The Philadelphia Church Era. Philadelphia is the sixth of the seven churches listed in the Book of Revelation. The Philadelphia Church became. John's Lutheran Church - Welcome. A 1. 25- YEAR HISTORY OFST. JOHN’S EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH & SCHOOL. Water helped bring early settlers to this area: water for floating their logging leads down to the sawmill, water to make crops grow and run the grist mill. But Living Water is what the founders of St. John's Church were most interested in: Life- saving, Living Water for themselves, and especially for their children. Sample Church Anniversary Program Booklet.pdf Free Download Here 107th Church Anniversary Celebration Banquet Program Booklet.
While this was at first a . This started a wave of German immigration to the United States from roughly 1. Germans traveled by boat to Wisconsin and other places looking for religious freedom. Land was cheap here- -$1. Wisconsin was becoming a state and already had the democratic reforms Germans were seeking. Family and friends who had already started new lives here wrote back home and told how good things were in America. Most Germans who came to the Neillsville area came after the Civil War, which ended in 1. By 1. 87. 7 a Pastor Fisher from that area was also holding services in Neillsville several times a year. Bill Roberts, a Neillsville historian, told us that he often heard the story of how his great- grandmother, Bertha (Wegner) Tragsdorf, whom he says was one of the founding women of our congregation, as a teenager would walk from her home- Karl and Louise Wegner's home (kitty- corner Northwest of the Pine Valley Church off of Highway G) along the south side of the Neillsville mound. She would cross the Black River on a log boom in what is now Appleyard's subdivision, and then continue walking cross- country to Granton for confirmation instruction classes. After class she would walk all the way back home. Her mother would meet her on the other side of the log boom with a lantern in the dark, and they would walk home the rest of the way together during the short days of the winter months. These were the kinds of obstacles facing the German settlers who wanted spiritual instruction for their children. Another obstacle was that pastors, when they were available, didn't necessarily match your beliefs because the Lutheran and Reformed union back in Germany muddied the theological waters. He may have come another time as early as 1. January 1. 0, 1. 88. Neillsville area, he suggested that these families quench their children's and their own spiritual thirst by engaging a seminary student to teach school and conduct regular worship services. How long does it take to talk about it, formulate a plan, and implement it? It often takes weeks maybe, usually months, sometimes years. I remember when our church was reroofed. People knew for a long time that the roof needed replacing. Then it actually started leaking through the roof onto the pews for quite a while before a new metal roof was finally put on. Ebert, a student of the Theological Seminary at Milwaukee, had already arrived by train. That next Sunday he preached his first sermon and opened the Christian Day School on Monday morning, January 1. And this was before email, telephone, or easy instant communication, other than telegraph, was available! Within a week they had decided if they were going to implement the plan, how they were going to implement the plan, how they were going to pay the teacher's salary, where he would live, where school would be held, and a multitude of other details. How desperate their desire for a steady stream of living water must have been to act with such urgency! Saturday morning confirmation classes were held, and Sunday afternoon worship services were conducted regularly in the local Presbyterian church. The Presbyterian church faced north along 5th Street and was formerly located on the two lots where Davis Chiropractic and the house west of it are now located. It was between what is now Fringe Benefits and Foster's eye office. It later burned down, around 1. Ebert left in mid- April to recover from a stubborn sore throat he had contracted the previous winter helping a pastor in the Wausau area with his 8 congregations. Eppling, to carry on the work. He preached his first sermon April 2. He conducted a worship service with Holy Communion on September 6, 1. Their desire was that God's Word and Luther's pure doctrine would alone have full sway. So right from the beginning, the Wisconsin Synod was very instrumental in the formation of our congregation. On November 1. 0, 1. St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was given. Meyer was the first congregational chairman. Eppling Sr., from Van Dyne, Wisconsin, but he declined. On January 9, 1. 