About Us

Picture if you can a little group of men and women of Scandinavian descent coming
together in this remote spot on the border with Canada. They had one common interest and that was to establish a Norwegian Lutheran church. On the 27 th day of May, 1912, a group of interested folks met in the skating rink building across from the post office to plan and organize a Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in International Falls, Minnesota.
Later the same year a follow-up meeting to complete organization and draw articles of incorporation was held in the Methodist Church after services by Pastor Systad. Dr. P.
M. Glasoe, Home Mission Superintendent of the United Lutheran Church, then presided
over the meeting. The official name chosen and unanimously accepted was Sions
Norske Evangelisk Kirke I International Falls (Norwegian text) – Zion Norwegian Lutheran Church in International Falls. They voted to affiliate with the United Lutheran Church. At the same meeting they considered the constitution recommended by the church at large and it was accepted with a few alterations.
Now the congregation needed a place to have church services. For some time, they
met in the local Methodist Church, paying $1.00 per meeting. In August of 1913, members met to consider plans to build Zion’s first home of worship. The final plans
called for frame building with a full basement. A vacant lot on the corner of 6th and 6th was for sale of $1000.00, but the treasury was empty. However, before the meeting
was over, the Ladies Aid came to the rescue and offered to assume the debt.
The church board had previously passed a resolution limiting the congregation to a
$500.00 maximum indebtedness. But even though International Falls was then a sawmill town with millions of feet of sawed lumber, nothing could be built for that price.
So, with the Ladies Aid promise, the building began. The basement was completed and
used for services during the period of construction. On January 6, 1916, Zion sent and
invitation to the pastors of Bemidji Circuit, inviting them to hold their spring circuit
meeting at International Falls. Plans were then laid for a corner-stone laying and
construction began.
The new church needed pews. Someone learned that a Lutheran Church in Kenyon,
Minnesota, had old pews to give away for only the price of transportation. There were
no moving trucks during those days, so the pews were put in a box car and shipped via rail to International Falls. This mistake turned out to be an expensive one. The
uncrated freight bill was about $147.00, a huge expense at that time. Also, the free
pews were hand-made, well worn, and had been mishandled in shipment.
Folks from Norway were used to a church with a tall steeple and a loud bell. Church
bells in Norway called people to come to services. However, building funds grew so low that it became necessary to cut corners. So, the steeple took the worst beating. At times people referred to our church as “the church with the little steeple”. One day a

member of the congregation asked the pastor to be on the lookout for a church bell for Zion. One was located in South Dakota, shipped to International Falls, and installed.
There was a day of rejoicing at Zion when Rev. L. J. Jerdee, the President of the
Bemidji Circuit, dedicated the new bell with these words: “May this bell continue to ring,
calling folks to God’s House as long as the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity.”
The Norwegians were happy.
There was a hole in the wall and a place planned for a pulpit, but no pulpit. Rev. Evans
recalled a dismantling of Hamline Seminary in St. Paul, following the union of the three
synods. A pulpit from the Seminary was shipped to International Fall. Some older
pastors recalled how they had sweated and trembled at that same pulpit while students at the seminary. The baptismal font was made and donated by a member of the congregation. The eight sides symbolized the eight persons who were saved in Noah’s Ark. The first baby to be baptized from the font was Janet Larson Schultheis.
The famous painting by Hoffman of Christ in Gethsemane was reproduced on the altar by master artist, Mr. Gaustad, whose works are treasured in museums and at Luther College. When contacted to paint for Zion, he told how Rev. Evans’ father, Christopher Evans, had befriended him, a penniless immigrant boy from Norway. Evans had taken him in and given him a home, room, and board until he could get work. “If I can paint you a picture during my spare time, I’ll paint it for the cost of the materials,” Gaustad said. Raising funds for the cost of the materials for the painting became a project of the Luther League. 

