Covenant News

Boulder (WI) Church to Mark 75 Years of Ministry

BOULDER JUNCTION, WI (April 29, 2003) - Community Church of Boulder Junction, which has enjoyed Evangelical Covenant Church connections for years and is an associate member of the Central Conference, will celebrate its 75th year of ministry June 19-22.

Central Conference Supt. Herbert Freedholm will be the guest preacher on June 22, according to anniversary committee chair Arnie Bolin.

Events will include:

• Thursday, June 19: Hospitality Day with an open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. (refreshments will be served) and a community tour
• Friday, June 20: Events begin with a noon luncheon for special guests (by invitation), including previous pastors, spouses and pastors' widows; local clergy; town officials and church representatives. At 7 p.m., the church's music and worship department will present an anniversary program entitled "Through the Decades."
• Saturday, June 21: At 3:30 p.m., visiting singers and local residents are invited to a choir rehearsal session as the group will sing at Sunday morning worship service. At 5:30 p.m., the church's youth will host a spaghetti supper and at 7 p.m. Katherine Kulas (a daughter of the church and an internationally known opera singer) will perform at a special anniversary concert.
• Sunday, June 22: The church's 10 a.m. worship service will include special music, greetings by previous pastors and guest speaker Supt. Freedholm. A catered luncheon will follow.

Community Church owes much of its beginning to a strong Sunday school program that began in 1921 and was reorganized in 1928 at the High Lake Schoolhouse under the leadership of Sunday school Supt. Fred Haag Sr., Wilhemine Doolittle, Mrs. C.H. Ashton, Dr. Kate Newcomb and Mrs. S.J. Williams. During that period, worship services were organized once a month or more often as visiting pastors could be secured. A school bell that rang for the children in one of the local schools still rings each Sunday to signal the start of worship service.

Church records indicate that Elmer Sloan was an interim pastor in 1940 and helped the church grow to a point where it became incorporated in 1941 and dedicated its own church building in 1942. Bolin, a retired Covenant pastor, said Covenant pastors have been made available to Community Church since the 1940s as Central Conference Superintendents O.B. Olson and Emil Bolin helped supply ministers to the congregation. The first full-time pastor, a Covenanter named Wilfred Hansen, began his work in 1947 and helped the congregation double its size in his four years there.

A key pastor in the life of Community Church was Robert Anderson, who began his ministry in 1964 and served for approximately three decades while helping the church as it expanded its facilities. The current congregation under pastor Tim Hawkinson has an average worship attendance of 134, according to Covenant Yearbook.

For more information about the church, call Hawkinson at 715-385-2146. Greetings from previous members and visitors can be sent to the church at P.O. Box 14, Boulder Junction, WI, 54512-0014. For more information about the celebration activities, call Bolin at 715-547-6018.

Printable version of this page.