News

Bethel Lutheran Church to celebrate 110 years

By Scott Wagar

03/19/2013

Bethel Lutheran Church in Antler will be celebrating a special anniversary on Easter Sunday when the church turns 110 years old.

HISTORY

The church’s origins started in March of 1903 when members of the Antler community came together and organized a Lutheran church they named Bethel.

The first services were held in the homes of its parishioners until 1907 when the congregation utilized the local school for its worship time.

J. Solheim was the first pastor to serve Bethel. He began his service to the church in January of 1904.
During the 1906 Lutheran Brethren Synod Convention in Kenyon, Minn., Bethel was admitted into the Lutheran Brethren denomination.

For the church members, their first services were held in the different homes of its parishioners, but in 1907 they began to utilize the local school for worshiping.

“Worship services were conducted in Norwegian during the early years and all the annual business meetings were recorded in Norwegian until 1940,” stated Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church: A Light on the Prairie. “Sometimes two services were held on Sunday. They would have lunch at noon and then continue with the meeting in the afternoon. The congregation sang, read scriptures, prayed and encouraged one another.”

In a congregational meeting on March 9, 1908, the church members made the decision to construct their own church. However, construction didn’t start until 1913 and was completed in 1914. The first church served the congregation until 1978.

The parish made the decision to construct the present day church in 1978 and it was completed in time to celebrate Bethel’s 75th anniversary.

The original church still stands today and is located five miles west of the new church on a farmstead. The original steeple is still on the church grounds and is displayed in the back of the Bethel’s cemetery.

The parishioners obtained a parsonage for its pastors in 1934. The first manse was a home purchased in Antler in 1934. In 1941, the church moved the parsonage directly across the roadway from the church. In 1999, the church replaced its home for its pastor.

In Bethel’s 110 years, the church has spent their time focusing on mission work.

“From the beginning, Bethel was greatly concerned about furthering the cause of missions and the China mission received much interest and support,” stated Bethel Lutheran Brethren Church: A Light on the Prairie. “In addition to the seminary, Grace Lutheran Brethren Church of Bottineau (1956) and Our Redeemers Lutheran Brethren Church of Minot (1959) were organized as a result of the faithful labor of Bethel’s pastors and prayerful support of the congregation.
Bethel also has two mission organizations, which includes Willing Workers (ladies aide) and Crossed Bows, an archery club which provides fellowship and target shooting from January through March each year for children and adults.

CELEBRATION

Bethel’s 110th anniversary on Easter Sunday will begin with an Easter service at 11 a.m. and will be followed with a cake celebration.

The church will also have the oldest member of the church at the celebration, who has been a member of the church for over a century.

“Our Matriarch, Minnie Marie Feland Nelson, who is 103 years old, will be attending the service,” said Pastor Jerry Unruh, pastor of Bethel Lutheran Church. “She was born just seven years after this church started. Her father was one of the founding members who started the church.”

TODAY

Today, Bethel Lutheran Church has around 60 members, and their lighthouse on the prairie is still reaching out across the Antler area.

“We are still the lighthouse on the prairie,” Unruh said. “We still get people from the smaller towns where churches are closing, which sustains this congregation. It continues to still be a lighthouse on the prairie.”