Welcome to Emmanuel!
~ Mission Statement ~
We, the Body of Christ at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, proclaim the crucified Christ. Our mission is to extend the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through worship, outreach, fellowship, teaching and love to God's children, locally and worldwide.
~ Purpose Statement ~
We believe God's purpose for our church is to bring the light of God to all through the prism of Jesus.
~ Guiding Principles ~
- We place God above all, recognizing Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
- We proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through words and deeds.
- We invite, welcome and value everyone as a child of God.
- We are instruments of God's love and grace, caring for and ministering to all.
- We grow in faith through prayer, worship, bible study and fellowship.
- We are responsible stewards of God's creation.
~ We Warmly Welcome ~
- People of all ages and of all mental and physical abilities.
- People of every gender identity and sexual orientation.
- People who are single, widowed, divorced, separated, partnered, or married.
- People of every color, culture and economic circumstance.
- Anyone who feels or has felt excluded or abandoned.
As a Reconciling in Christ Congregation, we commit ourselves to being open and affirming toward all people as children of God.
History
Emmanuel Lutheran’s 120th Anniversary.
By Larry Lass
Historically, Emmanuel Lutheran has its roots in three church communities in Moscow that merged in 1961. Our long history dates back to the 1884 for the Swedish community and 1901 - 1902 for the Norwegian community.
The roots of First Lutheran Church, the Swedish Lutheran Church.
The seeds of beginning for the Swedish Lutheran Church were first sown on Christmas Day in 1883 as large flakes floated down blocking roads and hiding mountains. The Olof Olson and A. P. Magnusson families who had gathered at Gustaf Johnson’’s home, were greatly disappointed because they were expecting Peter Carlson for dinner and he was to tell them the familiar Christmas Story. Carlson was traveling from the settlement of Lenville where he was living with his sons. He had just dedicated the new Cordelia Church on December 7, 1883 and knew the territory well. The snow piled high, and dinner served without the expected guest. But late in the afternoon a sleigh pulled up to the door. Pastor Carlson had come! So begins the story of Emmanuel Lutheran Church.
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In the spring of 1884, Moscow was growing as other Swedish families moved from Minnesota. Notably, Allen (Erland) Ramstedts and family came from the Vista Congregation, near Waseca Minnesota. They were active in the formation of a group of worshipers. John, son of Erland, was confirmed on July 27, 1884 in Moscow although his formal training occurred when they lived in Minnesota, and is reported to have been the first Lutheran conferment in the Idaho territory. Another son, Carl, would later become the pastor in Moscow.
In the fall of 1884, Carlson held a series of Sunday worship meetings. Although the group was small there was a growing sentiment to form a regular organization. Pastor Carlson called the organization meeting on October 12 where the first church record read:
Protocol of transaction at a legally announced meeting with the Swedes in the town of Moscow, Idaho Territory, on the 12th day of October, 1884 in the act and meaning of organizing a Swedish Evangelical Lutheran congregation. Meeting opened with Bible reading and Prayer by Pastor P . Carlson and remarks, his text was Matthew 13:31-32. ... Pastor P. Carlson was elected Temporary Chairman and Olof Olson secretary for one year. The question of organizing a Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was placed before those assembled (13 adults). Those families present and agreed to organize were Gustaf Johnson, Allen Ramstedt, P.J. Sundell, Olof Olson, John O. Olson, Widow Berta Olson, and Mrs. Lessa Karin Magnusson. The official name of the first church was the Swedish Evangelical Zion Congregation in Moscow, Idaho Territory.
The Swedish Lutheran community would ultimately build two churches before the 1961 merger, but the first one had a slow start. After the October 12, 1884 organization meeting, members met regularly for song and prayer with periodic visits from Pastor Peter Carlson, a traveling missionary who assisted in the organization of many churches in the Pacific Northwest. Carlson took a bold step to establish a building in Moscow by borrowing $200 to purchase a lot on the corner of Second and Van Buren from William J. McConnell, later governor of Idaho.
