Church History

50TH ANNIVERSARY!

This year Ruthfred Lutheran Church is celebrating! Anniversaries are times of joy…times of remembrance...times of thanksgiving! We give thanks to the Lord for the blessings of fifty years gathering together as His children to praise and worship Him... fifty years of hearing His Word and knowing Him as our personal Savior... fifty years of receiving His blessings as we strive to serve Him in the strength He has given us... fifty wonderful years because they were spent knowing the Lord as our Redeemer and Friend.

THE MISSION BEGINS

In 1948 the Lutheran City Mission Society decided to sponsor a mission congregation at the corner of South Park and Patterson Roads. This land was purchased and a building planned for this corner. A loan of $30,000 was granted to erect a building 67' x 30' to seat 200 people. (As finally built, the chapel seated 125.) The basement was to be used for a Sunday School. The Rev. Alfred Goehle was named Mission Executive Secretary and was to serve Ruthfred Church as well as a new mission on Bower Hill Road as interim pastor.

On May 2, 1948, ground was broken to erect the building, and in October that year, the cornerstone was laid. On Christmas Eve 1948, the first service was held in the part of the building we now call the Chapel. This building was still in a somewhat unfinished state, but the Lord was honored, and thus was the beginning. Services have been held regularly since that time.

By April 1949, a charter was drawn and on the 10^th of April (Easter Sunday) a group of people signed the paper which officially began the congregation of Ruthfred Lutheran Church.

PASTOR CALLED

In March 1950, a Call was extended to then seminarian, John H. Dennis, to serve as our full-time pastor. Included in the Letter of Call was an annual salary of $2,400, a car allowance of $300 and rental and moving expenses of $1,080 per year.

dennis.jpg (54298 bytes) Pastor Dennis reminisced about his Senior Year in the Lutheran Seminary of Capitol University, Columbus, Ohio. "It was March and I received a Call to come to a mission congregation in suburban Pittsburgh. I had a full academic schedule, was teaching two classes of German grammar each day, working on my thesis, working each Saturday at a large home in Columbus, and preaching at churches where the pulpit was, as we say, vacant. In March of 1950 I came to Pittsburgh on a rainy Friday evening and remained until the following Sunday afternoon. (In that day we were not allowed to cut classes for any reason.)

"The Rev. Mr. Alfred Goehle met me in an old 1940 version Chevrolet. We jaunted out to what was then Bethel Township. It was a bleak day in March and the rain destroyed the vision of seeing the area clearly. We entered into a little chapel which was the first church building.

"I liked the chapel and the area. I remember the colonial motif, and that of the buildings of the Ruthfred Shopping Center. I wondered why the church was called 'The Ruthfred Church'. At that time the name Lutheran was in parenthesis. All of the money and support came from the Lutheran City Mission Society of Pittsburgh and the American Lutheran Church. The stress was on 'here is a church'. The Lutheran confession of faith was always here. Dr. O. H. Boening came out one night and told the people 'We are Christian, but we are Lutheran.'"

OUR CHURCH BEGINS TO GROW

In March 1949 plans were made to begin a Sunday School, Brotherhood, Women's Society, High School group and a choir which began rehearsals following Lenten services and sang at the first Easter service.

Once we had a full-time pastor, attendance began to increase. Instruction classes for adults were begun as well as confirmation classes for the young. Vacation Bible School was held each year and served children of our church as well as those of the community. Children's choirs were begun and were directed by Pastor Dennis who also led the adult choir for several years.

In 1951 a Junior Mission Band was organized and a Work & Sew group (now Craft & Sew) was begun.

Pastor Dennis attended the service and about sixty people greeted him. He accepted the call. In our Lutheran church, graduation from seminary does not make one a pastor, being a shepherd of a congregation does. On June 11, 1950, Pastor John Dennis was graduated fron Seminary. He was ordained on June 18, 1950 in his home church (where he was baptized and confirmed). Or July 23, 1950 he came to Ruthfred as the first full-time pastor. He was installed by his mentor and friend, Dr. William Nies of Mt. Zion Lutheran Church, Detroit, Michigan.

In the early days, Pastor Dennis lived in a small apartment above what is now Miller Hardware. That apartment served as his home, office, counseling room and study. dennishouse.jpg (80604 bytes)

In 1952 the house at 309 Patterson Road was purchased for $14,250 for use as a parsonage. In 1953 a parsonage committee was named and it was decided to add a historian to the women's officers.

By 1954 the Sunday School had outgrown the space and an $18,000 addition to the basement was built. A second service was required each Sunday to accommodate the church11.jpg (9055 bytes) number of parishioners.

