A Brief History of St Luke’s Lutheran Church, Crow’s Nest

Crow's Nest Lutheran Parish

A Brief History of St Luke’s Lutheran Church

1 October, 1925	The Queensland District Pastors’ Conference at Highfields asked Pastor A.R. Reuther to visit Crow’s Nest to ascertain whether a congregation could be formed.
13 October, 1925	Pastor Reuther rode into Crow’s Nest on a pushbike to make the investigation with four Lutheran families.
20 October, 1925	Mr August Welke drove Pastor Reuther by car to Crow’s Nest. Seven additional families were found, who were willing to form a congregation.
25 October, 1925	The first service was held in the home of Mrs F. Voll. On that day it was arranged to conduct services on a four-weekly basis.
22 December, 1925	A meeting was held at the home of Mrs F. Voll when members formally constituted themselves as a congregation. Those present were W. Schmaling, C. Wrembeck, F. Voll, A. Voll, A. Vonhoff, R. Vonhoff, S. Ehrlich, A. Patzwald and Mrs Briese.
June, 1926	At a meeting it was decided to erect a church on the block of land purchased from the School of Arts Committee for the sum of £5.
24 October, 1926	The day of dedication of the newly erected church building with more than 500 present from the surrounding congregations of Douglas, Bergen, Djuan, Doctor’s Creek, Goombungee, Boah Peak, Highfields, Glencoe, Meringandan, Toowoomba, with three carloads also from Lowood and Toogoolawah.
	Seven pastors were present, also two missionaries bound for New Guinea who had arrived from the United States of America on the previous day. Pastor Albert Reuther of Murgon conducted the dedication service. The Highfields Choir assisted in the service with a number of anthems.
	The building was erected under the supervision of Mr T Askin, the local carpenter, and Mr Muhling and Mr H. Trost were engaged to help him. Main voluntary helpers were Albert and Robert Vonhoff.
	The country, at the time, was in the throes of a calamitous drought, but with the help of neighbouring congregations and synod generally, which raised the sum of £226, the church was opened debt free. The total cost of the church, including the organ and the pews, was approximately £350. The dimensions of the church were 32 feet by 20 feet.
29 October, 1926	At a meeting of the congregation the following church wardens were elected: C. Sperling, W. Schmaling and Robert Vonhoff. Mr R. Patzwald, C. Wrembeck and Albert Voll had previously been elected to the Board of the Incorporated Body.
27 January, 1927	The congregation became formally incorporated under the title of The Evangelical Lutheran St Luke’s Congregation at Crow’s Nest.
16 May, 1927	The St Luke’s congregation was formally admitted as a member of the District Synod. Mr J. Hartwig represented the congregation as delegate.
8 January, 1935	With the steady growth of the congregation and the great need for more room and better accommodated in the church, the congregation decided to extend the building by 10 feet, at the same time to build an altar-niche and a vestry and to generally renovate the interior of the church. The committee chosen to take charge of the building operations consisted of Mr W. Welke (Chairman), Mr S. Ehrlich (Treasurer), Mr H. Wolski, Mr C. Wrembeck and Mr A. Voll. The supervision was again in the hands of Mr T. Askin.
2 June, 1935	More than 500 people again were present for the dedication of the extensions, performed by Pastor L. Dohler of Lowood. The combined choirs of Highfields and Bergen, comprising of 46 members, sang a number of anthems. Mesdames Ehrlich, Reuther and Mr W. Vaschina officiated at the organ.
	Cost of the extensions and renovations was approximately £200.
	Speakers at the afternoon service were Pastor Poland of Crow’s Nest and Pastor Gutekunst of Toowoomba.
1936	The congregation, together with the rest of the parish, experienced a change of pastors when Pastor Reuther accepted a call to Bethania and Pastor G. Venz took his place.
