BETHANY HISTORY
BETHANY LUTHERAN CHURCH HISTORY AS WRITTEN FOR THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATION SUNDAY, MAY 29, 1988
One hundred years of continuity and enduring values, such as faith in God and love of our neighbors. But also one hundred years of change in becoming more inclusive rather than exclusive, first in 1892 becoming affiliated with the Bethesda Lutheran Church in Page City and the Sharon Springs Lutheran Church in Sharon Springs. In 1934 with the organization of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Tribune, Bethany was united to make one pastorate. The Quad-Parish was formed in 1962 to join all four churches.
Also change was made in the expansion of our ministry through the treasured relationships with the other churches in the Weskan community. We are presently working with the Baptist Church and the United Methodist Church on World Day of Prayer Services Good Friday Services, and Vacation Bible School.
Our vision has broadened to include women in the ministry. Bethany Lutheran Church is one of the few parishes that has had the opportunity to have husband and wife pastoral teams serve, beginning in 1984 with Rev. Cristy Claus Schoob and Rev. David Schoob, and presently Rev. Norma Pouppirt and Rev, Wayne Pouppirt.
One hundred years of church history and partnership with church conferences, first with the Kansas Conference of the Augustana Synod. The Kansas Conference later became know as the West Central Conference, and the Augustana Synod became the Augustana Lutheran Church. In 1962 a merger of four Lutheran Church bodies including the Augustana resulted in the formation of the new Lutheran Church in America. Our West Central Conference has become a part of the Central State Synod. Effective January 1, 1988 the Lutheran Church of America merged to become the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
One hundred years of members who gave their time, their talents, their loyalties, and their money to Bethany Lutheran Church. They touched lives by their willingness to serve through parish education programs including: Sunday School, Lutheran Church Women, Luther League, Vacation Bible School, and various choirs groups.
One hundred years later we look back not only to take pride in the fact that Bethany Lutheran Church has endured all these years, but also to dream again, to welcome change as well as continuity with the past.
From Sweden "the land of the midnight sun", the Swedes found their way to Kansas. They came for a variety of reasons: shortage of food in Sweden, economic pressure, religious freedom, or lure of adventure after hearing from relatives and friends already settled in "framtidslandet" (the land of the future). Immigration companies were also organized to bring the Swedes to the plains. The Kansas Pacific Railroad published interesting and complete pamphlets in Swedish describing the opportunities for a good life in Kansas.
They brought with them courage, strength, tradition, and culture. The Swedes settling in Wallace County in the northwestern part of the state formed the Bethany Lutheran Church in 1888. The Church and a post office comprised the town of Linea, Kansas in the Stockholm Township. The name of the town was later changed to Stockholm because another Kansas town had claimed the name Linea.
The church was always of major importance in the Swedish settlement. At the center of the Lutheran Church is the teaching of Martin Luther that states "justification by grace through faith". This basic belief is the foundation on which the church was built,
That is what makes 1988 so promising. "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ," I Corinthians 3:11. Let each of us take care how we build on this foundation during this centennial year. Our Swedish ancestors recognized the importance of this foundation. The verse quoted above is remembered to have been printed in Swedish on a motto, which hung on the church wall for several years in the early 1900's. We believe that because Bethany Lutheran Church has built on that foundation, that it has been blessed of God in a most definite way.
The early church also established a parochial school taught by Miss Jennie Stenholm. Miss Mary Holcomb later taught the school using the English language. A county high school was only available at Sharon Springs. The distance made higher education a problem for the Lutherans, until 1934 when Stockholm consolidated with Weskan. Bethany College in Lindsborg has played a big role in supplying student ministers as well providing advanced education.
A realistic account of early life of the Swedes in Kansas will include experiences of joy and sorrow, victory and defeat. The countryside, with its vast reaches of unsettled prairie, treeless, and windswept, must have seemed strange to people who came from a land marked by groves of birch trees, well-tilled fields of modest size, and crystal clear streams. But their dreams didn't vanish in the prairie wind, even though discouraging conditions prevailed during the early 1890's. A large number of the church members moved away lowering, the congregational membership of 181 in 1894 to 113 members in 1899.
The Swedes who stayed became a part of life in the new surroundings. They brought to the prairie with them the customs of family unity and worship; these traditions have not been lost.
Christmas is a time of joyous expectation for the Swedes rich traditions of the "Jul" (Christmas) Season. The kitchen took on a new importance with "kringlor" (rolls) and Swedish "ragbrod" (rye bread). Swedish delicacies, including "patatiskorv" potato sausage), "sill" (a type of herring), "lingon" (lingon berries), "ostatkaka" (a milk and cream pudding), "lutfisk" (codfish) and other foods from home land recipes furnish tasty Christmas dishes and many remembrances of former years.
The traditional Candle lighting Service is still celebrated the first Sunday of Advent by inviting the community to sing and celebrate the Christmas season in a worship service at the Church, Following an overflowing Christmas "smorgasbord" (sandwich table) is shared.
Throughout these pages of memories so many names associated with the Bethany Lutheran Church surface. Each generation had its leaders and cast of characters. And the one hundred years was by no means a smooth or uneventful journey. There were periods of crisis and opportunity.
We celebrate one hundred eventful years we do not know what the future holds for the Bethany Lutheran Church. We continue to hope, as did the founders in 1888 and to act on the hope and faith in God. This centennial year, in a special way, sensitizes us to the fact that we find ourselves dealing with many of the same issues, in a new context, that were important in earlier days. Indeed, sometimes the more things change; the more they stay the same.
MINISTERS OF THE BETHANY LUTHERAN CHURCH
1988 Rev. Norma Pouppirt Rev. Wayne Pouppirt 1984 Rev, Cristy Claus Schoob Rev. David Schoob 1983 Mr. Stanley Larson, Student 1979 Rev. Clifford Swanson Rev. Michael Fleming, St. Francis Mr. Bill Hall, Goodland Rev. Charles Miller, Bird City Mr. Mike Wallace, Oakley 1978 Rev, John Bender Mr. Timothy Ohlmann, Student 1977 Rev. Lester Larson 1974 Rev. David Thies 1966 Rev, Virgil Lundquist 1962 Rev, Lorenze P. Larson 1961 Rev. C. A. Strandberg 1958 Rev. Carl A.B. Swanson, Vice Pastor 1957 Mr. Carl Fredrickson 1956 Bethany College Students Rev. Stanley Swanson, Vice Pastor 1953 Rev. J.P. Langsjoen 1952 Mr. Vernon Mai 1949 Mr. Lawrence Trued 1947 Rev. Melvin Ostlin 1946 Mr. Robert Warren, Student 1942 Mr. Wilson Fagerberg, Student. 1941 Bethany College Students 1940 Mr. Leo Nelson Student 1939 Mr. Alfred Grossman, Student 1937 Mr. David Roy Johnson, Student 1936 Mr. Arthur Franzen, Student 1935 Mr. Carl Samuelson, Student Mr. Philip Larson, Student 1934 Mr. Russell Nelson, Student 1933 Rev. August Norden 1907 Rev. A.P. Martin (Served 26 Years) 1899 Rev. John Holcomb 1896 Rev. A.P. Malm 1894 Mr. GA. Dorf, Student 1892 Rev. Erick Glad 1888 Visiting Ministers (Rev. John Holcomb, Rev, C. J. Olson, Rev. O. Olson, Rev. L.J. Sandeen, Rev. Sandquist, Rev, J.A. Stamline)