Immauel Lutheran Church (Missoula, Mont.)

A. E. Gustafson of Helena, Montana presided at the organizational meeting of this church on October 20, 1898, in the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Berglin. The thirteen persons present adopted the name “The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation.” Eleven others soon joined the infant congregation which met for the next two years in members’ homes on a monthly basis. It disbanded in 1900. In 1905 the dormant congregation reorganized and petitioned the Augustana Synod for membership in that body. Construction of a building was completed in 1906.

By 1919 confirmation was taught in the English language, and many services were also conducted in that language. A new Reuter pipe organ was installed in 1933; the church was debt-free by 1944. A new church was dedicated in 1955, and an education unit was added in May of 1959. Immanuel also owns its own camp, Camp Imlu, on the Clearwater River, which was dedicated in July of 1979. In 1984, a major addition to the church was begun.

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