10/01/2022
Our Savior’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in New Hope had its origins in Norwegian Lutherans who emigrated to Wisconsin in the 1800s. As the emigrants populated the north central regions of Wisconsin, including the Indian Lands of the area, the influx of Norwegians establishing homesteads led to the founding of the congregations of North New Hope Lutheran Church (now ELCA) and South New Hope Lutheran Church (now those who have returned after time to ELCA and others that have joined elsewhere).
The congregation of Our Savior's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in New Hope WI sprang from those in the area that objected to the merger of 1917. The group included people from North and South New Hope as well as the surrounding areas of Alban, Amherst, Iola, Rosholt and Scandinavia. They began meeting together in family homes for worship and fellowship.
After a short while, they contacted the newly reorganized ELS for assistance in forming a congregation dedicated to the doctrine of the original Norwegian Synod. The Rev. John Hendricks from Minneapolis responded to the request for Synod leadership. He visited these people, without a church, and found they wished to form a congregation. The photograph of Rev. Hendricks is shown below.
Our Savior’s was one of the earliest Mission Churches in the reorganized Norwegian Synod. During the years from 1917 until they formally organized in 1922, the following Synod pastors served them: Rev. John Hendricks of Minneapolis Minnesota, Rev. George A. Gullixson of Chicago Illinois, Rev. Lauritz S. Guttebo of Deerfield Wisconsin, Rev. Bjug Harstad of Parkland Washington, Rev. Henry Ingebritson of Lake Mills Iowa, Rev. Helge M. Tjernagel of Lawler Iowa, and Rev. Dr. Sigurd C. Ylvisaker of Madison Wisconsin.