From the beginning, the Women concentrated on Bible study, service within the church and benevolences. Time and money were donated to projects such as: St. John's Lutheran Home in Mars, PA, Lutheran Student Foundation, the ALC Missions in India, and New Guinea, Lutheran World Action, and the Lutheran Service Association. In our own church, the women donated altar cloths, flags, docile cloth, communion service, choir robes, kitchen equipment and a church library. Today we still participate in many of these projects and contribute in various ways to AFLC missions. One of the large current projects is sponsorship of Angel Tree, Christmas gifts to the needy and to our AFLC Seminary staff.

Men's Brotherhood meets monthly for a dinner meeting, Bible study and current programs of current interest to Christian men.

Our Luther League has grown into a number of groups according to age.

In 1956 an Allen organ had been given to us and it was installed in the large church. We began planning for a pipe organ and when it was dedicated in 1969, the Allen organ was reinstalled in our Chapel.

God continued to bless our church and we soon realized that a large sanctuary was required. A stewardship campaign was successfully undertaken and in 1957 an architect was hired. Years of planning and construction culminated in the dedication of our large sanctuary on April 23, 1962. Clergy, members, and friends marched into the new sanctuary "in triumphal procession" as we celebrated our new house of worship.

    The youth have always been a major concern and interest to our pastor and congregation, and we realized the need for more space for the Sunday School and for church office and administration. Once again we planned with an architect and builder so that by 1968, we were able to dedicate our Educational Building.
newhouse.jpg (21569 bytes)     In 1976 Council approved the $40,000 purchase of the property at 310 Patterson Road for three additional Sunday School rooms and storage.
    In our desire to become affiliated with a more conservative church body, a Transition Committee was formed to research all Lutheran bodies. After much study and prayer, the congregation voted in June 1994 over-whelmingly to affiliate with the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations (AFLC).

In 1995 a Call was issued to Pastor James D. Molstre to be our Co-Pastor. He began serving our congregation on February 1, 1996.

PASTOR MOLSTRE IS CALLED TO SERVE RUTHFRED

     I was attending a meeting of the Parish Education Board in Minneapolis when Pastor Lee, Pastor of the AFLC, called me into his office. He asked me if I would be open to serving a church in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. My first reaction was no/And where in the world is Bethel Park, Pennsylvania ?As I went back to my meeting, I thought, "I can't just say no. Perhaps this is God's doing." So I went back to Pastor Lee and told him I was hesitant but would be open to at least consider the church.

     As the months went by in the Call process, I thought, "They'll never call me", and "I really don't want to go.' I loved the church and the people I was serving in southern Minnesota, but I was beginning to feel that perhaps God was calling me to this town and state I'd never even seen before. But in my mind, I kept thinking how can I leave these people.

     A turning point came for me in August of 1995 reading "My Utmost for His Highest" by Oswald Chambers. He writes, "He comes where He commands us to leave. If you stayed home when God told you to go because you were so concerned about your own people there, then you actually robbed them of the teaching of Jesus Christ Himself. When you obeyed and left all the consequences to God, the Lord went into your city to teach, but as long as you were disobedient, you blocked His way. Watch where you begin to debate with Him and put what you call your duty into competition with His commands. If you say, I know that He told me to go, but my duty is here, it simply means that you do not believe that Jesus means what He says." I knew this was a message that God wanted me to hear. I knew then that I could leave.

We left Minnesota in January of 1996. The temperature was 20 degrees below zero. It was raining when we arrived in Pittsburgh on January 30th. In the years we have been here, the people at Ruthfred couldn't have been more loving, kind, and supportive of us. It was certainly a change to leave a growing young church in a rural area, to come to an established church in the suburbs. But we have been made to feel part of the family at Ruthfred. This place that we have never even heard of five years ago has become our home. And what a joy it has been for me to work with Pastor Dennis. We have become good friends.

CONTINUED GROWTH

Growth is both a blessing and a problem, as we give thanks to God for His continued bounty to us. From usual attendance of 40 souls, we now find over 700 worshipping with us each Sunday. We pray for His guidance and help as we continue to strive to serve Him.

Acknowledgements: Sylvia Armen, Ed Buchwald, Ruth Meyer, & Wilma Wissner.

(Home) (Beliefs) (History) (Pastors) (People) (Programs) (Youth)

(Journey Thru the Word) (Contact Info) (Multimedia) (Sunday School)

(Online Sermons) (Sunday Bulletin) (Monthly Calendar) (Links)