A Pioneer Congregation on Spruce Street
Immanuel Lutheran Church stands at 304 Spruce Street in Tower, Minnesota, on the Iron Range north of Lake Vermilion. The congregation's roots run back to the Swedish immigrants who organized a church on December 31, 1886, under the leadership of a young student intern named J.A. Broden. Immanuel is one of seven original congregations in the area that can trace its history to those pioneer days, and it is still here long after several other local denominations have come and gone.
The first worship services, catechism classes, Sunday Church School, Ladies' Aid, and Women's Missionary Society were conducted in Swedish. Members kept a Julotta service on Christmas morning beginning at 5:00 a.m., taking turns through the night to keep the old pot-bellied wood stove burning. During the 1920s the congregation wrestled with whether to switch to English. The older members saw the church as a last link to the motherland; the younger ones knew the congregation could not grow otherwise. English won, and the change kept the church alive.
Three Congregations, Two Mergers, One Church
Immanuel has always had a complicated institutional story. The Swedish founders were affiliated with the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, and for many years three different congregations (Swedish, Norwegian, and Finnish) shared a single building in Tower. The Swedish group eventually settled in what would become Immanuel. When the Augustana body merged with seven other Lutheran churches to form the Lutheran Church in America in 1962, Immanuel came along, and on January 1, 1988, it became part of the new Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The congregation sits today in the NE Minnesota Synod of the ELCA. For years Immanuel was part of a three-point parish (Ely, Soudan, Tower), and in 1958 it became a one-point parish and called its own resident minister.
Sunday Morning at Nine
Worship is held on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m., followed by coffee in the fellowship hall downstairs. Immanuel practices open communion at every Sunday worship. The welcome statement on the front of the church reads: Immanuel Lutheran Church ministers, welcomes, and encourages everyone to participate and have access to all worship, fellowship, sacraments, membership, leadership, funerals, weddings, and baptism regardless of race, disability, age, sexual or gender identity. The language of the liturgy is English. Online giving is available through the church's giving page.
Faith as a Living, Daring Confidence
The congregation describes faith the way Martin Luther did, as a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that believers would stake their lives on it a thousand times. Immanuel shares in the faith expressed in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, the Lutheran confessional writings collected as the Book of Concord, and the ELCA Confession of Faith. Worship is rooted in word and sacrament, and members continue to listen to the witness of others and to ask questions about how God is active in the world around them.
Caring for One Another, Noisily
The church's involvement page begins with an admission: visitors notice right away that there is a lot of noisy chatter before church. Immanuel turns that chatter into care through a Parish Health Ministry, Prayer Shawl outreach, several Service Committees, and a Gospel Connections Committee. A quilting group meets Wednesday mornings from September through May. WELCA, the women's organization, gathers on the third Wednesday of the month at 1 p.m. T.O.P.S. meets on Monday mornings. AA meets on Thursday evenings at 6:30, and a community meal is served on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Choir rehearses on Thursday mornings at 10:00.
Growing in Christ at Every Age
Faith formation at Immanuel reaches both children and adults. Programs include Sunday Church School, Vacation Bible School, and adult book and Bible studies. Members also support a wide network of local, national, and international missions, including Lutheran Disaster Response, Lutheran World Relief, ELCA World Hunger, Voyageurs Lutheran Ministry, Recycled Lives, the Center for Changing Lives, PV for Phoebe, and the Angel of Hope Children's Memorial Park. The fellowship hall also hosts AA meetings, making the building a place of recovery as well as worship.
A Building That Has Been Moved
The church building itself has a long story. The original structure was erected on the lot where the public school natatorium now sits. In the 1940s, when the school bought the property, the building was relocated to its current Spruce Street site, a basement was dug where none had existed, and a room was added behind the sanctuary. In 1974, an extensive remodeling project added the present entrance, expanded worship and education areas, and enlarged the fellowship hall downstairs where coffee is still served after the service.
Through a Pastoral Transition
The church office is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Prayer requests for the prayer team can be sent by text.
For nearly a century and a half, the people of Immanuel have gathered on Spruce Street to preach and teach the Word and to administer the Holy Sacraments. By their own telling, they plan to keep doing so until the day of the Lord's Second Coming.