Happy Birthday Saron Lutheran Church

Congratulations to the congregation of Saron Lutheran Church in Big Lake.  125 years ago a group came together and organized a church community.  Since then they have gathered each week for community worship. And this year, 2017, they celebrate 125 years of gathering for community worship.

The community first organized as a group of Swedish Lutherans living in an area known as the “Roman Settlement.”  Named after Axel Roman, one of the first settlers of the area north of Big Lake.  Officially founded on 25 January 1892, the congregation first met in area schoolhouses.  Through donations and sweat equity, a church was built.  Descriptions of the church wrote of arched windows, a tall steeple with a bell tower at its peak.  A small barn was built on the back of the church for the horses. 

Willard Moey, in his history of Saron Lutheran Church 100 anniversary, wrote the congregation named the Church “Saron,” the Swedish spelling of “Sharon.”  In Biblical references, the Plain of Sharon was the most fertile part of the coastal plain of Palestine.

Overtime, the congregation outgrew their building at the Roman Settlement.  They chose to move closer to the center of Big Lake, and build anew.  Since the move into Big Lake, the church has expanded their building and their congregation several times. 

Over the years, the congregation grew and prospered.  Albert Magney, born in April of 1892, was the first child baptized by the new congregation.  Since then several thousand baptisms, marriages and burials have marked the history of Saron Lutheran Church. 

The original arched window chapel is long since gone.  Yet, the people of Saron Lutheran Church continue to meet and the congregation continues to grow.  Congratulations on 125 years of community worship.