St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church takes its name from St. Philip the Deacon, who was selected as a deacon -- someone chosen to look after the poor in the early Christian church -- with six others in Acts 6. St. Philip also appears in Acts 8, where he interprets and explains the Prophet Isaiah to an eunuch of the Queen of Ethiopia. This is depicted to the left in a detail from an Icon of St. Philip the Deacon by artist Ann Chapin, commissioned in celebration of the church's 50th anniversary in 2008.
This story about St. Philip from Acts 8 is, in part, where St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church gets its mission statement -- to Reach Out, Proclaim, Inspire -- since St. Philip reached out to the Ethiopian eunuch when he didn't understand the Prophet Isaiah; proclaimed to the eunuch what the passage meant; and inspired him to go and serve God himself by baptizing him.
St. Philip is also mentioned in Acts 21, where we are told he lived in Caesarea with his prophetically gifted daughters.
See the stained glass window in our sanctuary that stylistically represents St. Philip the Deacon here.
The entire St. Philip icon -- which can be seen hung near the entrace of the St. Philip the Deacon Sanctuary on the west wall, appears below.
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