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St Johns Evangelical Lutheran Church
Ridgeville, Monroe County, WI,
Click to
View membership of St John's in 1900 . The present church building was completed in
January, 1901.
In June 2001, the churchmembers opened the cornerstone in their building. The
articles were sealed in a copper box. The items inside were in nearly
perfect condition! The newspapers were hardly even yellowed! The box
contained a couple of copies of the Germania paper out of Milwaukee, a local
copy of the Wilton Herald, a Hymnal, a confirmation book, a list of 1900's
members, a history of our church, written in old German script, and several
things from the WELS synod.
On June 24, 2001 they held their 100th anniversary celebration of the current building.
It was very exciting to see the church packed full for two services. Normally, 40 is a
good crowd, but for the celebration had to set up extra chairs! The first service
was the regular service, but included their Vacation Bible School children singing.
They share a pastor with the sister church in Norwalk, but for the day,
the only morning service was at St John's. Communion was really neat.
It went on forever. They just kept coming!
Their previous pastor (1975-1993) was also present and helped with communion, and
passed out the wafers, while the current pastor passed out the wine. Then, the former
pastor gave the current pastor communion, then vice versa. The current pastor took communion
to one lady there, who was on an oxygen tank.
After the morning service, there was a lunch that was really nice.
The actual anniversary service was something else. Present were two former pastors, one as the
liturgist and the other (mentioned above) as the preacher. The service was taken from a translatation
out of the 1911 "The Lutheran Agenda". This book had been a gift to the congregation from
the confirmation class of 1911 (Eleven were confirmed, including Danielle's great grandfather's eldest
brother.) During the service, there was a soloist who sang the Lord's Prayer in German, and the choir
accompanied him. The previous pastor gave the sermon. It explored the idea was St John's church worthy of
being God's house, because it wasn't glorious enough, or grand enough for God, or that it was worthy because
God wanted it. He discussed how the area and the congregation were and lived back then, and how much the
church cost (about $8000), in comparison to what it would be now. After the sermon, the current pastor went
around and rededicated the baptismal font, the pulpit, the altar, the building and the people of the
congregation, exactly as it was dedicated 100 years ago.
The cornerstone opening and the anniversary service for St. Johns Ridgeville were videotaped, and the pastor
is looking into having copies made for anyone who wants one. The price and quanity available is unknown as of yet.
Please contact
[Danielle NAUMAN]
for details.
This information was contributed by
[Danielle NAUMAN]
and for that we thank her.
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© 2001-2009 MAK - All rights reserved
Revised: --Thursday, 12-Jul-2001 08:42:10 MDT
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