88. Frederick Eppling, Jr. The seminary faculty urged him to accept and on Easter Sunday, April 1. St. John's gained their first resident pastor.) He also served Globe as a preaching station. Property was purchased for $2. Oak Street. On May 8, 1. Wisconsin Synod and at that year's Synod Convention in June were accepted. The joyous gathering, despite bad weather, proceeded down the 5th Street hill to their new church. The procession included in order: first the building committee, then the master builder (Heinrich Roettiger from Fountain City, Wisconsin), then the pastors (Eppling Sr. Max Hensel of Platteville, Pastor Thom of Marshfield who also directed the visiting choir from his church, and Pastor Denninger of Maple Works (Granton)) carrying the Bible, the agenda, the Catechism and hymnal, then the elders carrying the communion ware, and then the church members and festival guests proceeding 2- by- 2 down the hill, first men, then women. Everyone filed into church, which had been beautifully decked out with flowers and leaves by the ladies of the congregation, and the building was immediately filled up to the very last spot. The service included congregational singing, a choir selection, and a Marshfield choir selection. After the morning service ended an English afternoon service was conducted by Pastor Eppling, Jr. Max Hensel of Platteville. We don't know.) The article finished by proclaiming, . In March 1. 89. 0 he received a call to Algoma, Wisconsin and from there served in Oregon where he died at a relatively young age in 1. He is buried here in the Neillsville cemetery with his name written in his own handwriting on the tombstone. His grave site was moved when the water tower was built.). In 1. 89. 0, Rev. Doehler was installed. On November 3. 0th of that year the church decided to build its own 2. The material cost $3. Ladies' Aid purchased the benches. It was dedicated on January 2. Our church bell, which we still use, was dedicated in 1. Doehler was called to Two Rivers, Wisconsin and Rev. Thrun became our pastor on October 3. In 1. 89. 3 a parsonage was built at 4th and Oak. Pastor Thrun's leadership included zeal for Christian education. The school grew to over 5. In 1. 89. 7 Louis Serrahn was called to be the first full- time teacher who was not also the pastor. In 1. 90. 4 Pastor Thrun took a call to Bay City, Michigan, and Rev. Brandt became our pastor. In 1. 90. 6 the school building was moved across the street from the church to 6th and Oak and an addition put on. In 1. 91. 2 an addition was put on both sides of the church so it was now in the shape of a cross. Pastor Brandt also served Globe until 1. Columbia (southwest of Neillsville) until 1. The congregation had grown to about 4. The work of proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Living Water, proceeded unhampered until 1. Wisconsin Synod as a whole and St. John's of Neillsville in particular suffered trial. The protest spread and pastors and lay people took sides that were emotionally charged, with the protestors characterized by feelings of distrust against those in authority. Pastor Brandt was on one side of the controversy, Pastor Motzkus at Globe and Pastor Hensel from Immanuel Marshfield (Missouri Synod) were among the protestants. John's was fractured and a group left to form The Grace Church of the Protestant Conference in the old Norwegian Lutheran Church building (Chuck & Elaine Glassbrenner's home by Cliff's Park is built on the old church's foundation) with Karl Koehler, a former professor at Northwestern College who had resigned over the stealing controversy, as their leader. Koehler, held protestant services in his home in Neillsville along 1st Street near Schuster Park for awhile after that, most of the members who left St. John's gradually returned one by one. On September 2, 1. Rev. Baumann became pastor. He served for 2. 0 years, until 1. During his leadership a second teacher for the lower four grades was added to the school staff and learning German was discontinued. At the 5. 0th anniversary of the church and school in 1. The need for a new, larger church grew. Plans were drawn up in 1. Oak, but that plan was eventually dropped. Eight- nine acres were purchased on the west side of Neillsville for $4,0. November. Schewe arrived in January 1. Since each of the two school teachers had 5. On August 2. 8, 1. November 1. 1, at a cost of just over $1. The cornerstone contains a Bible, catechism, Lutheran Hymnal, the book Our Synod and Its Work, Luther's 9. Augsburg Confession, Northwestern Lutheran (our Synod's magazine), St. John's Constitution, Golden Anniversary Book, 1. Annual report, August 2. March 2. 4, 1. 95. Clark County Press, and a list of the names of the pastors, faculty, church council, school board, building committee, architect and contractors, U. S. These are the striking features of our new building. Victor Lehmann, and Miss Darleen Bailey, with the 4th classroom used for catechism instructions, choir rehearsals, and smaller group meetings at first. Lindloff was installed on February 1, 1. German church services were discontinued at this time because Pastor Lindloff wasn't comfortable preaching in German. Before that Pastor Schewe had a German service and an English service with the German service having a lot fewer in attendance. This gave the congregation the confidence they needed to undertake and pay for another big building project, the building of a new church on the same property as the school. Ground was broken on March 2.
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