The small congregation met on January 5, 1885, while Carlson was absent, to consider purchasing the lot from the pastor. The price was fair given the location, which history shows produced many benefits, but at the time it was looked on as a mixed blessing. The town was expanding eastward and few members lived near the property. Officially the record shows they deliberated and decided, “It appears agreed that we are too few and too poor at this time to do anything about the lot.”
The second attempt to purchase the lot was made on October 22, 1885 with new optimism because the membership continued to grow. The group purchased the lot from Carlson and resolved to incorporate under the laws of Idaho Territory. The following June, in 1886, Pastor Carlson was called by Cordelia and First to be their permanent pastor. For serving the country and city church, he would receive $6 per male and $4 per female member per year.
The church then grew at an amazing rate. Hula Johnson, daughter of founding member Gustaf Johnson, would later write, “...there was not room in any of the homes for services, so we were in the Presbyterian church and then in the Methodist church ...” In the fall of 1886 the congregation started to raise funds to construct a church. Construction started in 1887 and, after three years of volunteer labor, was completed in 1890. It was a simple fame building measuring 28 by 40 feet with a tower on the southeast corner. The total cost of construction was about $1,500 and all but $350 had been raised by the members.
The formal dedication ceremony for First Lutheran Church was on February 16th 1890. Pastor J.W. Skans of Portland officiated with the assistance of Pastors Peter Carlson, and G.A. Anderson. Also present were two theological students, Carl Ramstedt and S. G. Youngert. Carl, son of founding member Erland Ramstedt, returned as their pastor in 1892. The congregation grew rapidly with a suitable building in which to worship.
In 1897, the church received the gift of electricity from the youth of Moscow. The Young People’s society met at the church one evening a week and was required to contribute wood and coal for heat, and kerosene for lighting. This literary society conducted debates on many subjects, made crafts to raise money for missions and produced a handwritten newspaper.
First Lutheran had over 250 members and growing pains were evident since they were still using the building started by Pastor Carlson in 1887. At the time, First was the largest church in the Columbia Conference. The old church measured 40 by 28 feet with a tower in the southeast corner. Members of the Building Committee were G. E. Anderson, F. M. Gustafson, C. B. Green, G. Johnson, J. T. Johnson, N. A. Nelson, P. Nelson, and Pastor N. J. W. Nelson.
Gustaf Johnson, a member of the building committee, reports the old church was sold to a Lutheran Church (St. Peter’s) and moved to the south-east corner of 3rd and Howard. History does not record how the church was moved.
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Work on the new church was started in 1905 and completed in 1906. The new building was 4 times the size of the old church. A bell tower was located in the southeast corner. Interestingly, the bell tower never had a bell. The new church cost over $5,000 to construct and there were 288 members. The church dedication on March 11th 1906 during the Columbia Conference was conducted by the Conference President, Martin L. Larson, and other pastors at the conference.
In 1945, Mrs. Frances Olson Gram, whose father Andrew Olson gave the land for Cordelia Lutheran, gave a baptismal font to the church in memory of her parents. The church structure remained unchanged until new windows were installed in 1947. The Ladies Aid Society furnished new electric light fixtures and new front doors were installed in 1948.
After the merger with Our Saviors Lutheran in 1961, services rotated between churches until May 13, 1962. The building was sold in 1964 to the Senior Citizens Club. The club used the church as a social club where Pinochle, shuffle board, and other games were played. The group made major modifications to the building to try to de-Lutheranize it. They replaced the stain glass windows, removed pews and furnishing, and added a shuffle board court. Depending on who you talk to the bell tower either fell off and what remained was taken down, or it was taken down during the remodeling process. Bill Anderson recalls it was deemed unsafe by church elders during his youth and had been condemned for a while before the tower fell and/or was taken down. Regardless of what they did to the building, it still looked like a former Swedish church.
The Unitarian Church of the Palouse purchased the building in 1985 and the senior’s group moved their meetings to the Latah County Fairgrounds. After considerable renovation and lots of work, the Unitarian Church was dedicated on October 17, 1985, almost 100 years after the First Lutheran Congregation agreed to purchase the land to build a church.
The roots of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, a Norwegian Lutheran Church.