During the first 13 years there was no parsonage and the first pastors had to shift for
themselves. Perhaps this accounted for the initial difficulties in keeping a resident
pastor with a family. Pastor Evans approached the church suggesting that a parsonage
be built. He was told that a single person didn’t need a personage! Another board
member added, “You get yourself a wife, and we’ll get you a parsonage.” The pastor
retorted, “You build a parsonage and I’ll furnish a wife.” The race was on! It ended in a
dead heat. Mrs. Evans arrived on the day that the paint had just dried-January 30,
1926. The parsonage was built at a cost of $3450.00.
Zion passed through the period of world depression following World War I, when the
nation’s economy was at a low ebb. Money and jobs were hard to come by. At Zion
Lutheran, men took turns doing the janitorial work a month at a time. There were times
when the ladies in the Aid were fortunate to have a dime for the offering. It was usually
tied tightly in the corner of a handkerchief. A penny for Sunday school offering was
standard. Contributors tried to maintain $.25 pledge per week. The congregation
learned to economize, and even found it necessary to cut back on fuel.
The Lord answered the congregation’s prayers for heat. The Minnesota and Ontario
Paper Company notified the church that they had considerable pulpwood that was not
suitable for pulp. The church could have all the wood they needed; however, they
would have to load it on flatcars themselves. Ben Wenberg and Pastor Evans loaded
three flatcars, later sawed it up, and piled up 58 cords of wood.

Hard times continued. The Falls Lumber Company ran short of saw logs. In 1936-37,
the mill closed and was to be dismantled, leaving 500 to 600 men out or work. The
skeleton and timbers of the sawmill were offered for sale to the highest bidder, calling
for a complete clean-up and removal. Pastor Evans put in a bid of $10.00 and got it.
Out of the projecthe was able to sell and salvage enough to pile up 60 cords of wood at
a cost of $.58 per cord.
The original church became too small due to the steady growth of the congregation. In
1942, a building committee drew up plans to double the seating capacity. A. Reinhold
Melander of Duluth was retained as architect but refused any payment. The plans
called for a new side entrance, extending the church south to the property line.
Engineers from the Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company planned an interior insulate
wall and ceiling cover for good acoustical effect. The Ladies Aid raised funds for new
pews which were installed as soon as the building was completed. A balcony was
installed to take care of the overflow of worshipers. The whole outside of the structure
was covered with Permastone which transformed the wood siding into an appearance of
solid masonry. A canopy was built over the front entrance and a 16-foot cross was
inlaid in the tower well. Dedication services were held on September 23, 1951.
Membership continued to grow so that even the new structure was soon too small and
necessitated a shift to two morning services with three and four services for Christmas,
Easter and special occasions.
Members knew that church must be alive with beautiful art and symbols. Zion was
fortunate to be given windows that rivaled those found in Europe’s famous cathedrals.
The windows were made by the master artist, Andreas Larson, who knew the craft of
making cathedral windows glow with more than an earthly glory. Zion’s first windows
pictured the Lutheran emblem and the Christian and American flags. Two windows
donated by the Sunday school portrayed Christ our Good Shepherd and His birth. Three
others show Christ knocking at the door, blessing of the children, and as gloried and
risen.
Members of the congregation began to talk of a new church to replace the stone
building which had stood on the corner of 6 th Street and 6 th Avenue for so many years.
After much thought and prayer, the congregation decided to remain in the same location
and replace the old building. The beautiful new church was dedicated on June 18,
1989. A distinctive feature of the new sanctuary was a Pipe Organ. The pipes framed
the hexagonal glass window beautifully. To retain memories of the beloved old church
building, the stained-glass windows from the old church were incorporated into the wall
above the rear of the sanctuary.
Improvements in the church were continuously being made. In September of 1972, the
church was reroofed and the interior and exterior of both parsonages received repairs.
An ever-increasing number of books made it necessary to move the library to a larger
area in the choir room in 1975. The congregation also gratefully accepted the help of
the manager of the radio station KGHS in establishing the weekly broadcast of Zion’s
9:30 worship service each Sunday. The radio broadcast is a blessing to the shut-ins
and those unable to attend church in person.