to care for them, and to love them as members of our church. In other words, when we witness someone baptized we are, as a congregation, implicitly saying our church covenant to them as they go down into the water and they are saying it back to us as they emerge. When you see someone baptized in your congregation, add them to your prayer list and start asking how they’re doing—they’re part of the family now.

2. THE LORD’S SUPPER CONSISTENTLY CONFRONTS ANY UNCHECKED PRIDE OR BITTERNESS

In 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, Paul identifies one of the primary problems in the Corinthian church as divisiveness (11:18) rooted in some form of classism and pride (11:22). How does Paul respond? By talking about the Lord’s Supper—yep, the Lord’s Supper! Shocking isn’t it? But not if we recognized just how central the ordinances are for a healthy church community.

Paul rebukes the Corinthians because the Lord’s Supper demands that they be one unified body (11:23–33). This supper portrays a gospel that demands that we all make the same claims about ourselves: we are sinners and Jesus is our only source of righteousness. The Lord’s Supper assumes we are one, united, reconciled body. It’s a family meal.

The Lord’s Supper then is meant to function like a net, catching any unchecked pride or bitterness that church members might be harboring toward one another.

To switch analogies, the Lord’s Supper is like an air filter in your heating system. Air filters catch all the pollen, bugs, and other decaying material from outside to make sure that only the cleanest air gets pumped into your home. But after three months, those filters need an upgrade. The wear and tear of catching all that muck means it needs replacing. So too the Lord’s Supper catches the muck of division. Each celebration of the Supper is like replacing that air filter, renewing the church’s resolve to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace (Eph 4:3).

In other words, the unity of the church manifested in our relationships with one another is so important that God implemented a regular, reoccurring table fellowship that demands that all the participants resolve their differences and forgive one another before participating. The supper makes the many into one: “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17).

As we remember that the Lord’s Supper is coming, it should motivate us either to dissolve any bitterness we may harbor toward others (1 Pet 4:8) or to seek out reconciliation and work through our bitterness with them (Matt. 5:23–24).

3. BAPTISM AND THE LORD’S SUPPER CONTRIBUTE TO OUR CORPORATE FIGHT FOR ASSURANCE OF SALVATION

The Bible teaches that our assurance of salvation should primarily be rooted in the objective work of Christ in our place and second in evidence of grace we see in our own life (i.e. our response to the objective work of Christ [1 Jn 2:3; 5–6; 3:10]). How then should we examine these evidences of grace?

First of all, we should endeavor to maintain a clear conscience and a healthy dose of self-critical honesty. But self-reflection is not the only way we analyze whether our lives exhibit gospel transformation. When understood rightly, baptism and the Lord’s Supper also function as God’s ordained means whereby the entire congregation exercises its authority to strengthen and encourage our personal sense of assurance.

How so? Remember, in baptism, the church tells the believer, “We think you’re a Christian.” Well, in the Lord’s Supper, the church tells the believer, “We still think you’re a Christian.” That’s why church discipline involves barring the unrepentant one from communion (i.e. excommunication), not from attending the church.

This means that when we gather around the table, we’re exercising a congregational authority and proclaiming to one another, “Brother or sister, if you are at this Table, then be emboldened and have assurance.” The people of God with whom you live week in and week out and who are examining your profession of faith are telling you, “Yes, your life reflects someone who genuinely believes the gospel.” As one friend of mine puts it, when we gather with our church to take the Supper, our brothers and sisters look at us and sing “blessed assurance, Jesus is yours.”

For Him,

Pastor Jon