Historically, Emmanuel has always reported its roots in two church communities (Our Savior’s and First Lutheran) that merged in 1961, or so thought until cataloging historic papers of Victoria Olson given to the Friends of Cordelia by her family. The first evidence of a missing church was a dead end lead from the history of Zion, later called First Lutheran. Their history reports the first building was sold to a Lutheran Church and moved to Third and Howard in 1905. Olson’s papers indicate the land for the new location of the church was donated by E. Arneson who was a founding member of the congregation. St Peter’s shared a pastor with Our Savior’s, now called Genesee Valley Lutheran. The St. Peters and Norwegian Lutheran congregations survived until the merger of three Lutheran Synods in 1917. Members continued to worship at the site until 1918 when the church merged with Our Savior’s Lutheran in Moscow. The property was deeded to Our Savior’s of Moscow. The building was rented to the Church of the Nazarene. The merger was not as smooth as hoped, and in 1922 it was decided to resume independent services again. The building and property were deeded back to the St. Peter’s congregation. The Moscow Morning Star newspaper reports the 1923 Easter Service was at 11:00 am and Sunday school at 10:00. Services were held until 1927 when the congregation decided to dissolve the organization. A few members rejoined Our Savior’s Lutheran. The church sat vacant until 1930 when it was torn down by Knute Hippe, who used the lumber on his ranch southwest of the city.
The roots of Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, a Norwegian Lutheran Church.
When writing history, you work with the material at hand and often much is missing. It would appear the Norwegian members were either having too much fun to record a history, or wanted to forget the past. Their 50th Anniversary book reports the following for history: “The Congregation was organized by the Reverend Iver Andreassen who was living near the present site of Deary. He was followed by Pastor Carl J. Olsen, of Genesee Valley, who helped out until the first resident Pastor, Reverend Christian. S. Thompson, came to Moscow. The lay organizers of the Congregation were Andrew Andreassen, John Bue, Tobiasen, Sather, Burke, and H.P. Eggan Families.” The pamphlet had little text on history but lots of pictures of the congregation in 1952 including Fritz and Dale Flomer, Grace Lyon, Helen Olson and Clarence Johnson with his accordion.
Much of Our Savior’s history was recorded indirectly when Our Savior’s Ladies Aid Society wrote their history in 1942. Officially Our Saviors Lutheran celebrates their organization date as November 15 or 16, 1902 under the name of the “Norwegian Lutheran Church”. Roots of the organization started in 1901 and may go back to a country church (Trinity) in Genesse organized in1878. Our Savior’s would share 13 pastors with this country church. In 1901, Rev. Iver Andreassen started to visit a small group Lutherans of Norwegian extraction in Moscow. Historical records written in1942 indicate Pastor Carl Olson started to come on alternating Sundays from Trinity Lutheran Church near Genesee in 1902. The congregation worshiped in the Adventist Church on the corner of Third and Almon St.
The history of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in Moscow would not be complete without writing about the Lutefisk and Smorgaasbord dinners. The Ladies Aid Society of the Norwegian Church started this tradition in January 1903. The first dinner was held at John Bue’s house and they served about sixty before turning away many more. In addition to lutefisk, the meal consisted of meat balls, potatoes, vegetables, flattigroit (baked beans), lefse, flatbroid (flat bread), gubost (special cheese including Primost), blood polse (blood sausage, cromcake (crumb cake), flatignean (Christmas cookie), sandbakkelse, sirupsnappers (pepper cookie) and much more. All this for just 35 cents a plate. The dinner became a yearly event and large crowds came to eat good food. It was common to hold the Lutefisk dinner in December or January and a Smorgaasbord dinner the following month. In 1950, the cost of the dinner had risen to $1.50 for adults and $0.75 for children. Funds raised by the dinners supported mission work and purchased needed items for the church. The use of the dinners as a fund raiser declined after the merger on 1961 and the last one was held in 1969.
The Norwegian founding group purchased the lot on which the present Methodist Church is built (3rd and Adams) in1902 and planned to construct a church there in 1905. The Methodists wanted the lot for an expanded church, so the two groups got together and traded. In 1904, the Norwegians took possession of the lot and 17-year-old church building used by the Methodists located at 223 E Sixth (Sixth and Jefferson). The church was established as the Norwegian Lutheran Church, but after the First World War the name was changed to Our Savior’s Lutheran, when most Norwegian Lutherans merged back into a single synod in 1917.
