Celebrating 152 Years of Ministry in Lincoln!
There is always a great deal of interest in knowing where we first came from, but often little evidence with which to work. Such is the case with First Lutheran. Most of the records of the early history are lost, though there are a few intriguing stories recounted in a fiftieth anniversary history. The first effort to found the church in February of 1870 seems to have been more a profit-making scheme by someone who subsequently absconded with funds, and only later in the year did a sustainable institution get grounded; we know only a little about those who accomplished the feat, though one fact is clear; they were Swedish. We assume our founders were heroic, and in the Lutheran tradition we look to find them among the pastoral leadership. But First Lutheran in its first thirty years was mostly under the leadership of anonymous laity, with a rotating cast of preachers moving through as churches struggled to serve the new towns out on the prairie. The congregation was small, finances were always precarious, and there was constant concern about the spiritual state of the congregants. Membership was fluid, and immigration brought to First, among others, young Swedish women who came to the growing city to serve as domestic labor. For the first thirty years the language of the church was Swedish; English was not used in a service until the 1890’s, and a monthly English-language service was held first in 1900, when there were around 100 members.
Our first church building was built at 13th & K in 1871, for $1,000, on three lots donated by the State to “build a church”. It was known as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church. The name was changed to “The First Evangelical Lutheran Church” of Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1920.
Join us for our 150+2 Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, April 24! Learn more at https://flclincoln.org/150thanniversarycelebration.
