Covenant News

Elim Covenant Church Celebrates Anniversary

ST. PAUL, MN (July 1, 2004) - Elim Covenant Church celebrated its 90th anniversary with a Saturday open house and a special worship service during the weekend of June 19-20.

Pastor Bruce Norgard said that more than 60 people signed the guest book at the June 19 open house, which included a variety of memorabilia telling the history of the church. A DVD of the history was created and was available to watch in the church's fellowship hall.

Dr. Gordon Johnson, dean at Bethel Theological Seminary in St. Paul, and longtime Covenant pastor Luverne Sands spoke during the Sunday worship service.

Johnson was a member of the church's 1934 confirmation class. His grandparents helped dig the original foundation for the church. Sands was pastor of Elim Covenant during the 1950s and 60s. Mary Fineday, who grew up at the church, gave her testimony and shared about a ministry she has been involved with for two decades at a Native American reservation in Minnesota.

Elim Covenant Church was started as the result of a thriving Sunday school run by First Covenant Church in St. Paul, said Norgard who has served Elim Covenant for 11 years. The Sunday school effort began in 1895 at "The Little Mission House," drawing more than 100 children. Herman Almquist was the first pastor of the church. Carl Strom was pastor when the church was officially organized in 1914 and joined the Covenant two years later, according to church records. During the 1958, the church had a large growth spurt and eventually helped plant Roseville Covenant Church in 1958.

During recent years, Norgard has been involved with a multiethnic ministry to Kenyan, Congolese, and Ugandan immigrants near the downtown area of St. Paul. He began to refurbish old cars and sold them at a low rate in order to provide transportation to those in need of cars for work purposes. The congregation has been tutoring students of these immigrant groups under the guidance of Elaine Ekstedt, a teacher at Minnehaha Academy in nearby Minneapolis.

For more on the church's anniversary weekend, call Norgard at 651-488-4411.

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