Lutheran congregations unite in search of ‘new hope’

In a time of need for both, two area Lutheran congregations have joined forces to survive and even grow.

Pilgrim Lutheran in Granville and Our Savior Lutheran in Newark have consolidated, becoming New Hope Lutheran Church.

They will share a pastor and office and ministry staff, said Vacancy Pastor Marc Schroeder, who is retired from Prince of Peace Lutheran in Columbus and is credited with helping the merger happen.

The new congregation is using both the Granville and Newark church buildings, with Wednesday Lenten services taking place at the Granville Campus, said Bob Warner, of Granville, vice president of the new parish’s board of ministry and former president at Pilgrim.

“We’re doing business,” Warner said. “We don’t have all the paperwork changed yet. But that’s all a formality.”

Warner, a life-long member of Pilgrim, said a timing coincidence led to the union.

“Both of our churches were without a pastor at the same time. That’s when this idea to merge came about,” he said, noting they are only 15 minutes apart. “Both churches could afford a pastor, but only for a period of time.”

“Both congregations were considering how to move forward,” Schroeder said. “As they talked with one another, they really saw that this need was an opportunity. If they joined together and shared a ministry and pastor, they could not only continue but do more than they had been doing. ‘We’re going to be one congregation, and we’re going to work together.’ ”

“Marc has been a blessing for us, being the right person to get us through all this,” Warner said. “There’s a lot of stuff that had to be done for this to come together.”

The Granville church building, at West Broadway and Cherry Street, and Our Savior, at the corner of Sharon Valley and Country Club Road, both have capacities of approximately 250 people. The new congregation has between 200 and 250 members, Warner estimated.

Janet Paetz, chair of the board of ministry, said Our Savior brought about 110 members representing a variety of age groups. Meanwhile, Pilgrim had an older membership, Schroeder said.

“We can offer worship services with different characters,” he said, taking the demographics into consideration. “It appears at this point the Newark campus is more interested in contemporary worship, and the Granville campus is more interested in a traditional kind of service.”

Despite their small numbers, there’s an expectation the congregation could still grow. Expanding campus ministries could be a part of that.

“Both are adjacent to college campuses,” said Schroeder — Pilgrim across the street from Denison University and Our Savior near the Newark Campus of The Ohio State University. “We want to expand that.”

“I see growth moving from Columbus in this direction all the time,” Schroeder added. “There’s excellent potential here.”

“That’s one of the reasons we came up with the name, ‘New Hope’ — new hope for the ministry of the church,” he said.

“We’re very hopeful that we find the right pastor who can grow a church,” Paetz said.

Both former parishes were members of the national Missouri Synod, as is the new church.

Pilgrim Lutheran formed in Granville during the mid-1950s, said Warner, whose parents were charter members. Services were first held on the Denison University academic quad, and then moved to a house on College Street. The present-day church was built during the early 1960s on the West Broadway corner, where a Sunoco service station once stood.

Paetz said Our Savior started around 1960.

New Hope’s Sunday services are 9 a.m. in Granville and 10:30 a.m. at the Newark Campus. Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services would be held at the Newark Campus, with Easter Sunday service in Granville.