On a frigid January day in 1938, twenty women from in and around Dodge Center gathered in the home of Hazel and Claus Bielenberg. These devout women from various Lutheran congregations in neighboring communities gathered in order to study the Bible together as well as the principles of the Lutheran Confessions. Eventually, these women formed what would later be known as the Lutheran Women’s Society. They probably didn’t know it at the time but on that cold day in 1938, these women had joined with the Holy Spirit in a venture that would one day lead to the birth of Faith Lutheran Church.
Fast forward five years. These twenty women had been gathering for a monthly Bible study for five years. Over this time more women had joined their study. In July 1943, these women did what faithful women have been doing since the beginning of the church – they grabbed their husbands and made them come along. These people gathered in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Otterness to discuss becoming a mission congregation of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in Dodge Center. After an enthusiastic vote by its founding members, Faith Lutheran Church was born. Almost immediately, the Seventh Day Baptist Church graciously agreed to allow the new Lutherans in town to use their facility for worship on Sunday evenings with the first worship service being Sunday, September 5th 1943. Pastor T.E. Moen of St. John’s Lutheran in Kasson preached and presided at these worship services until 1945 when Robert Fitzgerald accepted a part-time call to Faith Lutheran Church. In the next few years, the People of Faith Lutheran purchased the property where we currently find ourselves and began planning for Faith’s first building project. One would expect when these founding members gathered to worship, more often than not the men wore suits and ties and the women gathered their finest Sunday dress along with hats and gloves.
On March 20th, 1949 the People of Faith dedicated their new building, which is now the Parish Hall. When study of the history of the congregation began we noticed how the parish hall was repeatedly referred to as just that, the parish hall. In fact, it was not until someone in the late 70’s when we find the word sanctuary regularly used to describe what was their sanctuary (now the parish hall). The reason is because the founders of this congregation dreamed of building their sanctuary to the east when they had the money and the means to do so. This was intended to be a temporary place of worship which could also double as a place of fellowship.
The building continued in the 1950’s. In 1952 the parsonage – the yellow house next door to the church- was built for $16,500. It was dedicated on February 15, 1953. Reverend Fitzgerald, Faith’s first resident pastor, left in 1951. He was followed by Pastor Perntson and Pastor Nygaard who arrive in 1956 and stayed until 1961. When Pastor Nygaard arrived, he quite literally arrived in a snow storm. His van, with all his family’s belongings, wasn’t able to arrive until the next day records Hazel Beilenburg so Erwin and Merece Langworthy opened their home and welcomed their new pastor. The 50’s of course were still a formal time in most American churches. Men continued to wear suits and ties while women wore pencil skirts and heals. And when the people of Faith came to worship, the one thing they could depend upon was their trusty black hymnal called The Lutheran Hymnary.
The 1960’s were an existing chapter in the life of Faith Lutheran Church. Pastor Paul Idstrom was called to Faith in 1962. Like his predecessors, he served Faith Lutheran as well as Aurora Lutheran. A couple of years later, the People of Faith decided it was time for the congregation’s first fulltime pastor. Pastor Idstrom heartily agreed. In the 60’2, the congregation moved to two worship services on a Sunday morning, the Bethel Bible Study (an intense adult education program) was begun, and the junior choir was filled with familiar last names like Barber, Jensen, Pflaum, Corey, Ellingson, Anderson, and Olson to name just a few. In the late 60’s, a building team was formed to study the building needs. In the end, the congregation chose to add educational classrooms at a cost of $12 a square foot. In the 60’s the congregation moved to the New Red Hymnal called Service Book and Hymnal.
Congregations are families and like every family, you have challenges. The 1970’s were a challenging decade. There was a turnover in pastor leadership, differences of opinion were vented publicly, and the membership of Faith by the mid 1970’s had dropped considerably. However, Faith did have some highlights in the 70’2. In 1978 the new Green Hymnals were added. They were called the Lutheran Book of Worship but soon were referred to as LBW. And in June of 1979, Pastor Larry Nelson was called to Faith. While the decade had some challenging moments, it ended like it began – on a high note.
