Click for more photos from our 04-21-13 event
In its 160th year, St. John Lutheran is 'in Saginaw for good'
By Sue White | For MLive.com (Photos: Jeff Schrier | Mlive.com)
on April 19, 2013
SAGINAW, MI -- Tucked in a little chapel downstairs at St. John Lutheran Church is a piece of history: the original altar, stained glass windows and a towering statue of a loving Jesus from the church built in 1869.
“It was a beautiful church,” said Marie Wells, who attended St. John’s day school when she was a child. “We got a very good education. Edward Lauckner offered to teach us algebra in the eighth grade, so we’d catch up with the public school kids, but heck, we were way ahead of them.
“Then we tore it all down to make room for the new church in 1959.”
But parishioners returning Sunday, April 21, for a homecoming feast at the church founded in 1852 by German immigrants will realize that even as it celebrates its 160th anniversary, St. John Lutheran has its sights firmly set on the future.
The April 21 festivities begin with a worship service at 9:30 a.m., honoring members of 50 years or more, and continue with a potluck meal at the church at 915 Federal.
“I’m 61, and I’ve gone there my whole life,” said Marcy Andersen, who will soon take over Wells’ duties as chair of evangelism. “My father, Arnold Schoen, went there all of his life, and his parents, William and Wilhelmina Schoen, were members, too.
“This is my church family. When my husband Wayne and I lost our daughter in a car crash, they were there for us, and when my brother and sister died and, most recently, when we lost my mother, Bernice.”
As the church transitioned into caring for others in the community, “we were there to help, too,” Andersen said. “We’re small, but we still do big things. I’m proud to be a member of St. John’s congregation.”
Just as the Andersens remained in Saginaw, St. John Lutheran decided to stay “in Saginaw for good,” said the Rev. Mike Kemper, serving as an interim pastor while the congregation finds clergy willing to take on the church’s extensive outreach program.
“Even with a dwindling congregation, we’ve kept a positive attitude,” Wells said. “St. John was built here for a reason.”
In 1852, ministered by Friedrich Schmid, an itinerant pastor establishing new congregations throughout Michigan, “it attended to the spiritual needs of the German immigrants,” Kemper said. “In the early 20th century, it met the needs of its members. Then came the white flight, and the church turned its attention to ministering to the surrounding neighborhoods.”
With the help of other ELCA churches in Saginaw, it operates the Saginaw Metro Ministries Food Pantry, open on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. On the fourth Saturday of each month, the church serves a breakfast for the hungry.
Huge rooms standing empty now house KinderKare and Head Start programs. Lutheran Social Services has offices there, and Trinity Lutheran, after closing its popular neighborhood center, has established Carl Bjork III at St. John as it figures out its own future.
“They’re looking for ways to expand their outreach,” Kemper said, adding that St. John is also trying to expand and build on its ministerial outreach.
Again this summer, he added, it will offer its eight-week summer camp for children in first through eighth grades. In past years, they’ve had as many as 100 children show up for a day that includes breakfast and lunch, a refresher course on math and English and a Bible story, along with field trips and other summer activities.
It costs $25 for one child or $50 for a family, he said, and those interested can find out more by calling the church office at 989-754-0489.
“We need to attract new people interested in outreach,” Wells said, echoing a call for action on the church’s website, stjohnlutheranelcasaginaw.weebly.com.
“This is a wonderful, loving congregation filled with friendly, dedicated people. But we need help as we expand our mission.”
Click for additional photos and original MLive article
“It was a beautiful church,” said Marie Wells, who attended St. John’s day school when she was a child. “We got a very good education. Edward Lauckner offered to teach us algebra in the eighth grade, so we’d catch up with the public school kids, but heck, we were way ahead of them.
“Then we tore it all down to make room for the new church in 1959.”
But parishioners returning Sunday, April 21, for a homecoming feast at the church founded in 1852 by German immigrants will realize that even as it celebrates its 160th anniversary, St. John Lutheran has its sights firmly set on the future.
The April 21 festivities begin with a worship service at 9:30 a.m., honoring members of 50 years or more, and continue with a potluck meal at the church at 915 Federal.
“I’m 61, and I’ve gone there my whole life,” said Marcy Andersen, who will soon take over Wells’ duties as chair of evangelism. “My father, Arnold Schoen, went there all of his life, and his parents, William and Wilhelmina Schoen, were members, too.
“This is my church family. When my husband Wayne and I lost our daughter in a car crash, they were there for us, and when my brother and sister died and, most recently, when we lost my mother, Bernice.”
As the church transitioned into caring for others in the community, “we were there to help, too,” Andersen said. “We’re small, but we still do big things. I’m proud to be a member of St. John’s congregation.”
