The Midway Christian Fellowship welcomes its community to celebrate the rich history with memories and lessons of the past.

Pastor Kenny hale, help lead the community in reflection as after the sermon and hearing from people on how the church had affected them, He brought them together for a congregation photo, a tour of their history, and celebrated with a meal of traditional foods.

150th Anniversary

Pastor Kenny said, “Today we’re just going to have like a little bit of a history lesson about the things that have taken place over the last 150 years, how we started, the progress of the fellowship and then where we’re at today and what our focus is today. But also, there’ll be a special dedication behind the church.”

This dedication was a bench carved with the 5 names of the 11 founders that rest in the church’s cemetery. A walkthrough was given of members of their history on how the church once sat behind the current existing one, followed by relics of the past displayed in the basement. Both of these aspects were produced by Mollie Haag, a member of the church & coordinator for the Night to Shine program.

Reflecting on History

Mollie shared a bit of the history of the location of the church along with its many names taken throughout its history.

“[The Bench] is signifying this is the original site of the Midway Lutheran Church. Church. The actual name of this church was and is the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of Midway. Over the years, we’ve had other names. Most people in the area would know us as Augustana Lutheran Church. That name didn’t actually come in until 1949.”

“So, this church was built or originally founded in 1874 by 11 families in the Midway community. They built their first church about 1884. And where we’re standing right now is the original site of the first church that they built all out of timber. That church, they quickly outgrew it.

And so, they had to raise the funds and whatnot to build a second church, which they built directly in front of it. The first church. They tore down this church, used the timbers in the new church, which was opened up in 1917. That would be the church that we still have today, about 107 years old for that building.”

Suprises in the past

The church was well known for helping the community through various programs, but Mollie found that they had even more ways than expected to help the community when she was preparing for this anniversary.

“The field that most people would be familiar with our playground and what used to be a baseball field also used to be a potato field. And those potatoes would be sold in the community, and they would help to keep the lights on in our church.

So, I have found historical records to that, which I actually uncovered while planting the apple grove that is on there now. And so, I thought that was a nice full circle that that field used to be potatoes, which helps sustain the church. And now we’re turning it into apples, which will help sustain the church because we’re known for our apple pies. Just the full circle.”

Looking back to look forward

The basement is filled with photos and records from the church’s past— from details captured by journals to pictures of the congregation’s history. So as the community gathered for celebrating and eating traditional foods, they could look on the many experiences and lives that had walked through that building.

The celebration went on August 18th from 9am to 3pm, as the church continues to stand as the original bell still rings out the same as it did 150 years ago.