The 1980’s saw an assortment of activities at Faith. The parsonage was sold for $45,500. New pews were purchased and assembled in 1981. James Langworthy was ordained who as far as we know is the first son or daughter of the congregation to become a pastor. Pastor Steve Gutzman, Faith’s first associate pastor, served part-time in the congregation for three years. When he left, Faith hired a youth director to lead the congregation’s youth ministries for a time. And by the late 1980’s, the congregation was talking about building again.
Faith’s momentum continued into the 1990’s. On January 27th, 1991 the Fellowship Hall, library, kitchen, and other educational rooms were dedicated. By the mid 90’s, Faith celebrated its 50th Anniversary. The congregation continued to have two worship services. The 10:30 service was more sparse since the 8:00 service was the most popular for members. The ministries and activities you continue to see around you: Sunday School, Confirmation, Harvest Feast, etc. continued to the 90’s. Also worth noting, since the beginning of the congregation’s history women have been very active. The Circles which are the women’s bible studies, along with WELCA (women of the ELCA) and their predecessor bodies have always been a guiding force of the congregation. We also had a supplemented Blue Hymnal added (not a replacement).
In the early years of this decade the congregation had come to crossroads. Pastor Nelson announced his retirement after 22 years. Not surprisingly, the congregation struggled during the interim. The Call Committee was entrusted with the task of interviewing potential pastors. There were only two directions from the congregational meeting and they were to a) find a pastor who can sing and b) whatever you do, don’t bring us someone fresh out of seminary.
Thankfully, they ignored those instructions when they interviewed me. And when I heard Jayne talking with Jean Barber about dairy cows, I thought, “God this just might be the place.” I came five years ago. It should also be noted, as I have shared before, while I wanted to be a solo pastor I was concerned about my lack of musical gifts so I told God, “If I go to a small church, you better make sure there is a good musician there.” God was way ahead of me. Just a few weeks before I came, Nadine became the congregation’s musician for which we continue to be grateful.
My first real day here, I was called to the hospital to visit a complete stranger. I couldn’t have been more nervous. I walked in to find Ellie Barber, unable to speak, wearing a couple of tubes and a mask and even though she tried to smile, I could tell she was very uncomfortable. Also there was her late husband Lloyd who bless his heart, with a big smile on his face said just loud enough for Ellie to hear, “You know Pastor, you have never met Ellie before…but she usually looks a lot better than this.” I remember this experience for a number of reasons but one of them is that I learned my first week here that this congregation likes to laugh…not that we can’t be serious when the time calls for it, but there is something in this congregation’s DNA that doesn’t let us take ourselves too seriously.
A number of important and memorable things have happened in the last five years but the two most notable, the ones that will no doubt be recorded in the congregation’s history and retold years from now, will be at the congregational meeting in January 2007. At that meeting, the congregation made two very important votes. First, you voted to form a call committee with the purpose of calling an associate pastor to Faith. We were nervous – we said no to three candidates when the synod told us we would be lucky to find two. But on the fourth attempt, the committee and I met Pastor Sue who was called to the church in August of 2007. At the same congregational meeting, the congregation also voted to move forward with a building project by hiring the James Company to help us meet our financial goals for this project.
Since that vote, we have had a very successful building fund drive, an opportunity to work with VanMan architects on designing our new sanctuary – which interestingly enough looks a great deal like what the founders of this congregation dreamed of decades ago. And now, Northfield Construction has been moving dirt and preparing the building space we need to continue to live out the mission of this congregation.
As I have told this history to this community, I have left out hundreds of names and countless stories. My purpose hasn’t been to tell you about everything that has happened here, but it was to bring your attention to the faith, the sacrifice and the hopes of those who have come before us. During the sermon today, I asked that when you put the shovel in the ground, that you say a prayer for those who will come after us. But as we sing our next song, which can be found in all those hymnals, it would be very appropriate to give God thanks for those who sacrificed in big and small ways to make this day a reality.
Pastor Justin Boeding