“Experience the Joy – Proclaim the Power”
Welcome to Wooddale Lutheran – A Community Church. For over 75 years, Wooddale Lutheran has brought the joy and hope of the Gospel to people living in and around St. Louis Park, southwest Minneapolis and surrounding suburbs. Wooddale Lutheran is committed to offering families and people of all ages a strong Christian foundation from which to live happy and productive lives of service to one another and all of God’s people.
Our history in pdf form.
Our History
- Summer, 1928 – Reverend Dwight Shelhart, field missionary with the ULC, Wooddale’s 1st pastor, looks at St. Louis Park as a possible community to start a new Lutheran church.
- August, 1929 – First church council is elected. House at 4258 Mackey Ave. (now Utica) rented for $27.50 a month.
- September 9, 1929 – First services held with 32 adults and 22 children in attendance.
October 29, 1929 – Stock Market Crashes. - December 1, 1929 – 47 adults make a Decision for Hope and sign the charter creating “Wooddale Evangelical Lutheran Church” and join the Synod of the Northwest of the ULC.
- April 13, 1930 – Palm Sunday – Wooddale moves services to auditorium in Brookside School where services were held for 7 years because of the financial hardships of the Depression.
- May 2, 1930 – Two lots were purchased on the corner of 40th and Wooddale Ave.
- Spring, 1931 – Pastor Dorrance Jensen, a senior seminarian at Northwestern Seminary is called as Wooddale’s 2nd pastor. He was installed June 1, 1931. Membership then was 110, with 102 in the Sunday School. Pastor Jensen served Wooddale 6 ½ years until November 1, 1937.
- 1934 – Nan Lindahl (Hutchinson) serves as a missionary to India until 1939.
- November 14, 1937 – Dedication of Wooddale’s first church building, completed at a cost of $6,000.00.
- January 1938 – Reverend H. J. Motz-kus from Montevideo called to be Wooddale’s 3rd pastor. He served for 9 years until February 1, 1949.
- October 1939 – Basement dug, providing space for the kitchen and restrooms.
- 1945 – Fifth and last available lot on Wooddale Avenue purchased.
- November 10, 1946 – Quonset hut (used for Sunday School) dedicated.
- October 15, 1949 – Reverend Paul F. Obenauf comes from Ohio as Wooddale’s 4th pastor.
- Lent, 1953 – Fundraising campaign begins for new church building. There are 800 adults and 500 Sunday School students.
- November, 1955 – Ground broken for the new Parish Education Building. Worship services and Sunday school are held at the St. Louis Park Theater on Minnetonka Blvd.
- August, 1956 – Wooddale moved into Parish Education Building. This building was dedicated on May 11, 1958. Worship services are held in Upper Fellowship Hall.
- April 12, 1964 – Ground broken for new sanctuary. Dedication is a year later, April 25, 1965.
- December, 1971 – Pastor Obenauf retires after almost 22 years as Wooddale’s pastor and is honored with the title “pastor emeritus.”
- October, 1972 – Pastor James Martin becomes Wooddale’s 5th pastor. Pastor Martin served Wooddale for almost 9 years until 1981.
- November 27, 1974 – First Ecumenical Thanksgiving Eve worship service held with Most Holy Trinity Roman Catholic church. (Held at Most Holy Trinity)
- January, 1982 – Pastor Timothy Rauk comes to Wooddale as its 6th pastor.
- 1982 – First production of Wooddale’s Key and Kingdom Theater.
- November, 1989 – Kari Anderson Osmek comes to Wooddale.
- January, 1990 – Dedication of the centrum.
- 1991 – Dedication of the pipe organ. For picture of and details on Wooddale’s pipe organ, go to www.tcago.org; Click on “Organs”; then “TCOAGO Organ Databases”; then “browse”; then go to page 19 and click on the icon just to the left of Wooddale Lutheran Church.
- 1996 – Carol Fiedler begins Wooddale’s Parish Nurse program.
- 1996 – Dedication of Elevator to Upper Fellowship Hall.
- 1998 – House adjacent to church is purchased to enlarge parking lot.
- 2001 – Tom Griffiths retires as choir director after serving 30 years.
- September 2005 – Wooddale Community Nursery School begins operations.
- September 2007 – Carol Fiedler retires as Wooddale’s Parish Nurse.
- January 2011 – Wooddale Lutheran debut’s its new logo and website
