wfn.org | ELCA Church Building Destroyed by Fire

[NEWS <NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

ELCA NEWS SERVICE

March 2, 1999

ELCA CHURCH BUILDING DESTROYED BY FIRE
99 08-48 JB

     CHICAGO (ELCA)   Members of Salem-Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Long
Lake, S.D., are holding services in a dining hall at a local cafe
following an Ash Wednesday fire that destroyed the congregation's
building, including its sanctuary and educational wing.
     The cause of the Feb. 17 fire is under investigation, said the
Rev. Michael J. Jacobson.  No one was hurt.
     The fire occurred during the morning hours.  Local fire
departments were unable to save the building, so they concentrated their
efforts on saving other nearby buildings, Jacobson said. Despite the
losses, the congregation's spirits remain good, he said.
      Long Lake's population is about 100 people, and it's located in
north-central South Dakota, a farming and ranching area.  Salem-Emmanuel
has 80 baptized members.
     Already, many members have expressed desires for another building,
and the congregation council is expected to begin that process the first
week in March, Jacobson said.    Fortunately, the building was insured.
     "The people here really don't want their community to die, and if
this church goes, it could be one of the last straws," Jacobson said.
     "The church is not the building," he said. "The church is the
people.  They want to continue their ministry for each other and for
their community."
     Salem-Emmanuel's sanctuary was completed in 1941 and its
educational wing was added in 1963, said Jacobson, who serves a two-point parish which
includes Salem-Emmanuel and St. James Lutheran
Church, Leola, S.D.
     Many have come to the congregation's aid.  A Methodist family in
town loaned the congregation an organ, Jacobson said.   Zion Lutheran
Church, Eureka, S.D., St. James and several people loaned hymnals and
other worship supplies for the congregation to use.
     The only item saved from the fire was a safe which contained
records from predecessor congregations that merged to form Salem-Emmanuel.  Minutes of
meetings and financial records were stored off
premises.
     The Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the ELCA's South Dakota
Synod, likened the fire to the tragedy that struck St. Matthew's
Lutheran Church in Spencer, S.D., when a tornado destroyed its buildings
last May.
     "These beautiful buildings come to mean so very much to us," she
said in a column from The Synod Scene, a publication of the South Dakota
Synod. "They have held so many special occasions in our lives over the
years and have symbolized the presence of God in our communities.
     "The church continues, and out of its ashes comes the witness to
the power of the cross of Christ, making all things new, even those
things we see as destroyed," DeGroot-Nesdahl added.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html