Placing a special emphasis on faith, foundation and future, one Waterloo congregation is set to have a particularly special year as they come together to celebrate their church’s 125th anniversary.

At Immanuel Lutheran Church, the celebration is set to begin this weekend with special services led by former Pastor Rev. Dr. Robert Preece, who served the church from 1973-1990.

Additional special weekend services are scheduled throughout the year, with Rev. Dr. Tony Troup stopping by April 18-19, Rev. Dr. Matthew Clark July 18-19 and Rev. Merritt Demski Oct. 17-18.

With several months of preparation put into this anniversary celebration, members of Immanuel Lutheran will spend the year remembering their history, furthering their current ministries and planning for the future.

Immanuel Lutheran Office Administrator Lisa Clamors, alongside Emilie Land – who is serving on the anniversary committee – spoke about and provided literature on the church’s history.

While this is the 125th anniversary of the church, its roots stretch back a few years earlier in 1898, when Francesca Schmidt moved to Waterloo from St. Louis to open a millinery store, contacting the Missionary Society of Concordia Seminary in St. Louis when she found Lutherans in the area didn’t have a place to worship.

The first Lutheran service in the community was held on Reformation Day in the courthouse, organized by Schmidt and several other Lutherans in town she persuaded to assist. Student Edward Koehler  from the Concordia Seminary led the service.

The group later rented the Masonic Hall and, by the end of Nov. 1898, the Methodist Church where services were held Sunday afternoons.

The congregation was properly organized on January 13, 1901, under Reverend Franz Pieper with five charter members and the German name “Die Deutsche Evangelisch-Lutherische Immanuel’s Gemeinde.”

Land commented on the early origins of the congregation.

“There is obviously a very strong German presence in Illinois and Southern Illinois,” Land said. “A lot of people settled in Monroe County and St. Louis directly from Germany… It’s not surprising that German congregations, Lutheran congregations popped up in a lot of the small communities that grew in Southwestern Illinois.”

It was agreed that the congregation’s first church would be built in Jan. 1907, with the cornerstone laying service taking place April 21, 1907, on a plot of land on the south edge of Waterloo. It was dedicated Dec. 8, 1907.

This building served as the church’s home until 1950, with leadership finding throughout the 40s that the church was simply too small to suit the congregation.

While multiple services were conducted to accommodate worshippers, services ultimately moved to the basement of the large two-room school constructed at the corner of Church and Hoener streets.

Ground for a new church building was broken April 11, 1954, adjacent to the school. It was dedicated Feb. 13, 1955, and continues to be used today.

A major addition to the space was completed in 1994, providing the church with a large multipurpose room.

Concerning further additions to the church, Clamors noted the entrance and seating space that was built roughly 15 years ago.

She also recalled the renovations done to the sanctuary in 2000 and 2001 in preparation for the 100th anniversary, with similar work having been done recently to prepare for the 125th.

Immanuel Lutheran has conducted various ministries and programs throughout its history.

As mentioned, the church hosted a parochial school for a time, beginning in 1921. Though the large school was built to continue classes in 1950, it wound up closing around two decades later.

On education, a Sunday School was conducted by Schmidt in its very early years, though it shut down for a time after she stepped away.

It returned for a brief period in 1917, though Sunday School classes were started once again in 1928, and those classes have persisted over the years.

Additionally, a Christian preschool was proposed and opened in 1979. Clamors noted that the change from merely morning classes throughout the school year to full-day classes did much to open up the program to the community.

There is also much to be said about the church’s ongoing ministries, with Land placing emphasis on the mission trips that have been conducted every few years over the past decade.

Land recalled joining the first two trips to Uganda, conducting building rehab and planting over 300 plants to contribute to a garden in the community they found themselves in.

Other trips have seen members of the congregation travel to Paraguay and Cambodia, with the most recent trip at the start of this year involving congregants – Land’s brother among them – working in India.

Speaking further on the church’s history and German roots, Land spoke about how service was originally conducted for many years in German. She further remarked on the church’s pastors all having German surnames up until Preece in the 70s.

She went on to discuss the church’s legacy and how she’s able to look back at its history – names of congregants and committee members – and recognize families who still belong to Immanuel Lutheran today.

“The German names, a lot of them are still members,” Land said. “Those families are still members of our church. There are generations of families that go to this church, and they stay.”

With plenty of work done in the past few months to prepare for the 125th anniversary celebration through the year Clamors and Land spoke about what it’s like to be a part of the effort.

Clamors described the experience of working with multiple generations throughout the process, coming together to celebrate the past and also look forward to the future and making even more memories.

Land likewise spoke about working with members of the church who have been there for years, decades or a lifetime, all coming together to benefit Immanuel Lutheran and those around the church.

“It’s actually very interesting working with people that joined the church over the years,” Land said. “Some have been lifelong members… It’s been fun working with them. These people are so passionate about the church… genuinely wanting to help others, help the church, help other people. And they’re helping this whole process come through. It’s not an easy thing to plan something that’s gonna go over the course of the year.”

Immanuel Lutheran has seen a great many pastors oversee the church over the years, with the latest, Rev. Benjamin Hayter, arriving just a few weeks ago in December following a somewhat lengthy period without a pastor.

Though still very new to the church, Hayter very much encapsulated the spirit of the 125th anniversary has he emphasized the past and present alike.

“In a place that has such a rich history of sharing the Gospel of Christ such as Immanuel Waterloo, it’s an honor to serve among God’s people here,” Hayter said. “It’s also my hope that in the coming years, the Lord will continue to bless us as we take part in his work and that, through us, more would be drawn to God, and that those already drawn to him would grow deeper in their faith, more and more. That’s our mission here, to make more and stronger disciples of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit that works in and with us here in the place.”