Prairie Peace Lutheran Church

Our Beginning

 

On January 24, 2010, members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church ELCA met to take a vote regarding St. Paul’s staying ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America) or moving to the LCMC (Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ).  The vote was taken and the two thirds majority vote to leave ELCA was narrowly missed.

 

 The faithful group who voted to leave the ELCA had already decided if they lost the vote, they would hold church somewhere else the following Sunday.  They did not have a place picked out, but, it would probably be in someone’s home.

 

Later the same day Cut Bank Community Bible Church contacted Sid Brandon and informed him they had a special meeting and they voted to stand by us in our walk of faith.  They assisted us by giving us the use of their South Campus for our temporary home.  We ended up staying for approximately two years. Community Bible Church let us stay rent free, and they also covered us with their insurance for the first several months.  After this initial period, we payed rent and insurance.  They were truly a blessing.

 

We had many challenges ahead of us.  At our first meeting, we voted unanimously to go with LCMC, and we voted to name our new congregation Prairie Peace Lutheran Church.

 

Our wonderful devoted leaders were: Sid Brandon-President, Robin Bradley-Vice President, Donna Lenoir-Secretary, Jan Arnot-Treasurer, Fred Grundman-Pastor, and Karla Kaleva-Music Director and Church Secretary.

 

Prior to constructing the new church building many locations in the community were looked at for possibility of making them into a church.  In the end, Henry and Diane Alme generously donated the land that Prairie Peace sits on today.

 

We used local contractors as much as possible.  Robert Winkowitch was the General Contractor.  Dave Momberg, the plumber, Terry Shook the electrician.  Billmans and Cut Bank Building Services were very generous to us.  When it came time to sheetrock and tape, a special gentleman, Jack Johnson from Valier, along with many members of the congregation got the job done.  Construction of our church building started in March 2012 and our first services were held in November 2012.