Nathanael Lutheran Church (Reserve, Mont.)

Nathanael Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized June 9, 1907, less than a year after the first Danish settlers came to the area and established the colony of Dagmar, Montana. The church affiliated with the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Services were held in a sod schoolhouse and in various homes. The congregation bought ten acres for a building site. A cemetery was dedicated across the corner from the church property on August 21, 1909, and that same day one of the first to take land in the colony was buried there. In the summer of 1910 a small meeting house was completed at a cost of $1200, and it was used for social gatherings as well as worship. The cornerstone was laid during midsummerfest in 1915, and the church was dedicated December 17, 1916.

All services were conducted in Danish until 1938 when one worship service each month was held in English. In 1949 they reversed it-all services were held in English with one worship service each month in Danish. Electricity came to the area in 1948. On May 18, 1952 a new parish hall was dedicated.

At the synodical convention in Des Moines, Iowa in 1953, the synod name was changed to the American Evangelical Lutheran Church. The congregation became part of the Pacific Northwest Synod of the LCA in January of 1963. All services are now conducted in English. It is still a totally rural church with the parsonage across the yard from the church. All pastors have served the Nathanael and Volmer congregations jointly.