The Early Years
The mission of Family of Christ began with a knock
on a Lakeville door back in 1989. Founding Pastor / Mission Developer Del Lind canvassed
the Lakeville area seeking out potential members to an exciting new congregation in
Lakeville. Soon enough, many families signed on and a charter was drafted establishing a
new Lutheran congregation in one of Minnesota's fastest growing communities.
The first services were held in peoples homes and
very soon moved to area schools. With the added room, Sunday School programs were
developed as word of mouth led to the congregations rapid growth. Finally a 7 acre parcel
of land was purchased on 185th street, just east of I-35 and plans were made for the first official worship space.
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Early congregation photo at old Lakeville HS
(now Kenwood Trail JH)
Our Mission Builder crew. |
Installing the roof trusses.
Insulating the sanctuary. |
Construction
After being delayed because of the unseasonably wet
spring and summer of 1993, site grading was done late in the year. Actual construction
began in the spring of 1994. Family of Christ was built with mostly volunteer labor.
Members of this and many neighboring congregations, donated hundreds of hours of labor and
expertise to complete our first home. This diverse, dedicated group was led by the
experienced craftsmen of the ELCA Mission Builders program. These retired gentlemen, along
with their wives, lived in motor homes and trailers on the site and became part of our
family over the building process. We shared many experiences, meals and worship services
together. Finally, their portion of the project was completed and they had to move on to
the next project. We will miss Norm, Del, Jerry and the others for their commitment to our
project and the examples of serving the Lord they displayed on a daily basis. Finally the
long awaited time had come and we joyfully celebrated our first service in our new home on
Christmas Eve 1994.
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To the future,...
Now in 2005, we are excited for our
first expansion project. This addition will provide much needed classroom,
youth, meeting and office space.
See the
Share the Vision link on the right (under Features) for more information
about this exciting stage in our growth!
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