On these pages is a brief history
of Grace and Zion congregations and the future that we are making
together. Both our past and our future are testimonies to what God
can do in His children's lives. To God be the glory!
1848
- Bethany Indian Mission
1874-
Zion Lutheran Church Established
1919- A
New Building
1927-Pastor
Leyrer, Stability and Improvement
1955-Pastor
Maas, a Period of Growth
1959 -
The Alma Mission
1963
- A Church of Our Own
1976
- An Elementary School Begins
1992 - New
Growth
2000
-A New Opportunity for Growth
1848
- Bethany Indian Mission
The story of Zion and Grace Lutheran
Churches had its beginnings with the Bethany German Lutheran
Mission established northeast of St. Louis, Michigan.
A small cemetery with a few lonely
graves and a small monument is all that is left in remembrance of the
Bethany Indian Mission which was founded in 1848 and was supported by
the Mission Society of Dresden, Germany. The mission was later run by
the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Pastor Friedrich August Craemer
(b.1812, d. 1891) from the Frankenmuth colony was commissioned to open a
mission among the Chip-pewa (or Ojibway) Indians. Edmund Raimund
Baierlein (b. 1819, d. 1901) joined the Frankenmuth colony June 10,
1847. About a month later, Chief Bemassikeh came to Frankenmuth from a
place called Shimguagonshkom,
"a place of small pine trees." He pleaded with Craemer,
"Come. Teach my
people the truth." Pastor Baierlein visited Bemassikeh that fall.
Bemassikeh encouraged Baierlein to make his home near the Pine River and
teach his people. In May of the following year, he returned and
established the mission. It was called "Bethany," which is
Hebrew for "house of misery," because of the poverty and poor
living conditions of the Indians. A log house and a chapel were built.
Pastor Ernst Gustav Hermann
Miessler (b. 1826, d. 1916), a student, left Leipzig, Germany and
arrived in Michigan in October 1851, equipped with a Bible and a gun.
Pastor Miessler, studied the Indian language, preached the gospel, and
taught the Indian child-ren. In 1852 Baierlein and Miessler had a book
printed with the title Spelling and Reading in the Chippewa Language,
containing Old and New Testament stories, some hymns which were
translated from German, the Ten Commandments, and Martin Luther's
morning and evening prayers.
Baierlein succeeded in gathering
together a congregation numbering fifty-eight members; they had their
own church and school. Not only had the majority of these Bethany
Indians accepted the Christian faith, but many of them had permanently
settled on the mission land which had been set aside for them. Shortly
before his departure in the late spring of 1853, Baierlein wrote:
"The might of heathenism is completely broken and only one family
still lives according to the old customs, with all the others either
standing firm in the Christian faith, or else ready to become
Christians."
In 1853, Rev. Baierlein was
recalled to work in India. As he and his family boarded the canoe which
would remove them from Bethany forever, Ferdinand Sievers, the chairman
of the Missouri Synod's mission board, together with the Bethany
Indians, sang in German "Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr"
("All Glory be to God on High" CW 263). From that time
Missionary Miessler was left alone in the field.
On July 22, 1857, Mrs. Johanna
Miessler died in childbirth. She is the only non-Indian buried in the
Bethany cemetery. Also buried in the cemetery is Sahrah Miksiwe,
"mother of the Chippewas," who died April 12, 1850, at the age
of 110 years.
The superstition of the Indians was
also a challenge for the missionaries. Missionary Baierlein often served
coffee and cake to the Indians whenever an Indian child was baptized. As
time went on, it wasn't always possible to serve the refreshments. The
first child baptized without coffee and cake died, and after that, no
one could make the Indians believe that there was any other reason for
the child's death but the lack of coffee and cake at the baptism.
One Indian who served the Bethany
Mission well was James Gruett, who was half French and half Indian. He
acted as interpreter. His son, Billy Gruett, was a familiar figure at
the mission. He carried mail by pony to Mt. Pleasant along the high
ground north and west of St. Louis. The winding road is known as Gruett
Road today.
Work among the Indians in Gratiot
County went well until the summer of 1855 when the U. S. Government
summoned all the tribal chiefs to Detroit where they were told that a
large reservation was being established in Isabella County. There Indian
families were to receive 80 acres each. And while the Gratiot County
village also had a program whereby Indians could own their own land,
these holdings were much smaller and the government offer in Isabella
County drew most of the Indian families away from the Gratiot County
location. Miessler and his family went to work among the Indians of
Isabella County alone.
