Downtown church celebrates new minister – its seventh in a century

On Sunday, the congregation at Immanuel Lutheran installed its seventh minister in 106 years.

The sixth minister, Alan Hoger, retired in 2014 and is still a member of the church. The new minister is Ron Gloe.

“Both our soon-to-be seventh minister and sixth minister were fellow students at a Lutheran seminary, having the fifth minister (of Immanuel Lutheran) as their instructor,” said George Huenergardt, a member of the church at 909 S. Market who has been attending since 1938, when he was born. “This is the only church I’ve ever been at.”

As the church’s music director, Becky Schmidt, practiced on the organ, Huenergardt talked about what made the church special.

“We think this is a unique situation in that we will now have had only seven ministers; one of them was here for 44 years,” Huenergardt, the church treasurer, said. “From this church, nine ‘daughter’ congregations were formed – seven in Wichita, one in El Dorado and one in Derby.”

But more importantly, Huenergardt said, the downtown church is still going.

“We feel like we are growing,” he said. “The community membership base is 400, but we normally have about 75 people who come to church. That’s a good average. We were told we wouldn’t be doing this this long, but we’ve hung on.

“We feel like this minister will help us grow. He is a jolly guy.”

Churches have stood as an unwavering presence in Wichita’s downtown as the city has steadily changed.

The heyday of most congregations was from the 1950s through the 1970s. Then downtown began to deteriorate as stores and businesses moved outside the city’s core area and faithful congregations aged.

The churches became landmarks as nearby buildings were shuttered in the 1970s and 1980s. But downtown revitalization in recent years is again shifting the dynamics, and downtown congregations are once again trying to shift and change with the times. And attract younger members.

Gloe, who has lived in and around the Wichita area for nearly two decades, considers his new appointment as a “coming home.”

Gloe served at a Lutheran church in Wellington for five years, in Newton for more than 10 years and at Risen Savior in northeast Wichita.

“Why has this church kept going? Lots have closed down,” Gloe acknowledged Sunday afternoon. “Because Immanuel – she still has a solid corps of people who keep it going. The people at this parish, it is easy to fall in love with them. And when you fall in love and feel valued in ministry, you stay. Will I grow this church? I will leave that up to the Lord, but what I do know, as far as their worship style, you won’t find this in another Lutheran church in Wichita.”

This, Gloe said, is an appreciation for the historical liturgy and classical music.

Immanuel Lutheran, Huenergardt said, was one of the first churches in downtown Wichita to have a carillon.

The Lutheran presence in Wichita began in the early 1880s. By 1908, the church was meeting in the horticultural room in the basement of the old Sedgwick County Courthouse. The current church building was built in 1925 and was later expanded in 1936.

“If anyone comes to a service here, they will be overwhelmed with the quality of music,” Gloe said.

The church service often includes a vocal choir, classical instruments and bells.

“I was raised Lutheran, and I like to tease people that if you come into this church, you could be sitting next to your grandma. They use the historical liturgy here. My family goes back in Lutheran-ism 400 years, and that is so very much like many of the people here, whose families have done likewise.

“It is humbling to be coming into this church as the seventh pastor. It is an honor. My grandfather was an ordained Lutheran pastor who preached at the consecration and dedication of this particular sanctuary in 1936, so I feel that I have a connection to the past but am looking to the future with great joy.”

This story was originally published January 10, 2016 at 8:22 PM with the headline "Downtown church celebrates new minister – its seventh in a century."