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| First Lutheran Church, Monmouth |
In
anticipation of my visit to First Lutheran Church in Monmouth, I asked Pastor
Keith Killinger if he could share a history of the congregation with me. I had been invited to be with the people of
First on the occasion of their 145th anniversary and I wanted to
know a bit more about the congregation.
Pastor Killinger obliged and sent me a bound copy in the mail.
Like
every history, First’s included the story of its founders, descriptions of the
pastors who have served the congregation and their tenures, and the story of
the construction of its buildings and the debt that was incurred. In addition to these standard items, there
were three other sections, related to 1918, 1932 and 1954, that caught my
attention.
In
world history, 1918 was a tough year. It is estimated that 50 million people
worldwide died during an influenza epidemic.
First Lutheran Church, then in its 50th year, was forced to
close its doors, as were many public venues, for a period during November and
December, to protect public health.
The
Great Depression was taking a hard toll on First Lutheran Church in 1932. During that year, its history reports, “208
persons did not contribute anything, 95 pledged and paid a part of the amount,
and 112 pledged, but paid nothing.” By
the time of the annual meeting in 1933, the congregation was $13,800 in
debt. “Hard work and sacrifice”
eliminated that debt by 1935. Today’s
economic woes, as difficult as they have been, just don’t compare.
Most
congregations in 1918 and 1932 would have faced similar challenges. But, 1954 brought a courageous decision.
First
Lutheran Church held a special congregational meeting in May of 1954 and
decided “to ‘mother’ a new mission within the Illinois Conference” by
mortgaging its own property in an amount not to exceed $25,000. The congregation that benefitted from First’s
risk was St. James Lutheran Church in Rock Island. According to First’s history, St. James’ cornerstone
was laid in November of 1955 and by May of 1959, St. James had assumed the
mortgage.
I
don’t know how common a story such as this is, but it seems extraordinary to
me. Congregations have often given birth
to other congregations and continue to do so in a variety of ways. But, to go into debt for the sake of a new
congregation is a model that would be tough to sell today. I think.
I don’t really know because I don’t know of any congregation that has
been challenged to do it.
I
called Pastor Janet Lepp to see what St. James’ own history had to say. She wasn’t able to quickly locate a written
history, but she did tell me that St. James had major fund-raising campaigns in
2002 and 2009. In each case, a tithe of
the amounts raised was given to the synod. In 2002 the gift was designated for
a new mission and in 2009 for our synodically authorized worshiping communities. Pastor Lepp said, “the rationale is that
someone took the risk to get St. James started and we should ‘pay it forward.’”
Two
great stories! Now that you’ve read your
congregation’s constitution (see previous blog post), dig out your congregation’s
history. Do you have a story to tell?
Comments? Go to the blog website or comment on
Facebook. --JC
