Spotlight on our charter members

Posted on March 28, 2009 at 2:44 pm in

Spotlight on our charter members!Lilja Family Charter Members

Charter member Glenn Lilja was born near Erie, Colorado on the Boulder County line and joined St. Andrew as it was being born.  Glenn and his wife, Shirley, were married at First Lutheran Church in Boulder.  For awhile they attended services there.  Since St. Andrew was being established, and Glenn and Shirley and their two daughters lived in the neighborhood, they became charter members of the new church.

Glenn served on the first Board of Deacons, and Shirley, as wife and mother, helped with Sunday School classes.  Through the years, Glenn has been a faithful member of St. Andrew.  As he says, “St. Andrew is a place of blessing, a place of friendships.  It’s my home.”

Glenn sees the future of St. Andrew as continuing to teach God’s Word and to keep the people of God here as special as they always have been and always will be.  “St. Andrew was the number one church when I joined.  It’s still number one.  I would say that to this day.”

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Spotlight on our charter members!

Posted on March 28, 2009 at 2:28 pm in

Spotlight on Kristy SchovajsaRynearson Family Charter Members

As told by Kristy Rynearson Schovajsa

Elaine and Ed Rynearson had five children: Kenny, Danny, Kathy, Nancy and Kristy.  The family lived on Upham Street, behind the Arvada Lanes Bowling Alley.  Being Lutherans, they were happy to learn of a new church being built near them.  They joined St. Andrew Lutheran Church as Charter Members.  Kristy recalls that on the day the charter was to signed, her mother didn’t think that signing the document was important and was more eager to get her little brood of five back home.  So none of the family signed the Charter Roll on that day.

Kristy remembers a fun, spirited time growing up in the church.  She was active in Sunday School, junior choir and Luther League.  As Kristy was growing up, her social life and that of her siblings revolved around the church and its activities.  She can tell great stories about others in the church and of her good friends Jeanine Klingens and Sue and Dede Martin.

When asked about her favorite memories, Kristy recalls:

Spaghetti fights in the back of the church that is now the choir loft

The youngster Jean Lascot whom everyone thought was so cute

Babysitting for families of the church, like the Oberts

Rick Torfin and his kindness to her son, Nick

Pastor Paul and Karen Hadland and their ministry with us, her illness and their leaving to go back to Minnesota

To this day, St. Andrew is the “ground point” for the Rynearson family.  Two of the sisters and one of the brothers were married here.  It is the place to which this family returns for family celebrations, for baptisms, confirmations and for funerals.  “This is our home.”

By Julie Cunningham

Photo by Joe Cunningham

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St. Andrew Lutheran Church to celebrate 50 years!

Posted on March 3, 2009 at 4:02 pm in

The St. Andrew 50th Anniversary Celebration will be on September 13, 2009 !

The planning and celebration of our 50 years of ministry in Arvada began in September 2008 with a call to action from Pastor Stephanie in this letter to the congregation -

Dear People of God at St. Andrew,

While a planning committee here at St. Andrew is already making arrangements for our 50th anniversary next year, the 13th of September this year will see our 49th. Not that that necessarily registers. The 49th of anything doesn’t seem to be worth noting – short of being, well, short of one. But, as numbers in time go, the 49th anniversary is a bit different. It concludes our 49th year, which means that two weeks from now, on September 14, 2008, St. Andrew’s 50th year begins – to conclude with our half-century celebration next September 13, 2009. Which, then, leads us to the question: How do we want to spend our 50th year – as a church, a congregation, a community of faith in Arvada, CO?

To think about this in view of our history, I have spent some time in our archives lately – archives as far as the bulletins, press releases, and newspaper clippings go that 50 years ago announced to the city of Arvada the beginning of a new Lutheran congregation. They are remarkable. News media truly understood local news differently then than they do today. Again and again, St. Andrew is mentioned: its beginnings as a mission congregation with the student pastor, James Anderson, gathering the first interested participants to worship at Secrest School; the calling of the first Pastor and Mission Developer, Richard Englund, under whose leadership the church was built; the relationship with the Augustana Church that eventually merged into the Rocky Mountain Synod. In all this time, it seems, no one ever asked about the specific ministries this congregation would engage in – there was going to be a new Lutheran Church in town, so one of these Sunday mornings, folks would try it.

Today, of course, it is much different. Today, congregations exist because of (1) the focus and (2) the quality of the ministry they do, and (3) the relationships that parishioners have amongst themselves. We are doing well in all three of these departments, I think. Our Outside (Benevolence) ministry and giving goes into the community (ARMS, PCD, Growing Home, LFS, Food Bank, Christmas Tree, etc.) and into the world (ELCA, Heifer, CROP, Operation Christmas Child, etc.); it is generous, considerate, and directed to those who need it most. Our worship life and education programs are well attended and seek to address the challenges of living our 2000-year-old faith in today’s world. And the relationships within this congregation surprise me ever again with the many caring connections and friendships that exist.

So what do we need to do in our 50th year? Tell others. Tell them of St. Andrew, tell them of the congregation you are part of and tell them what it means to you to be connected here. Tell them what it means to you to experience God and practice your faith here, and then, tell others.

See you in church –

Pastor Stephanie

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