The Lutheran Church has roots reaching back through the Western Catholic Church to the fertile soil of the early centuries of Christianity and the New Testament era. It grew out of the first of the five reformation movements of the sixteenth century, marked by Martin Luther's call for a correction of the errors of the medieval church in 1517.

The Lutheran Church draws its Trinitarian faith from the Holy Scriptures (Bible) of both the Old and the New Testaments. Central in Lutheran doctrine is the proclamation of salvation by the undeserved and unconditional love of God, which we respond to in trust and purpose for life.

European Lutherans from various countries were among those who came to North America for both religious and secular reasons, as early as 1638 in what is now Delaware. Lutheranism in Virginia dates from 1717, when 20 German-speaking families settled on the Rapidan River. By 1733, they had established a congregation, built a chapel, and called a pastor.

The oldest Lutheran congregation in central Virginia is at Hebron in Madison County. Bethany Trinity Lutheran Church in Waynesboro was established as early as 1772. Immanuel Lutheran Church was founded in Charlottesville in 1869, became affiliated with the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod in 1897, and moved to its Jefferson Park Location in 1956.