Just as the Andersens remained in Saginaw, St. John Lutheran decided to stay “in Saginaw for good,” said the Rev. Mike Kemper, serving as an interim pastor while the congregation finds clergy willing to take on the church’s extensive outreach program.
“Even with a dwindling congregation, we’ve kept a positive attitude,” Wells said. “St. John was built here for a reason.”
In 1852, ministered by Friedrich Schmid, an itinerant pastor establishing new congregations throughout Michigan, “it attended to the spiritual needs of the German immigrants,” Kemper said. “In the early 20th century, it met the needs of its members. Then came the white flight, and the church turned its attention to ministering to the surrounding neighborhoods.”
With the help of other ELCA churches in Saginaw, it operates the Saginaw Metro Ministries Food Pantry, open on the second and fourth Thursday of every month. On the fourth Saturday of each month, the church serves a breakfast for the hungry.
Huge rooms standing empty now house KinderKare and Head Start programs. Lutheran Social Services has offices there, and Trinity Lutheran, after closing its popular neighborhood center, has established Carl Bjork III at St. John as it figures out its own future.
“They’re looking for ways to expand their outreach,” Kemper said, adding that St. John is also trying to expand and build on its ministerial outreach.
Again this summer, he added, it will offer its eight-week summer camp for children in first through eighth grades. In past years, they’ve had as many as 100 children show up for a day that includes breakfast and lunch, a refresher course on math and English and a Bible story, along with field trips and other summer activities.
It costs $25 for one child or $50 for a family, he said, and those interested can find out more by calling the church office at 989-754-0489.
“We need to attract new people interested in outreach,” Wells said, echoing a call for action on the church’s website, stjohnlutheranelcasaginaw.weebly.com.
“This is a wonderful, loving congregation filled with friendly, dedicated people. But we need help as we expand our mission.”
Click for additional photos and original MLive article
St John Lutheran Church possibly oldest established in East Side Saginaw
915 Federal (Photos: Jeff Schrier | Mlive.com) Print By Sue White | For MLive.com
The Saginaw News on April 21, 2013 at 8:02 AM, updated April 21, 2013 at 12:22 PM
SAGINAW, MI — As St. John Lutheran Church closes its 160th anniversary year with a homecoming service and potluck dinner at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, April 21, we offer a look at its sanctuaries through the years.
A full history of the church's early years assembled in 1902 was translated from its original German in 2002 and released again on the church’s 150th anniversary.
1852 – When several members of St. Paul Lutheran Church on Saginaw’s West Side tired of crossing the river for church services, they established St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, meeting at Hoyt School and then at Haengsdoerfer Hall above a hotel on what was then Water Street.
Today's members believe it was the first church established on Saginaw's East Side, then still sparsely inhabited marshland.
1855 – A simple clapboard church was built.
1868 – The cornerstone was laid for the brick church that stood through the 1950s. The congregation had a problem raising the $22,000 construction cost, but each time it looked as if work would have to halt, they'd again find the necessary funds. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the church was dedicated in 1869.
1878 – The original church, by this time used as a school, was removed to make room for the new school, a towering structure that stood near the church. It was constructed for $3,100.
1959 – Both buildings were demolished, and the church that still stands today was built on the grounds at Federal and Second. The altar, pulpit, stained glass windows and other furnishings were preserved from the old church and are now used in the Volz Memorial Chapel, named after an early pastor.
Click for original MLive Story
The Saginaw News on April 21, 2013 at 8:02 AM, updated April 21, 2013 at 12:22 PM
SAGINAW, MI — As St. John Lutheran Church closes its 160th anniversary year with a homecoming service and potluck dinner at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, April 21, we offer a look at its sanctuaries through the years.
A full history of the church's early years assembled in 1902 was translated from its original German in 2002 and released again on the church’s 150th anniversary.
1852 – When several members of St. Paul Lutheran Church on Saginaw’s West Side tired of crossing the river for church services, they established St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church, meeting at Hoyt School and then at Haengsdoerfer Hall above a hotel on what was then Water Street.
Today's members believe it was the first church established on Saginaw's East Side, then still sparsely inhabited marshland.
1855 – A simple clapboard church was built.
1868 – The cornerstone was laid for the brick church that stood through the 1950s. The congregation had a problem raising the $22,000 construction cost, but each time it looked as if work would have to halt, they'd again find the necessary funds. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when the church was dedicated in 1869.
1878 – The original church, by this time used as a school, was removed to make room for the new school, a towering structure that stood near the church. It was constructed for $3,100.
1959 – Both buildings were demolished, and the church that still stands today was built on the grounds at Federal and Second. The altar, pulpit, stained glass windows and other furnishings were preserved from the old church and are now used in the Volz Memorial Chapel, named after an early pastor.
Click for original MLive Story