"Where Olmsted County News Comes First"

Comments

After more than a decade of building their church community, Peace Lutheran Church in Eyota now has a space of their own for the congregation to gather and worship.

Founded in 1998 with assistance from local ELCA churches, then-pastor Eric Bakken helped to get Peace Lutheran started by going door to door and doing other community outreach. Peace Lutheran has since grown to a congregation of more than 275 members while meeting and holding weekly worship services in the Dover-Eyota elementary school gymnasium.

While moving into the new 6,000 square foot, handicapped-accessible space complete with a sanctuary, meeting rooms, and offices, the church vows to keep its focus on the people that make up the community.

“We realized that we needed to focus on the congregation, not a building,” said Pastor Peter Ruess. “Now we have a strong congregation so we’re coming into the building in good shape.”

Pastor Ruess explains that the congregation has benefitted from starting out in a school gym in that they have developed into an informal, laid-back congregation, which is something that church members enjoy.

Walking into the sanctuary, one is struck by one feature that points towards Peace Lutheran’s nomadic history; in the back of the room there are two rows of seats behind folding tables. The congregation had grown accustomed to sitting at lunchroom tables where children had space to color or otherwise occupy themselves during the service. Out of necessity, Peace Lutheran came upon a detail of worship that congregation members came to value.

“We had some discussions about that and no one had ever seen a church do that before” said Pastor Reuss. “We’ve done it for all these years and people like it. Why not?”

Peace Lutheran Church has owned the lot east of Highway 42 and south of the Eyota Market for more than 10 years. As time went on, local people began to wonder about the future of the land and the church.

“There was a problem of visibility. People either didn’t know we were here or didn’t think we were very serious,” said Pastor Reuss, noting that he had heard rumors several times through the years that the lot had been sold. “This is our way of saying ‘We’re here and we plan to stay here.’”

Peace Lutheran also owns land several hundred feet to the south of the church building itself and is currently exploring options to utilize this land. Some ideas have included a playground, athletic fields, or green space for the community to enjoy.

The total cost of the project came out to approximately $700,000. The building was made possible by a capital campaign that netted over $150,000 and continued support from area churches.

“The cost came out to a lot less than what we thought it was going to be,” said Pastor Reuss, noting that the main reason for this was the time, talent, and energy donated by church volunteers.

The building was done in collaborative effort between Mission Builders, a group of retired ELCA church members from across the Midwest with expertise in construction, and volunteer efforts of congregation members, and Eyota residents. A group of seven Mission Builders volunteers camped out on site from the beginning of construction this past June and did the bulk of the labor through August.

The new church building marks the next phase of the congregation’s history and the church will soon beginning the next phase of the community’s journey.

“Next year we’re really going to sit down as a community and say ‘What now? What’s our next step?” said Pastor Reuss.

Peace Lutheran Church website: www.peaceeyota.org