24 October, 1939	The first meeting of the Ladies Guild with 19 foundation members. The first office bearers were: President Pastor G. Venz, Secretary Miss L. Vonhoff, Treasurer Miss Jean Ehrlich.
1940	The Lutheran Youth Society was formed under the leadership of Pastor Venz with 22 members. Secretary was Marion Welke and Treasurer, F. Ehrlich.
25 May, 1941	Following extensive renovations, costing £438, the enlarged and beautified church was reopened. Much of this money was received from the Wittenberg Legacy which became available to Lutheran congregations of the Downs.
1950	Pastor Venz accepted a call to Cummins in South Australia and Pastor L. Grope was inducted as pastor of the parish.
21 October, 1951	Some 450 people were present to hear the addresses of former pastor, Pastor A. Reuther and Pastor M. Lohe, President of the Queensland District at the celebration of the 25th Anniversary. A presentation was made to Mrs S. Ehrlich who had been the congregation organist since the beginning 25 years ago.
	The Crow’s Nest band played selections during the midday luncheon period.
18 November, 1956	A new hall was opened and dedicated by Pastor G. Dohler of Ipswich. The hall, which was voluntarily erected by the members of St Luke’s, was formerly a public building at Somerset Dam, known as Hunter’s Hall. The carpentering was done under the supervision of Mr Charlie Cox and the painting by Mr C. Spies. Among the many donations to the hall was an organ presented by the Sunday School children, 50 folding chairs made by the brotherhood and crockery for 100 people donated by the Ladies Guild.
8 February, 1969	The new manse at Crow’s Nest was dedicated by Pastor F.H. Schmidt, President of the Queensland District. It was built at a cost of $13,000.
23 March, 1969	The present St Luke’s Church building was dedicated by the District President, Pastor F.H. Schmidt. The cost of the Church, built to accommodate 250 worshippers, was $32,000, which included the furnishings. Local Pastor at that time was Pastor David Stolz. Former pastor of the congregation, Pastor Ivan Roennfeldt, was the first preacher from the new pulpit.
	The choir from Concordia College sang the opening hymn at the dedication service. More than 800 people from surrounding congregations and beyond were present.
	The original St Luke’s Church building opened in 1926, was removed to the corner of North and Tor Streets at Wilsonton to serve the Methodist community there.
November, 1973	The Nazerene Bookshop was opened.
23 February, 1975	A new educational unit was added to the Church Hall and dedicated. Builder was Mr Charlie Cox. Cost of the unit was about $11,000, plus donations of materials and time.
	Guest speaker for the occasion was Pastor P. Boesch, a member of the District Education Committee. Local Pastor at the time was Pastor R. Munchenberg.
24 August, 1975	The 50th Anniversary of St Luke’s was held. The Guest Preacher was Pastor Grope.
28 March, 1989	A PA System was purchased.
25 June, 1989	The carpet was replaced in the church.
29 October, 1989	A commemorative tree was planted by Dr Grope to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Women’s Guild. Also present were Pastors Roenfeldt and Scheer.
April, 1990	A ramp was erected at the Hall for disabled access.
22 October, 1991	Tape Ministry commenced at St Luke’s. It was introduced to provide tapes for the recording of church services for distribution to Shut Ins.
19 Feburary, 1995	St Luke’s Mission Statement Celebrating God’s Presence, Growing as God’s People, Sharing God’s Love was adopted.
February, 1995	Worship Today was introduced on the 4th Sunday of each month.
23 April, 1996	The Darling Downs Zone Women’s Rally was held at St Luke’s.
15 November, 1998	Twenty-five years of service by the Nazarene was celebrated during service.
October, 2000	It was decided to assist in the establishment of a Boy’s Brigade in St Luke’s to commence in 2001.

Message from Pastor

Word Processing by Debbie Hart

A. Reuther
G. P. Venz
L. Grope
I. L. Roennfeldt
J. H. Biar
D. Stolz
R. Munchenberg
C. Scheer
T. Rudolph
K. Fischer