|
 1919
– Present
At the beginning of 1919, there were 3
Lutheran churches in Owatonna, all using
a foreign language – Danish or German.
A group of the Ladies’ Aids in these
churches felt it was a problem for their
children to have to leave school during
the winter months to learn either Danish
or German. They were required to do
this for confirmation. All three
churches refused to consider their
concerns. So on January 9, 1919 a group
of women met at the home of Mrs. Christ
Markson and decided to resign from their
respective Ladies’ Aid, which they did
on January 16. On January 23, thirteen
women met at the Mrs. Andrew Christenson
home and formed the English Lutheran
Ladies’ Aid. The Reverend C. O.
Solberg, the Home Missions Director of
the English Association of the Norwegian
Lutheran Church of America, presided
over the first meeting. Soon entire
families became involved.
Sixty people gathered on February 6,
1919, to discuss the need for an English
preaching congregation. A motion was
made to organize an English Lutheran
church. It was decided to name the new
congregation, American Lutheran
Church. A constitution committee
was formed and began creating the draft
on February 17. The draft of the
constitution was adopted at a meeting
held at the Universalist Church on
February 20, 1919 and the new
congregation acquired the name
Trinity English Lutheran Church of
Owatonna.
The first pastor, the Reverend A. Elmer
Moe of Lyle, MN, began his work on
September 1, 1919. Prior to his
arrival, the new congregation purchased
the Universalist Church as its permanent
home. The church was located at the
corner of Elm and Main and purchased for
a cost of $17,500. Its architectural
design was a mission type, with two
towers and a dome, while the interior
formed a Greek cross.
On September 20, 1920, Reverend Moe
returned to Lyle, MN and the Reverend
J.L. Kildahl became the pastor from
November 1920 to September 1928. During
that time Trinity’s membership grew from
90 to 370 members. Reverend Olin C.
Fjelstad accepted the call to become
Trinity’s pastor on November 29, 1928,
but could not assume the position until
June 9, 1929. In 1930, Pastor Fjelstad
began publishing The Parish
Messenger, Trinity’s newsletter.
The name was changed in 1992 to The
Trinity Messenger to specifically
identify the publication with Trinity.
Pastor Fjelstad retired after 30 years
of service in 1959. During his tenure,
Trinity’s membership grew from 370 to
over 2000.
Following the 25th
Anniversary held in February 1944, a
Building Fund Committee was formed.
Their Four Year Stone Plan
challenged the congregation to raise
$75,000 by asking each of the
communicant members to donate $100 to
place a stone in the new church. In
1948 a Building Committee began looking
at various building sites and settled on
the present location. This site had
been previously purchased by ten Trinity
families with the belief that it was a
great location. On July 20, 1953, the
congregation voted to purchase the land
from those ten families. On October 10,
1954 groundbreaking ceremonies were held
and on September 11, 1955 the
cornerstone was laid. The final
services were held in the old church on
September 16, 1956. The following week,
September 23, 1956, the flags and sacred
vessels of the church were carried to
the new church in a walking procession.
Trinity became a training church in 1952
with its first intern from Luther
Northwestern Seminary. Trinity has had
45 intern pastors since that time and
the 46th is now in place. Of
these 46 interns, four have returned to
Trinity as our pastors.
The first Assistant Pastor, Maurice
Schmidt, came in 1956. After Pastor
Fjelstad’s retirement, Pastor Arthur
Bagaason was called to be Trinity’s
Senior Pastor; he was installed in July
1959. By 1961 Sunday School classes were
very crowded because the Education Wing
had been cut from the original building
plans due to financial reasons.
Wednesday after school hours were
offered, but eventually another building
committee was created. Ground breaking
for the new Parish Wing was held in
September 1965, with the dedication in
September 1966. That same year, 1966,
Trinity added two additional pastoral
positions, a part time Visitation
Pastor, Frank Berg and a full time third
pastor, Raymond Haugland. Pastor
Haugland was installed in June 1966.
After Pastor Bagaason retired in 1973,
Pastor Haugland took over the Senior
Pastor duties until his resignation in
1989. Pastor Orlin Mandsager became
Trinity’s Coordinating Pastor from
August 1990 to July 1997. Pastor John
Lestock was then installed as Lead
Pastor. He had previously served
Trinity as the Youth & Family Pastor
since September 1990.
