Our History
Our history is a long one, dating back to the 1860’s when twenty families came together to form a place of worship in the German Lutheran tradition in Webster. Some members of those founding families still attend our church, generations later. The original church building was dedicated on September 13, 1868. As our congregation grew, the original church building became too small and a new church was built at our current location and was dedicated December 23, 1888.
At the 1920 congregational meeting, the right to vote and hold office was extended to women. Despite these gains, it was not until 1972 that the first women were elected to council (Arlene Buchholz and Ella Zimmer). In 1984, Lois Dougherty became the first female president of council. In 2015, we welcomed our first female pastor, our current pastor, Pastor Joanne.
Over the years, our church has grown and changed to accommodate the needs of our various ministries. In 1966, the Education Wing was built to house our Sunday School program. Since then, our Christian Education and Youth Outreach ministries have evolved and grown to include the ROCK LYO (Reaching Our Community with Kindness Lutheran Youth Organization).
150th Anniversary
2018 marked the 150th anniversary of the founding of the congregation. Over the year, there were been several events focused around this special milestone. You can read more about the various events and special projects commemorating the 150th anniversary in our article “Immanual Marks 150th Anniversary.” The goal of all of our celebrations has to look back to where we came from, where we are right now, and where we want to go in the future.