The church and neighboring school may look different today, but Immanuel’s mission remains the same: to share Christ’s story in an ever-changing world.

This year, the church and school celebrate their 150th anniversary with a tribute to the past but also with a keen eye on the future.

In 1870, Pastor Friedrich Sievers moved to Alpena and ministered to a small group of Lutherans. In 1872, a congregation was organized and a small wooden church was erected on 2nd Avenue in 1874.

In 1888, a fire burned this church, and another church was erected on the same location and was dedicated in 1889. A school was added on the second floor of a new parsonage.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Immanuel Lutheran Church Pastor Jim Erickson stands next to the baptismal font in the church on Tuesday. The church is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

As the church’s congregation grew and enrollment soared, church leaders realized they needed a larger school. In 1958, Jesse Besser donated property on Wilson Street, where the current school was constructed.

The church and school operated separately from one another by only a few miles, church leaders always aimed to combine them at one location. After many years, a new church was built adjacent to the school and connected by a hallway.

Today, Immanuel Lutheran School has 11 teachers and offers preschool through eighth-grade education. The school currently enrolls 138 students and continues to grow.

On Tuesday, Pastor Jim Erickson, who was a vicar at the church in the 1980s before coming back to serve as an associate pastor under David Nickel, said the church and school are excited about the anniversary. A special celebration dinner was held at the APlex and a proclamation was passed by the Alpena Municipal Council last week.

“When we moved from the old church to the new one, there was a lot of sentimentality and attachment to the old church, but we all knew, because of the size of our congregation, we had outgrown it,” Erickson said. “We were like a family that had multiple children. You can’t stay in a two-bedroom house forever.”

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Immanuel Lutheran Church Pastor Jim Erickson interacts with students at the Immanuel Lutheran School on Tuesday. Erickson has been involved with the church and school since the 1980s.

Erickson said the mission for the church remains the same as always and support for Immanuel is still strong.

Strong enough that expansion may be in the cards once again.

A pair of additional classrooms were added to the school in the past several years, but, as more families choose to enroll their children in the parochial school, space and classroom size is becoming an issue.

Immanuel Lutheran School Principal James Grulke said discussions have begun between church and school administrators and the congregation about adding to Immanuel’s campus and building a high school.

Grulke said ideas and plans of that magnitude don’t happen overnight, but the plan today is to hire a consultant to review the school and its needs.

News File Image This clipping shows a 1949 Alpena News story about Immanuel Lutheran’s 75th anniversary.

“We need to know what our schools are going to look like in the future,” Grulke said. “Whether it will be split up to middle school and then to high school, we really don’t know right now. That is what this whole exploration is about and why we are talking to people with expertise. We need to talk to the community and the congregation and figure out what is the Lord showing us and how are we going to move forward and be successful at it.”

Associate Pastor Joshua Schultz said that, no matter the changes to the school or church, the messaging and mission will remain the same.

“Moving forward, the church and school will do what they have always done, preaching and teaching the gospel,” Schultz said. “That will always be our primary objective, regardless of everything that is going on around us. No matter what, we are going to continue to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Immanuel Lutheran School physical education teacher Jessica Krueger oversees a game played by kindergarten students in the school gym on Tuesday.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Some of the older students at Immanuel Lutheran School enjoy lunch with some of the school’s staff on Tuesday.