Just a teenager, she was one of the church’s first Sunday school teachers. Her sister played the organ. Her family kept the brand new church building swept clean and maintained.
Now charter member Lorraine Adkins is celebrating with 474 other members the 60 years that have passed since the start of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church.
“I can’t believe that it’s been that long,” she said. “We’ve really grown.”
Adkins remembers the young pastor that first arrived in 1950, a year and a half after a handful of men got together to conduct the first service on March 13, 1949, on the same corner of South and Kimball streets that it still sits.
Other things, however, have changed quite a lot — from meetings at home and a first confirmation class of one student to televised audio of services, new stained glass windows, an elevator and top-notch sound system.
“Our faithfulness to the word of God and proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ in a world that needs to hear about his death and resurrection, how we have comfort by the forgiveness of sins and by the hope of eternal life remains the core message of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church over the 60 years we’ve been a congregation,” said the Rev. John Schuetz, who has learned much of the church’s history since coming to lead the congregation following his graduation from Concordia Theological Seminary in Indiana in 2006.
“This was my first experience in ministry and my first experience in a rural, highly agricultural setting,” he said, having grown up in Pennsylvania. “There’s been a lot of learning over the past three years.”
Building on that foundation and leading with the help of congregational chairman Bill Henning and secretary-treasurer Pam Heser, Schuetz said the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod church aims to navigate the future by “staying true to the scriptures and keeping a Lutheran identity and yet reaching out more so into the community as the community changes.”
Outreach is one of the near-term priorities, according to members of the church’s public relations board.
“I think our evangelism needs to be stepped up,” said Helen Holmes, board director.
But first, the attention of the entire congregation and long-time friends will turn to a special celebration of all the memories, all the accomplishments and all the changed lives.
The 60th anniversary worship service, with special music, communion and a fellowship meal, will start at 9 a.m. Sunday, featuring one of their own who grew up to become an ordained minister. The Rev. Paul Crolius, now leading a congregation in Reedsburg, Wis., will preach the morning’s message.
After the service, a recognition of charter members and former pastors, the dedication of a new sign installed a week ago and congratulatory remarks, including the reading of a letter from the Rev. Lane Seitz, president of the Missouri Synod’s Minnesota South District.
The public is welcome to join Our Redeemer members in their celebration.
Click here to see milestones from Our Redeemer's history.
