Ostmark congregation dedicates new facility

The Ostmark Lutheran (ELCA) congregation in Forest City Township of rural Watkins will dedicate its new worship facility at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 23.

The Rev. Larry Wahlrabe will represent the Southwest Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at the service which will be conducted by present pastor, Rev. Marion Rova. The public is welcome to attend. Directional signs will be posted on Minnesota Highway 24.

The congregation members will hold a morning worship at 10:30 a.m., followed by their annual Midsummer Potluck Picnic.

Immigrants from the Varm-land area around Ostmark, Sweden, came to the area northwest of Kingston and formed a church in 1894 known as the Swedish Lutheran Evangelical Augustana Ostmark Church under the auspices of the Augustana Synod for Swedish Lutheran congregations. The congregation marked its centennial with a huge celebration in the summer of 1994.

Over the years, the congregation worshipped in three different buildings. The first was built in 1895 and torn down on July 5, 1911, to build a larger structure for a growing congregation. After only five months, it was struck by lightning and burned on May 21, 1912. A new church building was dedicated on Nov. 12, 1912. Several additions had been made to that building through the years, including a narthex, additional office and Sunday School rooms. The newest addition, a ground-floor fellowship hall, had been completed just four months before the fire on April 1, 2000, which destroyed the entire complex. The congregation of nearly 300 baptized members welcomes everyone in the area to join with them in worship and fellowship.

For more information, contact Robert Hermann, Church Council President, at (320) 693-6782.