140 years on the same prairie

The record

1. 1886

   Organized by Norwegian settlers

   Immanuel is organized in Audubon Township, part of the wave of Norwegian immigrant congregations planted across Becker County after the Northern Pacific reached the area. Like most frontier congregations, it gathered in homes before it had a building.

2. 1930

   Joined the Evangelical Lutheran Synod

   The congregation formally affiliated with the ELS, the church body headquartered in Mankato that had reorganized in 1918 to continue the confessional Norwegian Lutheran tradition. Immanuel has been an ELS congregation ever since, in Circuit 7 of Minnesota.

3. 1970

   The present church is built

   The building that stands today on Highway 10 is completed. Its fortieth anniversary was marked with an open house on September 26, 2010.

4. 1986

   One hundred years

   The congregation observed its centennial on July 6. That November, Rev. Martin Doepel was installed as pastor — Seminary President Wilhelm Petersen preached, Rev. Raymond Branstad performed the rite, and Rev. Paul Madson led the liturgy.

5. 1987

   A new parsonage

   A parsonage was built on the church property, completed on May 31 — a congregation of roughly a hundred souls putting up a house for its pastor’s family.

6. 2006

   Rev. David Thompson installed

   Installed on January 8, Pastor Thompson served Immanuel through the congregation’s 125th anniversary on August 21, 2011, and beyond.

7. 2019

   A shared pastor with Calvary, Ulen

   Immanuel and Calvary Lutheran Church in Ulen became a dual parish, sharing one pastor between two country churches so that both could keep a full Sunday of Word and Sacrament.

8. Today

   Rev. John Merseth Sr. serves both congregations

   He preaches at Calvary at 8:00 and at Immanuel later the same morning, every Sunday, in two churches thirty-five miles apart.