Church community celebrates 50 years

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This article was published 04/06/2018 (2913 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A lot can change in 50 years, but the St. James Lutheran Church is one that prides itself on traditional values.

The local church is celebrating its 50 year anniversary. It began in 1968 as an amalgamation of Faith Lutheran and Peace Lutheran Churches. At that time, its location at 871 Cavalier Dr. represented the city’s western boundary. Today, it’s nestled between Crestview and St. James and surrounded by schools and homes.

The church’s Glenn Jorundson, member of the evangelism committee, says the church has long been a place of community and learning.

“The church was the one that started all the things in Western society, like kindergarten, and even going back to education, that was really pushed by the Christian church,” Jorundson said. “Martin Luther basically said we need to understand the Bible and the average person should be able to understand it.”

Fran Werschler, chair of the altar guild, says that in St. James specifically, the church was a hub for many families.

“Faith kindergarten started in 1959 and went to 1967, when the St. James-Assiniboia School Division decided they would have kindergarten classes,” Werschler said. “There were 26 kids in the first class. In two years they had both morning and afternoon, and by five years, they had 170 kids.”

The tradition of outreach has continued for St. James Lutheran. Jorundson said the congregation recently sponsored a Syrian refugee family and volunteers have been helping them integrate into the community. They also send volunteers to care homes, Siloam Mission and Winnipeg Harvest, as well as sending food donations to Harvest weekly.

They host open houses for families in the community, donate hats and mittens in the winter, prepare Christmas hampers and send volunteers on mission trips overseas.

“There’s always the debate like, oh, we have to pay off our debts here and stuff, but we’ve always made that a priority of overseas missions,” Jorundson said.

The church itself has had additions and renovations, but Shirley Wildeman has been playing organ there since the day its doors opened.

“I love liturgical worship, when the pastor speaks to the congregation and the congregation answers,” Wildeman said. “I’ve always played hymns as a real young piano student. I started out with a pump organ, actually. My dad bought me a pump organ — you have to pedal to get the wind going through.”

Since then, Wildeman has been hooked on playing. And St. James Lutheran feels like home to her and husband Herb.

“It’s very uplifting,” she said of service. “I guess I have to say that I worship that way… pulling stops for different verses, what it means, and so on.”