The government's relocation of the
Indians to the Isabella County Reservation hindered the work of the
mission. In time, Lutheran effectiveness among the Indians declined. The
Indians, frequently influenced by the immoralities of the white men,
especially the unprincipled peddlers of whiskey and purveyors of
"religion," concluded that all white men were deceitful and
untrustworthy. As a result, the Indians quit coming to church and their
children quit coming to school. In 1869 the Lutheran Church-Missouri
Synod terminated its work among the Indians of Isabella County.
Missionary Miessler's parting words were: "I leave the mission
field, that field of labor and anxiety, with a broken heart and with
fervent prayer to the God of mer-cy for the true repentance on the part
of the Indians on the reservation."
During his stay at the mission,
Pastor Miessler also served some of the early settlers in and near St.
Louis, conducting divine services in their homes. After the Indian
mission was abandoned and Pastor Miessler was called to teach in
Saginaw, the work among the Lutheran settlers suffered and lagged for
some time, due to the shortage of pastors and missionaries. Pastors were
sent here occasionally, perhaps two or three times a year, to care for
the spiritual needs of the settlers.
1874-
Zion Lutheran Church Established
As more Lutherans moved into this
vicinity and the homes proved to be
to small to accommodate all who came to the services, it was decided to
rent the schoolhouse just outside the city, west of the Oak Grove
Cemetery. This soon proved unsatisfactory, and with true Lutheran zeal
for a house of worship of their own, the people planned to build a
church.
During the year 1874, eighteen
members organized as a congregation taking the name "Zion
Evangelical Lutheran Church." In 1888 a lot was purchased and a
church built on Berea Street just north of the city limits, which served
the congregation until 1920, when the present church was dedicated.
A bell in the steeple called the
worshipers at the start of the service. It was tolled during the Lord's
Prayer and for funerals. A wood burning stove with a stove pipe running
half the length of the church to a chimney in the rear kept the building
reasonably warm during the cold wea-ther. The stove was on the men's
side, some pews being left out to accommodate it. As long as the
building was used, the men sat on the left side and the women sat on the
right. The boys would generally sit with the fathers, but would
sometimes join their sisters with their mothers. The women never sat on
the men's side.
The little white church has since
been converted into a residence, and is still standing at its origi-nal
location at 623 Berea Street.
In the year, 1888, Pastor
Ziegenhain was called as first resident pastor. He was followed by
Pastors O. Moellmer, O. Kuhlow, H. Hahn, and Adolph Sauer. During the
vacancies which were frequent and often long, the congregation was
served by neighboring pastors.
Pastor Kuhlow sought to extend the
preaching of the Gospel into neighboring Alma. Beginning with a nucleus
of five families in 1905, Pastor Hahn established St. John's
congregation in Alma. Fire destroyed the Alma church on November 7,
1922. Then, after Rev. Bernthal resigned in 1927 to accept a call from
St. John's in Clare, the Alma congregation rejoined Zion of St. Louis.
1919- A New
Building
In 1912, the congregation was
united with St. John Lutheran Church of Clare, both being served by
Pastor Carl W. Waidelich. This arrangement lasted until 1918, when
Pastor Waidelich was put in charge of Zion congregation, and the newly-
established mission at Alma. For some time, Zion felt the need for a
better and more appropriate location for their church, and also for a
new building. A piece of property was purchased on Main and Tyrell
Streets, and plans for a new church were made.
Early
in the spring of 1919, ground was broken for the new church. On May 18,
the corner stone was laid. And on August 10, 1920, the beauti-ful new
church was dedicated. The actual cost of the church was $24,000 of which
$8,000 were labor, building materials, and furnishings donated by
individuals. The cement was mixed by hand. The stones for the foundation
came from neighboring farms. The bricks came in by rail. Members gave
freely of their time and money to erect the beautiful house of worship
which still stands today.
Even with the donations, the
building of such a church settled a heavy debt upon the congrega-tion.
Due to unfortunate circumstances in the congregation, and frequent
vacancies for several years, the debt increased rather than decreased.