The name, Our Savior’s Lutheran or in Norwegian Vor Frelsers Menighet, was not new to the Palouse. Norwegian settlers in the Thorn Creek area near Genesee organized the first Lutheran church in 1878 calling it Our Savior’s. In 1884, the church divided over a theological debate on salvation and if man had a cooperating role or no role in it. It would take 33 years before Our Savior’s and Trinity of Genesee would reunite in 1917 to create the Genesee Valley Lutheran Church and 12 years for St. Peter’s and the Norwegian Lutheran Church to merge into Our Savior’s. The new name used by the churches merging in Moscow may have come from Pastor Grimsrud who served the two churches being merged in Genesee and the Norwegian church of Moscow, from 1912 to 1918, or a former member of the Genesee church.
In 1948, the church was enlarged to provide individual Sunday School rooms, a new kitchen, office, and sanctuary, all of which enlarged the church auditorium and social room. The addition cost $25,000 including a new organ. Over 400 attended the dedication of the new addition and organ. In 1954, new maple pews with beige plastic cushions were added. The old pews must have been in bad shape and very hard, or the sermon was exceptional, because the church elders proudly reported the funds were raised to replace them on a single October day.
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In 1957-58, the church built a new parsonage for Pastor Lokken at 1021 E. 5th. The old parish house just to the east of the church was converted to Sunday school classrooms in May of 1958.
In 1961, First Lutheran and Our Savior’s merged and agreed to construct a new facility that would hold both congregations and allow expansion. The members of Emmanuel evaluated both churches and facilities. They chose to sell First Lutheran on May 13, 1962. Services were held in Our Savior’s until Easter Sunday, April 14, 1968 when Emmanuel started to use the present facility at 1036 W. A Street.. The new church was dedicated on May 13, 1968. Our Savior’s building and parish house were sold to Grace Baptist Church shortly after the dedication of the new church.
I would like to thank Bill Anderson and Crystal Lokken for additional background information.
Pastors
First Lutheran Our Savior’s Lutheran
Peter Carlson 1884-1892 Iver Andreassen 1901-1902
Carl A. Ramstedt 1892-1894 C. Olsen 1902-1904
Carl J. Beckman 1894-1900 C. S. Thompson 1904-1907
Nels J. W. Nelson 1900-1909 T. E. Sweger 1907-1912
George A. Johnson 1909-1917 C. M. Grimsrud 1912-1918
John Oslund 1917-1920 F. I. Schmidt 1918-1921
Anders Andre 1920-1923 Joseph Lee 1921-(?)
Roger P. Oliver 1926-1934 G. A. Peterson 1923-1926
Reuben E. Norling 1935-1940 E. M. Hegge 1927-1931
A. P. Westerberg 1940-1943 A. L. Swenson 1931-1938
John Billdt 1943-1945 S. F. Veldey 1938-1946
Neale E Nelson 1945-1949 Harold T. Masted 1947-1953
Harry Allen 1949-1952 Sigurd T. Lokken 1953-1958
Emil Gustafson 1952-1955 Harry S. Babington 1959-1961
Phill Engstrom 1955-1957
Leonard S. Nelson 1957-1961 St Peters
Oscar Hellekson 1904-1911
Merged churches Gabriel Breivik 1911-1915
Harry . S. Babington 1961-1965 Carl Grimsrud 1915-1917
D. H. Lee 1962-1965 P. S. Stenerson 1922-1927
Martin Larsen 1965-1974
Curtis Fox 1969-1971
Marlow Engberg 1975-1979
Mikkel Thompson 1978-1980
Paul Braafladt 1979-1981
Gordon Braum 1981-1995
Eric Ranum 1987-1989
Gregory Gullicksrud 1991-1993
David W. Bates 1994-1995
John Blom 1995-1996
Tim Solberg 1996
Dean Stewart 1996-
Dawna Svaren 1998-