First Lutheran Church of Suttons Bay will celebrate its 150th anniversary Aug. 24.
The church will host a celebration at 3 p.m. and a reception to follow at 5 p.m. All are invited to attend.
Eight former pastors as well as the Synod President of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod and will preach a message highlighting God’s faithfulness to the church in the last 150 years. Among the earliest settlers of Leelanau County were Norwegian, Lutheran families who had left their homeland for greater economic opportunities. Many found the hills and lake of the region reminiscent of their homeland but felt the absence of a Lutheran church. While each household conducted its own devotions and services, they longed for a church, a pastor, and a community of believers. And so, a meeting was called on August 24, 1874, at a home in Suttons Bay for the purpose of organizing a congregation. They formed under the following resolution: “This congregation should hold fast to the old Lutheran teaching that the Bible is the source of truth, learning, and life, together with the Lutheran Confessions.”
