ELCA Church Building Destroyed by Fire

ELCA CHURCH BUILDING DESTROYED BY FIRE
99 08-48 JB

CHICAGO (ELCA) Members of Salem-Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Long Lake, S.D., are holding services in a dining hall at a local cafe following an Ash Wednesday fire that destroyed the congregation's building, including its sanctuary and educational wing.
The cause of the Feb. 17 fire is under investigation, said the Rev. Michael J. Jacobson. No one was hurt.
The fire occurred during the morning hours. Local fire departments were unable to save the building, so they concentrated their efforts on saving other nearby buildings, Jacobson said. Despite the losses, the congregation's spirits remain good, he said.
Long Lake's population is about 100 people, and it's located in north-central South Dakota, a farming and ranching area. Salem-Emmanuel has 80 baptized members.
Already, many members have expressed desires for another building, and the congregation council is expected to begin that process the first week in March, Jacobson said. Fortunately, the building was insured.
"The people here really don't want their community to die, and if this church goes, it could be one of the last straws," Jacobson said.
"The church is not the building," he said. "The church is the people. They want to continue their ministry for each other and for their community."
Salem-Emmanuel's sanctuary was completed in 1941 and its educational wing was added in 1963, said Jacobson, who serves a two-point = parish which includes Salem-Emmanuel and St. James Lutheran Church, Leola, S.D.
Many have come to the congregation's aid. A Methodist family in town loaned the congregation an organ, Jacobson said. Zion Lutheran Church, Eureka, S.D., St. James and several people loaned hymnals and other worship supplies for the congregation to use.
The only item saved from the fire was a safe which contained records from predecessor congregations that merged to form Salem-Emmanuel. = Minutes of meetings and financial records were stored off premises.
The Rev. Andrea DeGroot-Nesdahl, bishop of the ELCA's South Dakota Synod, likened the fire to the tragedy that struck St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Spencer, S.D., when a tornado destroyed its buildings last May.
"These beautiful buildings come to mean so very much to us," she said in a column from The Synod Scene, a publication of the South Dakota Synod. "They have held so many special occasions in our lives over the years and have symbolized the presence of God in our communities.
"The church continues, and out of its ashes comes the witness to the power of the cross of Christ, making all things new, even those things we see as destroyed," DeGroot-Nesdahl added.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://www.elca.org/co/news/current.html