Growth and change are not new to
Trinity. In 1970 Karen R. Anderson
Natterstad and Steve Knudsen introduced
the use of contemporary liturgy, which
has evolved into the present 11:15
contemporary worship service. 1970 also
saw the first women deacons elected,
Margaret Reinhardt and Myrtle Moline,
followed by Sophie Anderson the
following year. In 1973, the deacons
elected Myrtle Moline as their
chairperson and women have had active
roles in church leadership ever since. A
Christian Day Nursery was started in
1961, but Trinity Nursery School, as we
know it today, started in 1976. In 1981
an old school bus was bought from
Ellendale, repainted blue and named
The Spirit of Trinity. The first
computer was installed in 1983; it was a
gift from one of the church members. A
new Holtkamp Pipe Organ was installed
and dedicated in 1989 with a concert by
John Ferguson of St. Olaf College.
There have also been many remodeling and
refurbishing projects over the years,
including the Fellowship Hall, Lounge,
Chapel, Tender Loving Care project
(improving handicap accessibility
throughout the building), plus many
others. The latest projects have been
the parking lot addition and narthex
expansion and remodeling completed in
2000.
Trinity’s youth program began to blossom
in July 1981, when Pastor Rich Melheim
was installed as an associate pastor
with emphasis on Youth Ministry. Pastor
Melheim had been Trinity’s intern in
1979-80 and during that time produced
his first musical, The Journey of the
King. The youth programs have
expanded, along with the staff. Today
Trinity has a full time Christian
Education director, a Senior High Youth
director, and a Junior High Youth
director, supported by many volunteers.
The Sunday School and confirmation
programs are well known throughout the
community and attract many students from
outside of Trinity. In 2002 Trinity
sent Youth Mission Trips to Niagara
Falls and New Orleans. For a week each
summer a group of high school youth
travel to the Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation in South Dakota to lead
bible school.
Trinity’s Social Ministry and
Benevolences have also grown. Over the
years, Trinity has sponsored many
missionaries, including the continued
support of the EPES program in Chile,
developed in 1980 by one of Trinity’s
members, Karen L. Anderson. In 1992 the
Trinity Food Pantry, which was created
18 years earlier, combined with Steele
County Food Shelf. Today the Social
Ministry Commission is striving to
increase Trinity’s benevolence 1% a year
until it reaches 20% of all offerings.
In 2001 the Social Ministry Commission
gave out benevolences totaling over
$150,000.00, plus a special gift of
$21,770.00 to All People’s Church in
Milwaukee for a much-needed van.
Trinity is committed to sharing its
gifts, not only monetarily, but also
with physical presence. There have been
work crews sent to Pine Ridge Indian
Reservation, Habitat for Humanity,
Sharing and Caring Hands, and many more.
The congregation, guided by its
leadership, has been involved in ongoing
plans and goals for its future and the
changes that continually arise. In
1997, Lyle Schaller was asked to come to
Trinity and help develop a plan for the
future. Instead he left Trinity with 25
questions to be discussed and answered.
These stimulating thoughts and debates
led to the redefining of Trinity’s
mission statement. It became “A
Community Growing Disciples for Christ.”
In February 2001, the congregation
approved major changes to the
constitution, allowing the council to
become the goal setting and oversight
body and the commissions to become the
day-to-day operations providers. As
Trinity continued to grow and programs
blossomed, space and time restraints
developed. Knowing that there was a
need for clear vision and direction to
solve these problems, the new council
asked Ray Rood from California to come
to Owatonna and facilitate a
congregational brainstorming of
Trinity’s vision of the future. In
September 2001, over 150 Trinity members
spent a Saturday at Willow Creek School
developing what they believed was
Trinity’s vision for the future. This
information was collated by Ray Rood and
brought back to Trinity. Two follow-up
meetings refined the collated
information into 5 specific Goal
Objectives and timelines to accomplish
them. The spring of 2002 was a busy
time for the council as they appointed
the 5 task forces to take on the
responsibility of working through each
of these Goal Objectives.
Today, Trinity has over 3,900 baptized
members who are committed to providing a
place for everyone to explore and grow
their faith in Jesus Christ. All are
welcome and encouraged to come to
Trinity Lutheran Church and participate
in the worship of our Creator. |
