Immanuel Lutheran Church (Hodgkins, Illinois)

Immanuel Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, located in Hodgkins, Illinois. The congregation was organized on December 31, 1911. Immanuel is an LCMS member, located in the Northern Illinois District in Circuit 19. As of 2006, Immanuel reported having 152 baptized members, and 122 confirmed members. Rev. Adam A. Dietrich was the interim pastor from 1976 through 2011. Rev. Walter D. Otten, formerly of St. Paul's Brookfield, IL, accepted a call Immanuel and was installed on December 4, 2011. Rev. Otten served until June 30, 2013, when he retired. In January 2014, the Rev. Eric N. Andersen was installed as Pastor.

History[edit]

Thoughts of organizing a congregation at Hodgkins, Illinois, were entertained as far back as the 1880s. At that time there were several Lutheran families living in what would later be the village of Hodgkins who were members of the Lutheran churches of LaGrange and Willow Springs, Illinois. A local merchant named John Witsan organized a Sunday school in Hodgkins about this same time. The development of the Sunday school amplified, for the Lutheran families, the inconvenience of sending their children to the Lutheran day schools and Sunday schools in LaGrange and Willow Springs, and thoughts of a stand-alone congregation in Hodgkins began to materialize. Two representatives from the Lutheran churches in LaGrange and Willow Springs, Reinhardt Leu and Henry Bloedorn, approached Rev. Alex Ullrich of LaGrange with the proposition of establishing a Lutheran congregation in Hodgkins.

A conference was held after this meeting with Rev. Herman Meyer of Willow Springs. Rev. Meyer was strongly in favor of the movement and immediately set about to conduct the first Lutheran worship services in Hodgkins, in the old Village Hall in the spring of 1911. On Sunday, April 23, 1911, twenty-six men gathered together in the same hall, along with Rev. Ullrich and Rev. Meyer, and formally organized Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hodgkins, Illinois. The newly formed congregation adopted a constitution and called Rev. Meyer as its pastor. Rev. Ullrich was called as the assistant pastor.

Services, Sunday school, and Bible studies, continued to be held at the Hodgkins Village Hall. In later years it was also used for a Saturday Bible school conducted by Rev. Ullrich. An opportunity arose for the congregation in 1911 to purchase the old Lutheran school house building from St. John's, LaGrange.^[1] The building was disassembled, transferred to the building site in Hodgkins on Kimball Avenue, and reassembled. All the work was completed by members of the two congregations. In the Fall of 1911, the cornerstone was laid. On March 10, 1912, Immanuel was dedicated.

Rev. Ullrich became the sole pastor at Immanuel after Rev. Meyer was called to Bellewood, Illinois. Rev. Ullrich, who was also the president of the Northern Illinois District of the LCMS, as well as pastor at St. John's, LaGrange, served Immanuel until October 1930. At that time Rev. H. C. Seitz, who was the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Western Springs, accepted the call to Immanuel.

Originally Immanuel numbered 26 voters and 106 souls. In 1937 (the congregation's 25th anniversary), the congregation numbered 150 souls, 110 communicants, and 123 voters, with a Sunday school of 43 children, and four teachers.

In 1951 the Kimball Avenue property was sold and a new church was built at the present Kane Avenue location. The following is an entry from the "Village of Hodgkins - 100 Years of Progress" historical booklet on Immanuel.

The Immanuel Lutheran church on Kimball Avenue as originally the schoolhouse of St. john's Lutheran Church, LaGrange, Illinois. Reinhardt Leu was general contractor and the men of the congregation worked with him. The schoolhouse was dismantled in LaGrange and brought to Hodgkins. the men built the church and added a steeple and a room at the rear to be used for German School. Reinhardt Leu climed [sic] to the top of the steeple and attached a cross to it. The first minister of the church was Rev. Alex Ullrich. The church remained in use until 1951. It was then sold to the Eisermans who later demolished it. At this time, a new church was built on Kane Avenue on two lots. One of these lots was donated by Otto Hopp. Dedication of the new church as in 1953.

Theology and teachings[edit]

As a member congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, Immanuel acknowledges and accepts all the canonical books (see [biblical canon]) of the Old Testament and the New Testament as the revealed Word of God, verbally inspired and acknowledged and accepts all the Confessional Writings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, contained in the Book of Concord of the year 1580, to be the true and genuine exposition of the doctrines of the Bible. These confessional writings are: the three Ecumenical Creeds (Apostle's, Nicene, Athanasian), the unaltered Augsburg confession, the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, The Smalcald Articles, Luther's Large Catechism, Luther's Small Catechism, and the Formula of Concord.

The mission of the congregation is stated in its constitution and by-laws:

The purpose of this congregation shall be to provide pastoral care for its members, to teach the Word of God and administer the Sacraments, to preserve the purity of Christian doctrine as expounded in the Lutheran Confessions, to exercise Christian love and fellowship, to provide for the Christian training of youth and adults, and to extend the Kingdom of God in the world at large.

Music, organ, and carillon[edit]

Immanuel Lutheran Church currently uses the Concordia Publishing House edition of the Lutheran Service Book (LSB). Most Sundays and Festivals observe the Divine Service and Holy Communion.

Immanuel boasts a 2013 Rodgers Electronic Pipe Organ, complete with MIDI Voices, and configurations that allow the organist to recreate historical temperaments, stop configurations, and pipe modeling.

Immanuel has an electronic Carillon constructed by the ChimeMaster Company; it tolls the hours during the day between 8AM and 7PM. Regular, recorded, concerts occur regularly during the daytime hours.

Mr. Howard J. Eggert currently serves Immanuel as organist.

Photos[edit]

View of Immanuel's sanctuary
Immanuel's pulpit
View of Immanuel's altar from the front of the sanctuary
Bulletin from the 1912 building dedication.
1912 Bulletin page 2.
1912 Bulletin page 3.
1912 Bulletin page 4.
Only known photograph of the interior of Immanuel's former church building, shot from the rear balcony toward the altar.

Footnotes[edit]

↑ The building was purchased at the cost of $1.00, according to Immanuel's Sixtieth Anniversary Worship Service Bulletin

Sources[edit]

Constitution and By-Laws of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church
Order of Services of the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Dedication and A Brief History of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hodgkins, Illinois (September 26, 1937)
Worship Bulletin "Divine Services observing The Fortieth Anniversary of Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church" (September 23, 1951)
Sixtieth Anniversary Worship Bulletin of Immanuel Lutheran Church (October 10, 1971).
Village of Hodgkins - 100 Years of Progress booklet, published by the Village of Hodgkins for its centennial (1996)
The Commercial-News, Danville, IL, March 28, 2007 "Shootings stir sad set of recollections" http://commercial-news.com/local/x212481995/Shootings-stir-sad-set-of-recollections/print

External links[edit]

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[1] The building was purchased at the cost of $1.00, according to Immanuel's Sixtieth Anniversary Worship Service Bulletin

[1]

Immanuel Lutheran Church (Hodgkins, Illinois)

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