In the fall of 1920, Pastor
Waidelich resigned from Zion, and for several months the congregation
was served by Prof. O. Hoenecke of Michigan Lutheran Seminary, Saginaw,
Michi-gan. At that time Prof. Hoenecke would come in by train. A member
would meet him, keep him over night, and get him back to meet the train
after the service on Sunday.
Pastor Leonard C. Bernthal was
called and installed on August 14, 1921. In 1925, he moved to Clare and
continued to serve until he resigned his pas-torate in February 1927. It
was during Pastor Bernthal's tenure that the work of the Sunday School
was started, mainly through the efforts of Mr. & Mrs. John
Longanbach. When Pastor Bernthal left, Prof. Hoenecke again took over.
This time he came from Saginaw by automobile. Zion congregation is
deeply indebted to Prof. Hoenecke for his efforts in keeping the doors
of the church open so that the Gospel could be preached in the middle of
a large area where conservative Lutheranism was lacking.
1927-Pastor
Leyrer, Stability and Improvement
Pastor C.G. Leyrer of Lansing, was
installed on July 3, 1927. At that time the synod was subsi-dizing the
house rent and it was decided to put this into a new parsonage. In 1930,
a spacious, new parsonage was built next to the church at the cost of
$4,500. Only $900 of this was furnished by the congregation. The
remainder was taken by the Synod. Gradually the debt was liquidated. In
November 1944, the mortgage of both the church and the parsonage was
burned. Zion has been self-supporting ever since.
1955-Pastor
Maas, a Period of Growth
Pastor Norman Maas, who had been
serving Grace Lutheran Church in Durand and Hope Lutheran Church in
Swartz Creek, was installed on May 1, 1955.
During the tenure of Pastor Maas,
236 children and 63 adults were baptized, 206 confirmations, 102
marriages, and 67 burials were performed.
At the close of 1971, Pastor Maas
accepted a call to Zion Ev. Lutheran Church of Toledo, Ohio. This left
both the pastorate of St. Louis and Alma vacant.
1959 -
The Alma Mission
Again Alma called! Sponsored by
Zion, and lead by Pastor Maas, on February 1, 1959 branch services were
started in Alma. Worship services were held in the Seventh Day Adventist
Chapel, located at the corner of Hastings and Gratiot Streets just north
of the Alma Middle School. This building was used for services until
May, 1966.
Attendance in Alma grew and
sixty-nine charter members developed plans to separate from their mother
congregation, Zion. On July 26, 1962, they petitioned the Michigan
District Mission Board of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod to
estab-lish a separate congregation in Alma. At an October meeting the
request was approved and on November 10th, Martin Luther's 479th
birthday, the members were notified that Grace Evangelical Lutheran
Church was officially recognized.
Thus, our congregation shares its
birth date with the founder of Lutheranism and the author of that Latin
phrase, sola gratia, that gives us our name: Grace.
Zion Lutheran Church was generous
in its encour-agement and support of their daughter congregation in
Alma. For over 13 years Zion carried the major financial responsibility
for the dual-parish; they contributed $1,000 in 1963 to the Grace
building fund and gave hymnals for use in worship services.
1963
- A Church of Their Own
A
year later, in 1963, land was purchased at the corner of West Superior
Street and Purdy Drive. Architectural planning, and a request for
financing the construction of a church building through a Church
Extension Fund loan, began soon thereafter. Groundbreaking ceremonies
were held at the building site on February 28, 1965. Church Builders,
Inc. of Milwaukee served as architect and general contrac-tor) they
began construction on July 9, 1965. The first service was held in the
new sanctuary on May 29, 1966 and dedication services were held five
months later, on October 23.
By August of 1963 communicant
membership had grown to 78, numbering 122 baptized souls in 37 families.
By 1974, there had been 50% growth; the communicants numbered 128, with
182 baptized members. By the year 2,000 over 750 souls have called Grace
home. We have been richly blessed by each and every one of them.
1976
- An Elementary School Begins
The decision to fund and operate a
Christian Day School is a difficult and momentous one for any
congregation. Grace congregation is no exception. In the early 1970's
opening a day school had been proposed several times. Some families
enrolled their children at St. John's Lutheran School in Hemlock and
endured the long trips each day. Finally, in early 1976 the voter's
adopted the recommendations of a school feasibility study committee and
made the bold decision to test our commitment to the school concept by
establishing a building fund goal for a classroom addition and a
deadline to achieve that goal.
