Congregation celebrates church’s 100 year anniversary in Shelby – Shelby Star

Jacob Conley| For the Shelby Star - USA Today Network

The congregation of Ascension Lutheran Church in downtown Shelby recently celebrated its 100thanniversary.

Father Kris Kramer, the interim pastor of the church, said a service was held to mark the occasion in a traditional way.

When we met, the committee decided that we just wanted to do what we normally do, Kramer said. We wanted a typical Lutheran service. We invited former members to come and celebrate with us, and we also had some special guests.

Those special guests included Bishop Tim Smith from the North Carolina Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and North Carolina State Senator Ted Alexander. A special hymn commemorating the history of the church, composed by longtime member Ludy Wilkie, was sung, followed by dinner on the grounds and the performance of an original play depicting the history of the church.

Ascension Lutheran Church was founded on Palm Sunday 1923 with 13 members coming from congregations in Newton, Kings Mountain and Cherryville. For the next decade, members met at other churches and school buildings until 1933 when Ascension had its own building on the corner of North Lafayette Street and Marietta Street where it still stands today.

Along with the church, two members are celebrating 100 year.

Dot Paul turned 100 back in October, Kramer said. She used to knit baby hats and prayer shawls, so we gave her a shawl. She came every Sunday until COVID. Lee Berry will be 100 in a couple of months. We also have family members of L.O. Hoffman (one of the 13 original members) that still attend some services.

While the church celebrates its history, there were also some tough times for the congregation. During the Great Depression, several ladies in the congregation made a quilt and for a fee, church and community members could have their names sewn on it to help pay off debt. The quilt is currently on display in the church Fellowship Hall.

More recently, the congregation faced the challenge of COVID.

COVID almost killed us as a congregation, Kramer said. I came as interim in 2022 when we were opening back up. In some ways, I felt like it was 1923 again, and we had a small group of hearty souls coming together to meet and serve the Lord. It has almost been like a rebirth of the church, and we have grown so much since then.

As it was in the past, the focus of the Ascension Lutheran Church is to serve the Lord by serving others, he said.

Our method of evangelism is more relational than confrontational, Kramer said. Our goal is to come alongside you and walk with you, sharing the love of Jesus along the way.

To that end, the church has planned a different outreach ministry for each month in 2023.

This month we are serving snacks to the families of hospice patients, Kramer, who also serves as a part-time chaplain at Atrium Health Cleveland County, said. We also support the North Carolina Synods relief efforts on behalf of Ukrainian refugees. The church has had a long history of supporting refugees, dating back to World War II.

One such refugee was Velta Ilsters. In 1944, through the efforts of the church, she and her mother, were brought to Shelby from a displaced persons camp after the Germans invaded her native Latvia. She married Ringold Langins, also of Latvia, in 1950 and was the organist at Ascension Lutheran Church for decades.

As for the future, Ascension has put together a call committee to select the next pastor, the 15thin its history. Kramer is a candidate for the position, but he says no matter how long the Lord has him serve as pastor, he is happy to be here.

For a long time, we were known as Shelbys best-kept secret, he said. But we dont want to be a secret anymore. We are an alive, vibrant and growing congregation serving the Lord and others and we want to continue to grow. A lot of people think we are those crazy Lutherans in Shelby, but if you look at our roots, we are not all that different from other protestant denominations. We execute the theology a little differently, thats all. We welcome anyone to our services.

Ascension Lutheran Church, located at 300 N. Lafayette St. in Shelby, has services at 11 a.m. on Sundays with additional special services held throughout the year.

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Congregation celebrates church's 100 year anniversary in Shelby - Shelby Star