Three Sunday Mornings on Church Street
St. Paul's Lutheran Church sits on Church Street NE in Hanover, a small community along the Crow River northwest of Minneapolis. The congregation has worshipped at this address for more than a century, and the historic sanctuary remains the heart of the building. Three Sunday services gather around that sanctuary each week, shaped to give different kinds of worshipers a place to call their own.
At 8:00 AM, the traditional service opens the morning with hymns, prayers, and the liturgy that has shaped Lutheran worship for generations. At 9:15 AM, the blended service pairs that liturgical framework with contemporary music from the worship team. During the school year this service fills the sanctuary to the brim; in June, July, and August it moves outdoors to the chapel on the grounds. The 10:30 AM contemporary service features worship teams and a children's message, and during the school year Sunday School runs at the same hour, a natural fit for families with young children. When the calendar lands on a fifth Sunday, all three services take on a Cowboy Worship flavor.
The 8:00 AM service is livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, and weekly bulletins and a sermon podcast are available for those who cannot attend in person. The sanctuary is air conditioned and seats 175, making it a setting the congregation also hosts for weddings and funerals.
A Lutheran Home in Hanover
St. Paul's traces its roots to the early 1900s. The 125th Anniversary Book marks the milestone, joining anniversary publications from the 75-year and 100-year marks in the congregation's archive. The community that gathers here today is led by two pastors and a staff that includes a Director of Children and Youth Ministry, a Traditional Worship Director and Choir Director, a Contemporary Worship Director, an Office Administrator, a Finance Administrator, a Facility Coordinator, a Maintenance lead, and a Ministry Assistant.
Pastor Luke Schmidt has served as Senior Pastor since 2018. A graduate of Gustavus Adolphus College, he came to Hanover after ministry in Excelsior, Brooklyn Park, and Buffalo. Pastor Mike Rueckert joined as Associate Pastor, having previously served as a congregational pastor for eleven years and as a hospice chaplain. He graduated from Gustavus Adolphus College and attended Luther Seminary in St. Paul. Together with the church council and ministry leaders, the two pastors guide a congregation that sees itself as a community of everyday missionaries, people who follow Jesus into their workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods.
What We Believe
St. Paul's is affiliated with Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ (LCMC). The congregation confesses the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. It receives the canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative source and norm of faith and life. The Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds are accepted as true declarations of the scriptural faith, along with the Unaltered Augsburg Confession, the Small Catechism, and the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord: the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalcald Articles, the Treatise, the Large Catechism, and the Formula of Concord.
Members are marked by a focus on Jesus and the call he places on each life, with a stated commitment to loving God and loving neighbor. The congregation has long used the book "Joining Jesus" by Greg Finke to help shape a missionary mindset, with small groups forming around the material and a follow-up study for everyday discipleship.
Children, Youth, and the Preschool
St. Paul's places a strong emphasis on raising up the next generation. Children's Country Preschool, established in 1972, occupies the Education wing of the church building and offers a Christian-based curriculum for children ages three to five. The preschool is led by Director Ashley Dahl and welcomes families of all denominations from Hanover and the surrounding communities.
Sunday School meets at both 9:15 and 10:30 AM during the school year, with a separate calendar of events, retreats, and seasonal activities for its students. First Communion instruction is offered to children in fourth grade and older, with parents invited to attend alongside their kids. Vacation Bible School runs each summer for four days in June.
Confirmation is a three-year rotational program built on the "Here We Stand" curriculum. Confirmands study Martin Luther's Catechism, Bible stories, and living faith, and each is paired with a small group of peers and a mentor who walks through the experience together. At the conclusion of the program, students publicly reaffirm their baptism.
Senior High, Camp Wapo, and Summer Festival
Older youth at St. Paul's have their own rhythm. Senior High fellowship carries into the summer, when teens head to two flagship summer programs. Camp Wapo, a camping and retreat ministry serving youth, adults, and families throughout the year, hosts grades one through seven for weeklong and weekend sessions each July. Summer Festival Camp, held at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, brings together current eighth through eleventh graders from across the Midwest for a week of music, games, speakers, and small group time focused on following Jesus.
St. Paul's offers scholarships through its Trust and Memorial Youth Scholarship Fund so that no young person is kept from these experiences for financial reasons. The Trust and Memorial Committee also awards college scholarships to young members each year and partners with Thrivent Financial.
