Our History
St. Paul Lutheran Church, Golden, Colorado – Tom Schuetze, Pastor.
St. Paul Lutheran Church came into existence in 1993 as a merger of St. Luke’s Lutheran of Denver and St. James Lutheran of Golden, and included members from former CLC congregations, Trinity Lutheran of Broomfield and St. Peter’s Lutheran of Denver. St. Luke’s and St. James congregations were formed in the early 1940s as Wisconsin Synod congregations, but withdrew in the late 1950s over doctrinal concerns. St. Luke’s joined the CLC as a charter member. St. James remained an independent congregation.
In the controversy on the third use of the law (see Chapter XVII) Pastor Tiefel and St. Luke’s congregation withdrew from the Church of the Lutheran Confession in 1978, and with St. James formed the Colorado Lutheran Seminary. But in the fall of 1996 it was announced that this controversy was resolved and that St. Paul congregation was in fellowship with the CLC. At that time Delwyn Maas was the pastor of St. Paul congregation. Before the 1993 merger St. James was served by Orval Kreie, Victor Schultz, and Herold Schulz. Victor Tiefel was the pastor of St. Luke’s from the beginning and still served St. Paul Lutheran as associate pastor after the merger.
In the early years St. James had bought a chapel from Camp Hale in the Rocky Mountains and used the lumber to build much of its new church at 1950 Ford Street in Golden. This sanctuary was dedicated to the service of the Lord in 1949. In 1965 it also built a new school next door. These buildings were sold in 1996, as were St. Luke’s church and parish hall. St. Paul congregation continued to worship in the former St. James church for five years after it was sold. But the congregation had begun exploration for a church site centrally located in the Denver metro area. St. Paul found a site for its new church home at 2470 Wadsworth Boulevard in Lakewood. On February 18, 2001, St. Paul dedicated its new church building to the glory of God.
Delwyn Maas served until 1998. James Sandeen was installed as pastor in January of 2000 and served until August of 2014. Tom Schuetze was installed in December of 2015. In 1996 there were 171 baptized members in St. Paul congregation, including 36 pre-confirmation children. This number rose to 184 in 1998. The 2008 statistical report showed a membership of 148 souls, including 41 pre-communicants.
April 16 2015 11:50 am
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.