 |
About St. Peter's |
|
St. Peter's Lutheran Church
started as a vision in a pastor's
eye as he drove down the Cochrane hill. The Pastor's name was Knut
Neumann. He approached Bethany care Centre and offered his services for
Pastoral care. This was in the fall of 1989. From Pastoral care he
moved to Sunday evening services where he had a number of volunteers
that would attend to help with some of the residents. One of these
volunteers was Margaret. Margaret enjoyed this new preacher so much she
invited a few of her friends to come and hear him. From these Sunday
evening services came the plans for a new church. A few of us met in
Wally and Margaret's basement and formed a steering committee. Pastor Knut stayed with us until March 1991, when he and his wife Kathy moved to Medicine Hat. St Peter's by this time had around 30 or 40 attending members and we were organized as a church in our own right. This meant that there was no funding from the Alberta Synod. Following Pastor Knut's leaving our growth stopped and we were almost ready to close our doors due to poor attendance and lack of funding. We could no longer afford to pay our Pastor Bob Moland, so in the fall of 1992, he moved on. God has always had His hand on St. Peter's. In December 1992, when there seemed to be no hope He sent us Pastors Bent and Eleanor Damkar. What a blessing! These two people came to us for next-to-no salary and only minimal benefits. They taught us the importance and power of prayer. They showed us how to run a church and it was under their leadership that we were able to build our current church. Before Pastors Bent and Eleanor followed God's call to Stony Plain, they worked along side Pastor Norm Miller here at St. Peter's. Pastor Norm joined us in December of 2000 and Pastors Bent and Eleanor left for Stony Plain in December 2001. We continued to grow here at St. Peter's and added an office administrator to our staff. Pastor Norm and Ruth led the congregation with great energy and devotion. Pastor Rick Bergh was called and began his ministry at St. Peter's in August, 2005. Pastor Norm stayed on until his departure in June, 2006 to build a mission church in NW Calgary. We are so blessed to have Pastor Rick Bergh to lead and guide us. In 2007, St. Peter's became a member of CALC, the Canadian Association of Lutheran Congregations. Shortly after, in March of 2008 we celebrated the tenth anniversary of our current building site. We give thanks to God for all his past and future blessings!
|
| © 2011 - St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Cochrane, AB Canada |