Calvary Lutheran Church in Willmar celebrates 150 years of faith in Christ and community

Nov. 26—WILLMAR

— In its 150-year history, Calvary Lutheran Church of Willmar has had three buildings, three names, 30 pastors, belonged to several different church bodies and has been the spiritual home to thousands.

Throughout 2022, the congregation has been celebrating this milestone birthday, reminiscing about the church's past while looking forward to what is hoped to be just as long and fruitful a future.

"We wanted to celebrate our past, look at where we are in the present. Also in ways to celebrate the future. What is the next 150 years of Calvary Church going to look like," said Krista Willis, co-chair of the 150th anniversary committee at Calvary. "We wanted to make sure we are celebrating the past, the present and the future."

The year-long celebration started in January with the rededication of the church's original bell, continued into the summer with the super-sized '50s-themed drive-in event and will conclude Dec. 3 and 4.

The festivities will began on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 5:30 p.m. with a chapel service followed by a congregational vintage meal in Bethany Hall. Paul Steigerwald, a lifelong member, will be the master of ceremonies with membership reflections by Donna Gilbertson and Duaine Amundson, both lifelong members.

On Sunday, Dec. 4, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Southwest Synod Bishop Dee Pederson will be preaching the Sunday sermons at the 8 and 10:15 a.m. services. The children's Christmas program will be a part of the 10:15 service as well as Holy Communion.

Those interested in tickets to the meal can contact the church and all are welcome to the services.

"This is the wrap-up event," Willis said. "Anyone may attend."

Established in December 1872, Calvary began as the Norwegian-Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church of Willmar Congregation. It would become the Norwegian Lutheran Free Church in 1897 and was renamed again in 1943 as Calvary Lutheran Church. Services would be in Norwegian until 1943, when the congregation voted to begin worshiping in English. Calvary joined the ELCA in 1988.

Prior to construction of the first permanent church building, services were held in members' homes or the local courthouse. In 1874, the first building was constructed, a wood structure at the corner of First Street and Litchfield Avenue, about where the present-day First Street bridge is located.

The second church, a brick structure built on the same lot as the first, was opened in October 1903 and included a brilliantly colored stained glass window, depicting the gifts of heaven and earth, including a rainbow and a dove.

In 1958, 55 years after moving into its brick church, the congregation voted to build a new church on Olena Avenue. The first section of the current church was completed and dedicated in 1962.

Over the last 61 years there have been four major additions, including offices, an education wing, a bell tower and chapel. It has also added additional stained glass windows to join the original pane from 1903.

But it isn't just the church that makes Calvary what it is — it is also the people. For many members of Calvary Lutheran, the church has been their spiritual home and family for most, if not all, of their lives. That is another reason the congregation felt it was important to commemorate the church's 150th anniversary.

"There is the church family, those people that have been part of my faith journey," Willis said. "It is all those people that care."

The members have joined various societies, organizations and groups throughout the church's history. They have done a lot of good works, both inside and outside Calvary's walls — including providing baptism boxes and quilts for newborns, singing in various choirs, creating and sponsoring both Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, volunteering with Meals on Wheels, sponsoring two families from Vietnam in the mid-1970s, teaching Sunday school and going on mission trips.

Community outreach has always been a big part of Calvary's mission and a reason people join the church, Johnson said. Community support is such an important aspect to Calvary's identity that charitable giving is written into its bylaws.

The first 10% of the church's weekly offerings to the general fund are given to charity, called First Fruits Benevolence Giving. In 2021, that totaled $68,096 to organizations such as ELCA Missionaries programming, the Green Lake Bible Camp, Salvation Army, the Link, the Kandiyohi County Food Shelf, Habitat for Humanity and others.

"We want to make a difference in the community," Johnson said.

The last few years have been challenging for Calvary, like so many churches. While the church has a membership of just over 2,000 people, weekly church attendance can be hard to keep up.

Then there was the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused Calvary to pause many of its programs. Some have started to come back, such as Sunday school, while others still have not restarted like the choirs.

Luckily, Calvary invested a lot into technology at the church, so providing online services wasn't a major hurdle and is something it continues to offer.

"We were just fortunate as a congregation, when we were heading into COVID, to be positioned to be able to provide YouTube services and online," Willis said.

In the coming years, Calvary will continue to face challenges but also opportunities. One such opportunity is deciding how to use the funds the church earned from the 2021 sale of the Jerome "Jerry" Anderson estate. The devoted church member left 416 acres to the church, with the stipulation that the funds not be used for general operating expenses, but instead for capital expenditures.

The gift was made in 2014. With $800,000 in cash, land rents from the first six years that the church owned the land, and the $4.5 million sale price of the land in 2021, the estate total came to $5.8 million.

The church's first major purchase was the lot next door, the former site of Bethesda Heritage. The church's next steps are still being discussed and decided by the congregation.

"How do we live up to Jerry Anderson's wishes," said Kim Larson, president of the church council. "He wanted to see Calvary grow."

As Calvary celebrates 150 years in Willmar, the goal is for the church to continue to grow and support not only its members but the community as a whole. Over the years the church has been good at evolving with the times, and that is something members hope continues.

"They all evolve around the idea of trying to connect with families and support our youth's faith, our children's faith and our faith," Willis said. "As we look to the future here, everything is always evolving."