The Haiti Mission
For more than twenty-five years, St. Paul's has walked alongside an orphanage in Port-au-Prince led by Pastor Widelson. The relationship began in 1998 when a church member visited Haiti and was introduced to the work, and in 1999 the Church Council voted to begin formal support. Since then the congregation has provided ongoing financial support, sent multiple mission teams, and helped fund specific needs.
Each year the children of the orphanage are sent to school through a special Haiti Education Fund; in Haiti there is no free public education, and this gift keeps the children learning. Mission teams have traveled to Haiti to teach English and computer skills, deliver quilts sewn by the Mission Quilting group, run music and art camps for the children, lead medical clinics, and even ship a school bus, acquired through donations and delivered in 2013 after months of work and prayer. The congregation continues to fundraise in support of Pastor Widelson and his church.
The Hanover Area Food Shelf and Clothing Closet
St. Paul's hosts the Hanover Area Food Shelf in the lower level of its Education Unit. The food shelf is open Mondays (first and third) from 5 to 7 PM, Tuesdays from 11 AM to 1:30 PM, Wednesdays from 10 AM to 1:30 PM, and Fridays from 11 AM to 1:30 PM. Cash and food donations can be dropped off at the church during office hours, and monetary gifts can be mailed directly to the food shelf at PO Box 394, Hanover, MN 55341.
The Clothing Closet, another in-house outreach, opens Wednesdays from 9 AM to 1 PM. Shoppers are given sixty minutes to select free clothing for their families, and donations of clean, gently used clothing, shoes, bedding, and towels can be left in Fellowship Hall any time the church is open. The closet does not accept appliances, furniture, or electronics.
Mission Quilting and Lutheran World Relief
A small but faithful group of quilters gathers in the church every Tuesday from 1 to 3 PM to sew quilts from donated fabric and bedding. The finished quilts are sent to Lutheran World Relief, which distributes them around the world. The group has also sewn quilts specifically for the orphanage in Haiti. New hands are welcome, and anyone interested can call Carolyn at 763-477-6509 to learn more.
Prayer Ministry
Prayer shapes much of the life at St. Paul's. A Prayer Ministry enriches the prayer lives of the community through educational and service opportunities and provides prayer support for individuals, staff, and ministries. Free prayer shawls, knitted or crocheted by members of the congregation, are available in the church office for anyone in need of comfort; each shawl comes with a card. Anyone with a request for prayer can submit it through the prayer page or by email, and the prayer team will post it to a Facebook prayer community using only first names. Those who need to talk with a pastor can call the church office during the week or use the after-hours pastoral care line for emergencies.
Adult Bible Studies and GriefShare
Several weekly and monthly gatherings feed adult faith formation. A long-running Tuesday Morning Bible Study meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 10 AM in the church library, led by Judy Castor and Gary Johnson. Breath of Fresh Air, a women's group, and a parallel men's gathering each meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month from 1 to 2 PM for devotional conversation and community. Small groups using "Joining Jesus" by Greg Finke form and launch on a rolling basis.
GriefShare, a thirteen-week support program for those grieving the loss of a loved one, runs on Saturdays at 9 AM and Mondays at 1 PM. A participant workbook is available, and the program is open to anyone in the wider community.
Music Ministry
Music is woven into the life of St. Paul's through several groups. The Adult Choir, open to high schoolers and adults of any singing level, rehearses on Wednesdays at 7 PM during the program year and sings roughly twice a month, with additional offerings during Advent and Christmas and a spring Hymn Fest. A team of worship leaders and instrumentalists alternates weeks to lead the 9:15 and 10:30 services. The Bell Choir, soloists, and small groups round out the music ministry, and Cowboy Worship provides the music when the calendar offers a fifth Sunday.
Joining the Mission
St. Paul's invites newcomers to gather a few times a year for a New Member Orientation, generally held on a Sunday after the 10:30 service. Lunch is served, members of the staff share what makes the congregation tick, and those who decide to join are received and welcomed at an upcoming worship service.
The church office at 11024 Church Street NE is open Monday through Thursday from 9 AM to 3 PM and Friday from 9 AM to noon. After-hours pastoral emergencies can be directed to 763-498-8311, option 9. Giving is accepted online, by text to 763-220-8488, or in the offering plate on Sunday morning, with envelopes mailed monthly for those who prefer to give by check.
Worship is at the center, but the building stays busy throughout the week. Beyond its own ministries, St. Paul's opens its facilities to community organizations including Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Al-Anon, and AA, a quiet expression of the congregation's steady welcome to the wider Hanover community.