What
We Believe.
We believe the entire Bible, both the Old and New Testament, to be verbally inspired by God, inerrant in its original autographs, and fully authoritative in all matters relating to Christian faith and practice.
We believe in one God, Creator of all, and eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father where He intercedes for the saints, and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit convicting men of sin, imparting within them the divine nature, and leading them in godly living, witnessing, and in the understanding of the Truth of God. (Romans 8:9b)
We believe that all men are sinners by nature and in need of repentance and regeneration.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men. Believers (those who have personally received Jesus Christ) are to enjoy eternal life with God. Unbelievers are resurrected to experience judgment and then eternal suffering apart from God.
We believe in the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
A
Church with a Mission.
Immanuel Evangelical Church was founded
March 25, 1916 as the German Evangelical Lutheran Immanuels Church
at Fort Morgan. Rev. John Jans of the Evangelical Synod of North America
presided at this first meeting. The church was incorporated May 8,
1916. The first church officers were: Henry Schreiner, Henry Wolf,
Henry Bernhardt, David Eckhart, and Reinhart Ruhl.
Rev. Albert Plenning served as the first pastor
from May 1, 1916 to February 1922. During that time, the congregation
had grown from 75 to 250 members.
Charter members of the church included Peter Ruppel
Sr., Fred Kembel Sr., George Brandt Sr., David Neb Sr., George Ruppel
Jr., Gottfried Sagel, Adam Fisher, George Neb, Jacob Loose, Henry
Wolfe Sr., David Meyer, David Sagel Sr., Jacob Schlothauer Sr., Fred
D. Weimer Sr., Henry Brandt Sr., and Henry Kauffman.
July 1916 the new church was dedicated for use
as a house of God. Members of the building committee included: Karl
Meng, Peter Ruppel, David Neb, and John Boehm. The parsonage was also
built in September 1916.
Peter Ruhl and Marie Sagel were the first couple
married in the church.
The women of the congregation served the German
Ladies Aid until it disbanded in 1966. The Ladies Guild was organized
in 1946 at the home of Mrs. Henry Gies. Mrs. Jacob Propp was the first
president. After 1958 the meetings were held at the church Fellowship
Hall. The Ladies Guild name was changed to Ladies Fellowship in 1982.
Beginning in the 1960's the church commissioned
several of its young couples as missionaries: Mr. and Mrs. Harry Weimer,
Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Lind, Mr. and Mrs. Don Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. Jim
Weimer, and Linda Lauck Vissering.
A series of remodeling and building programs began
in 1950. A major remodeling of the church was completed that year
at the cost of $17,000. Ground breaking for the new church began September
21, 1974. The cornerstone was laid December 22nd and the church was
dedicated on June 15, 1975. The debt on the church was paid off December
2, 1979.
Other highlights in the church history include:
- 1958 - The parsonage was remodeled at
a cost of $9,500.
- 1969 - July 27th groundbreaking for the
center.
- 1970 - January - The center was dedicated.
- 1974 - The parsonage was moved to its
present location.
- 1977 - The parking lot was purchased.
- 1983 - The bell was erected.
- 1986 - July - The church joined the Conservative
Christian Congregational Conference.
- 1988 - The parking lot was paved.
- 1990 - The property between the parsonage
and the church was purchased.
