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What a wonderful day celebrating God’s gracious work through First United Lutheran Church for the past 90 years! We started by reviewing the congregation’s history during the Sunday Morning Adult Study at 9:15am. An anniversary festival worship service followed in our 1963 building (the usual location where we meet!). The order of service included portions from the 1923 era, then the "new" book of the late 1950s, concluding with our current worship resource.
Then we recessed to the 1947 worship space (the current Parish Hall) for light refreshments and fellowship. Opportunities to view scenes from the past will be included. Special anniversary offerings were received and undesignated offerings were divided between White Rock Center of Hope, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church Food Pantry, and First United Lutheran Church.
First United Lutheran Church began from a group who started meeting in 1922 at First Baptist Church with SMU theological students leading worship until a full-time pastor could arrive. By late April 1923 a congregation was organized and a building purchased that Summer on Cole Avenue near Knox. The congregation remained vital but small, weathering the Great Depression, then relocating after World War II to minister to the growing area of Northeast Dallas, moving in a former military chapel in 1947 for a worship space. The congregation gathered an interesting mix of professionals, business folks, and persons in the construction industry, Swedish, Icelandic, and German immigrants, old time Lutherans and the recently interested. After raising a new building in 1963, the congregation became crucial in the start of several other area congregations (such as Bethany on Walnut Hill, King of Glory on LBJ, and St. Luke’s in Richardson) as the Lutheran church expanded in the Dallas area. After a challenging period, stability has returned in the new millennia and we are evaluating how we might best gather, grow, minister, and respond in the years ahead!
