Dear Friends,
Greetings to you in the name of Jesus the Christ!
It is time to CELEBRATE! It is time for a PARTY! Did you hear the news? Atonement is gearing up to celebrate it’s 50th Anniversary! Yes, it was 50 years ago that people of faith gathered together to start a new worshipping community on the east side of Green Bay.
“in 1960 plans were laid for the establishment of one new congregation in each of the 19 districts of the proposed new American Lutheran Church. The Preble area of Green Bay was chosen as the site for the new Jubilee Congregation in the Northern Wisconsin District. Each of the 19 new mission congregations were named Atonement Lutheran. A church site was chosen and purchased, and building plans were drawn and approved. Ground-breaking took place on Sunday, October 22, 1961. Construction began on the church building in the Fall of 1961. When Pastor and Mrs. Hjemboe and family arrived in January of 1962 the parsonage was ready for occupancy, but the church building was far from completion.”
The winter of 1961-1962 was very cold and brought with it a near record snow fall complicating the building of the church. On the day of the first service snow was bull-dozed away to provide for parking and access to the building. When Spring arrived it became impossible to drive into the area planned for parking. It was necessary to park on the streets and walk to the building on sections of crates and on planks.”
Wow! What an amazing time that was 50 years ago as the Holy Spirit was calling and gathering people together to form a faith community called Atonement. So much has taken place over these 50 years as God’s Holy Spirit has called people together to celebrate – baptisms, weddings, confirmations, new members, funerals, calling of Pastors & Youth Workers & more. I wonder what the future holds for Atonement?
I find it amazing that as we are about to celebrate the birth of Atonement that God is giving birth to something new once more in “Hope For All”. We had always hoped & prayed that some day we would have a Bilingual Worship Service - since the neighborhood around Atonement is now 30 to 35 % Hispanic. But the vision for this seemed to be nothing more then a dream. But then Holy Spirit stirred and sent us Paul and then Jairo and then Bethany and then…? What was God getting ready to do? It was clear now as I look back that God was bringing together all that was needed for that Monday evening when an Hispanic Family stopped at Atonement looking for a church family. WOW! Praise God!
Now some months later we have an average of 20 to 25 people gathering for worship on Sunday morning to hear in English & Spanish the Good News of a loving God that has come for all people. But the Holy Spirit was not done yet for it was just last week that 12 children celebrated their first communion (9 are Hispanic). Now the families are asking about instruction for confirmation. WOW!
There is so much to give thanks to God for as we look back over these 50 years and as we look forward to the next 50 years. I trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to call & gather people together to hear the Good News of a God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ!
If you have any questions about “Hope For All” please share them with me.
“I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now. I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:3-6
COME HOLY SPIRIT – COME!
Pastor Jim Gerth (P.J.)
