Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School announced that its 175th founding anniversary is coming up. The congregation is invited to participate in preparation for celebrating the milestone next year.
Holy Cross Lutheran Church Going 175
Holy Cross Lutheran Church is gearing up to celebrate its 175th foundation, as shared on its Facebook page. It stated that a good number of groups had already started with the preparation.
Still, the church welcomes more people to help prepare for the upcoming celebration next year – 2023. Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School also requested everyone to spread the news about the forthcoming celebration.
Furthermore, the church is trying to locate early congregation members' families. It asked all to inform them of anyone they knew.
The announcement on Facebook gained a few responses from people who have connections to the congregation because of their family names and other members of the Holy Cross.
A gentleman named Ron Mohr commented on the Facebook post and extended his help for the 175th anniversary. According to him, he knew people who were descendants of the first families in the congregation.
Additionally, he informed Holy Cross that he is a member of one of the first families in the congregation – the Johanns. He also shared that many of their clan are still at the Holy Cross and nearby congregations.
Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School extended its gratitude to Mr. Mohr and invited him to leave his contact info, to which the gentleman responded positively.
Additionally, the church recalled the early days of the congregation through the same Facebook page and post. As stated by the church, the Reverend Frederick Lochner met with five Lutheran men of Collinsville on July 20, 1848.
These men were Johann Fischer, Christian Grass, Oswald Rothe, Heinrich Drenkhahn, and Gottfried Bonn. They conducted the meeting to organize The Holy Cross Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Then, after 11 years the church had 65 communicant members including the following family names: Fischer, Ambrosius, Kalbfleisch, Bonn, Eigenbrodt, Wendler, Richter, Esterlein, Launhardt, Johann, Heinicke, Kluge, Biller, Wilhelmina, Eckart, Becker, Hoffmann, Junghans, Lochmann, and Schroeppel.
More About Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School
According to its website, the five families who established the church completed and signed its founding constitution on November 29, 1848, under Holy Cross German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Collinsville".
Pastor Friedrich Lochner was the first pastor of the congregation. The church rented spaces from Christ Episcopal Church on Seminary Street, where its first worship services are held.
The rent was 75 cents per month. Another milestone for Holy Cross was the purchase of a building for the school in 1861. These were the humble beginnings from where Holy Cross grew to what it is today.
Currently, Rev. Kyle Wright II serves as the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School. While Christopher here serves as the vicar.
This faith community is located at 304 South St. Collinsville, Illinois. As shared on its Facebook page, Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School is a congregation of The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.
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