Living Lord Lutheran Church Brief History
In 1963, the American Lutheran Church (ALC), the larger church body at that time, worked with Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Warren, Ohio, to start a new mission congregation at the Howland Corners residential area on the east side of Warren. Manufacturing jobs were abounding, new residences were being built in the Howland area, and it was the vision of the ALC to start new congregations in the residential areas near where people lived.
Pastor Paul G. Fuchs, a graduate of Wartburg Seminary, was called in July 1963 to lead this new mission congregation. 73 members of Emmanuel Lutheran Church, the sister church of Living Lord Lutheran Church, dedicated themselves to this new mission church. They became some of the charter member of Living Lord.
They conducted the first worship in the Howland township Junior High School on September 8, 1963.
The ALC Board of Missions purchased land at 851 Niles Cortland Road and had a ground breaking ceremony on September 22, 1963. The first worship service in the new facility was conducted on March 1, 1964.
In 1988, Living Lord Lutheran, along with other congregations of the American Lutheran Church, became part of a larger church organization called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
History of the ELCA
A Union of Common Beliefs
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America was formed over 20 years ago. This new church was formed from three separate and well-established North American church bodies:
- The American Lutheran Church
- The Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and
- The Lutheran Church in America.
Beginning January 1, 1988, these churches, with shared beliefs and missions, officially formed the ELCA. Two decades later, this energized church is composed of 4.8 million members and nearly 10,500 congregations across the U.S. and Caribbean. Today, the ELCA reflects the rich and diverse heritage of the people it serves.
But to understand our heritage fully, one must trace our roots back through the mid-17th century, when early Lutherans came to America from Europe, settling in the Virgin Islands and the area that is now known as New York. Even before that, Martin Luther sought reform for the church in the 16th century, laying the framework for our beliefs.