The Early Days

Luther College relocated to Regina from Melville in 1926. On May 19 1930, twelve men met in the chapel at Luther College with Rev. Leinweber, a teacher at Luther. The purpose of the meeting was to establish a Evangelical Lutheran Church congregation. The first service took place on June 7th in the Chapel at Luther college.

On June 25th, 1930 the congregation requested the Canadian District of the Ohio Synod to accept the new congregation consisting of Luther staff and area residents. The original name was the Memorial Congregation.

On November 3rd, it was decided that both English and German services were to be preached in the chapel.

On January 13, 1931 the name was changed to Christ Evangelical Lutheran.

On June 4, 1933 Pastor Leinweber had decided to accept a call to the church in Yorkton. The congregation took a vote to join with Trinity Lutheran or continue as Christ Lutheran. The vote was decided to stay as Christ Lutheran.

The Original Church

The Old Church
Figure 1. The original church built in 1949.
Figure 2. The interior of the original church.

In 1947, plans were made for the building of a church. A loan was received from the District Mission Committee and many former students gave gifts of money. Luther College assisted by leasing to the congregation a tract of land located east of the principal's residence and fronting Dewdney Avenue. Here the little white church – a white frame Cape Cod structure with the brilliant red doors was dedicated on November 27, 1949.

The congregation continued to grow steadily and by the late fifties, the church was over-crowded at every service. It was decided to plan on building a new church.

The Church of Present Day

Figure 3. Pastor Kurtz breaking the sod to begin the building of the new church.
Figure 4. The new church built in front of the old church.

Pastor Wally Kurtz arrived in 1960 and that same year a request was made to acquire land for a church expansion. In 1963 the present building was built and was dedicated on January 26, 1964.




The Old Church
Figure 5. The original church was used as an Education Center.
Foundation of Old Church
Figure 6. The original church was removed leaving the foundation.

The original church served as the education center, but it too, was quickly antiquated. In 1968, plans for a new education center were approved by the people of Christ Lutheran. The original building was moved and the new brick structure was built in its place. The new facility was dedicated by the congregation on January 28, 1969.

By 1979 the average attendance at Sunday Worship services was 600 people at both services.

A Church on the Move

The Old Church
Figure 7. The original church on its way to a new home.
Figure 8. The church now located in Lumsden is still going strong.

After the Education Center was added to the church in 1969, it was decided to sell the original church. The Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Lumsden bought it for $1.00. Plans were made to move the church to it's new location at 205 Broad Street in Lumsden. The cost of moving the church was $6000.00.