Pastor Fryer has been pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Manhattan since 1991.

He also serves on the boards for two centers for the publication of theology:

• The American Lutheran Publicity Bureau (ALPB). The ALPB publishes a quarterly journal of theology called Lutheran Forum, along with books of theology and a popular newsletter called Forum Letter. The ALPB website: https://alpb.org/
• The Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology (CCET). Pastor Fryer is the Executive Director of CCET. CCET publishes an ecumenical journal of theology called Pro Ecclesia and hosts an annual theology conference, along with conference books. The CCET website: http://www.e-ccet.org/

Mentors for Revs. Carol and Gregory Fryer

Theologian Robert W. and Blanche Jenson.

Here at Pastor Gregory Fryer’s Installation as Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church November 3, 1991:

A Quarter of a Century Later

Carol and I met at the Gettysburg Lutheran Theological Seminary and were married in the chapel there, back in 1982. Theologian Robert W. Jenson was Professor of Systematic Theology at Gettysburg in those days. He and his wife, Blanche, gave us our pre-marriage counseling, and Dr. Jenson presided at our wedding liturgy. Since then, the Jensons have blessed us with their presence at our ordination into the Holy Ministry, installation into congregational ministry, baptism of our two sons, and their wise and gentle counsel all these years.

Carol and I started our ministry as co-pastors of a small country parish in south York County, PA. We loved serving as co-pastors and hope to end up that way too after we retire from ministry in metro New York — back to some small country church somewhere in our land.

Carol is Director of Pastoral Care at Wartburg, Mount Vernon, New York. She has served in that role for nine years now. Wartburg is an adult care community in southern Westchester County, with a big array of services for elderly folks. http://www.wartburg.org/

Robert W. Jenson, our mentor, is a foremost teacher of what is called the “evangelical catholic” construal of Lutheranism.  Those two words – “evangelical” and “catholic” – explain why many Christians tend to feel right at home at our church, Immanuel Lutheran Church. Roman Catholics recognize the eucharistic liturgy and note our historic Lutheran commitment to the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. But evangelicals tend to feel at home too, once they get used to the liturgy. They feel at home because of our congregation’s love of the Bible. Here at Immanuel we honor the literal text of the Bible. We are not fundamentalists, but try to pay close attention to the Bible as the great gift of the Holy Spirit to the church for preserving our apostolic faithfulness.

Immanuel Lutheran Church is a historic congregation in town, going back to the middle of the Civil War, 1863. So we are a historical church, but part of a fairly small and new national Lutheran church body: the North American Lutheran Church (NALC).

http://thenalc.org/

We are the only such church in Manhattan. There is no other Lutheran congregation quite like us in theological, liturgical, and moral matters. God bless all the congregations of our city, but we are different. We are earnestly committed to the Great Tradition in matters of doctrine, liturgy, and morality. We seek unity with the ecumenical church, including the vast number of Christians in the Catholic Church, the Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Churches, and our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers in the Lord who came before us. We feel that we have something special going on here at Immanuel, and we hope that you will join us.

God be with you always.

In Christ,

Pastor Gregory P. Fryer