There’s always a lot going on at Our Saviour. Updates, messages and project reports are posted below.
As we gathered on Founders’ Day, we Proclaim the Wonders God Has Done. It is by God’s grace that the Evangelical Lutheran Synod has survived to this centennial year. We tell the history not to laud ourselves but to praise the Triune God who has sustained us. It is the Lord God who has washed…
A blessed Founders’ Day to you all! Today we observed the celebration of the centennial of the reorganization of our Synod. Congregations all over our synod participated using Bugenhagen’s order of service, readings and a sermon likely based on the first president, Pastor Bjug Harstad’s original sermon from 1918, and the showing of this documentary…
A custom within the old Norwegian Synod was to regard October 14 as Founders’ Day. Over the years, many church dedications and special events took place on that day. The ELS which was reorganized in 1918 has carried on this tradition. We will yet observe that tradition next Sunday as a public testimony that the ELS,…
The president of Bethany Lutheran College also served as the president of Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary until 1976. At that time, the first full-time president was installed for the seminary. In the following years, two separate and newly erected buildings (one in 1978; the other in 1997) have housed the seminary. The location of the…
Halloween. That is a weird word! Where did it come from? What does it mean? No doubt you know what it refers to, but do you know how it came into use? Halloween is a conjunction, that is two or more words joined together. It shortened “All Hallows Eve”, which is the evening before All…
The opening service for Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary was conducted on September 24, 1946. Five students were enrolled during the first year. Norman A. Madson, Sr., the first dean of the seminary wrote, “Our own seminary is no longer merely a child of our fond desires, but has become a living reality.” The seminary shared…
During this centennial year, the ELS holds dear the fellowship which we have with the member church bodies throughout the world in the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC). The thirty-two church bodies consist of about 500,000 souls. The Rev. Gaylin Schmeling, of the ELS, currently serves as the president of the CELC, being elected at its latest…