Estimating
the construction costs at $40,000 or more, the goal was to raise $20,000
in cash with-in a year, over and above the regular church budget. This
goal was set because it was approximately the amount which would be
required in the annual budget to fund one teacher and provide for school
ex-penses. One year later the members had given generously and God had
spoken: well over $25,000 was in the school building fund in cash and
pledges. The voters agreed to borrow the balance through a LACE loan and
to request synod to assign a DMLC graduate as our first teacher. Plans
for a class-room-office-restroom addition were developed and
construction began in early summer. Miss Charmaine Huff was assigned as
the teacher and Mrs. Marion Roth volunteered to handle kindergarten and
serve as an aide. After necessary authorization was obtained, Grace
Lutheran school opened with an enrollment of 12, at first in the church
basement and, soon thereafter, in the newly opened classroom wing.
In 1983, in response to rapid
growth in en-rollment a second teacher was called. In an out-pouring of
love of the Lord, the members pledged and loaned $15,000 toward a school
addition and agreed to borrow an equal amount in a second LACE note.
After two months of summer construction, the enlarged classrooms were
opened in September 1981. The enrollment follows:
Even though we were saddened by its
closing in 1992, nevertheless there was joy in our heart. Joy from the
thankfulness that God has richly blessed us through our school. Joy in
knowing that for 15 years a congregation which was "too small"
to support a school maintained one. Joy in knowing that even in what
seems to be an unhappy situation from our perspective, can be used for
blessing from God's perspective. And finally there is joy in hoping that
someday, God may again present the opportunity for our congregation to
again have a Lutheran Elementary School.
1992 - New
Growth
God continued to direct his people
into many blessings. The congregation began a new youth group, the
Explorers, for children in grades 1-8. This group has since split into
two groups, the Explorers for children Kindergarten through 6th grade
and the teen group (7th grade through High school) affectionately known
as the J.A.M. session, or "Juniors Advancing in Ministry."
In 1994 Grace experimented with its
first television commercial aired on cable channels. This commercial
advertised our children's Christmas Eve service. Since then we have
added a yearly ad for the Preschool and Easter. Consideration is now
underway to record our weekly services and air them as well to serve
both our shut-in members and the community.
In 1996 The Holy Spirit lead the
members of the congregation to open a preschool for four year old
children. The voters called Rachel Biedenbender of Mt. Pleasant, to be
our preschool teacher. Sue Eich was called as the aide and secretary for
the preschool. Under their guidance and with the Lord's blessing
enrollment continues to grow. After repeated requests from parents with
younger children the preschool added a three old program in 1999. We are
now looking ahead to possibly adding a Kindergarten level as well.
2000
-A New Opportunity for Growth
In April of 2000, Zion's current
pastor, Paul Stratman, was moved by the Holy Spirit to accept a call to
pastor a church in Minnesota. The voters of Zion approved
approaching Grace's pastor, John Eich to serve as vacancy pastor.
Yet there was a unique twist to the request. Zion's church council
wanted to meet with the council of Grace and discuss the possibility of
merging the two congregation's ministries. This was brought
about by the pastoral shortage within the WELS and the close proximity
of Grace and Zion to each other. One year was granted for this
discussion.
After six months of discussion,
research and prayer, after reviewing the possibilities of remaining
separate congregations, or becoming a dual congregation, the Holy Spirit
lead the voters of both churches to approve merging into a new
congregation with a new facility. Work is currently being done to
carry out this decision. The name for our new congregation is Good
Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church.
I
am Jesus' little lamb. Little children and even grandmas and grandpas
love the Bible's imagery when it calls us sheep and lambs. Our mind
almost instantly flashes a mental picture of a beautiful sunny day, with
a flock of white, fluffy sheep grazing contentedly. A shepherd sits on
the hill watching his flock, gently caressing a baby lamb in his arms.
It's a beautiful name
with beautiful meaning for us. The name Good Shepherd brings to mind the
23rd Psalm and John 10 which describe the work and the blessings which
are ours through Jesus, our Good Shepherd.
Our new name should
remind us that we, like sheep, keep wandering away from God. We get
ourselves into all kinds of trouble. It starts with a little temptation
and ends in great danger. And we don't even see it coming.