An Abridged History of Ebenezer Lutheran Church

Swedes have been a part of the life of Chicago since the 1840’s. The first “Swede Town” centered around Chicago Avenue and Sedgwick Street, where the first Swedish Episcopal Church was established in 1848, and later the first Swedish Lutheran Church Augustana Synod, Immanuel Lutheran Church. Approximately ten different Swedish language churches were clustered in the old Swede Town.

After a cholera epidemic devastated the City and then the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, many Swedes were looking to areas outside the boundaries of the City for a more suburban lifestyle. When the City of Chicago banned the construction of wooden framed houses after the Great Fire, homeownership became prohibitively expensive for many immigrants. With the construction of commuter rail lines, many middle-class Swedes began leaving Swede Town for the suburbs of Lakeview and Edgewater, which included the subdivisions of Mt. Pleasant, Summerdale, and Andersonville.

Even though Swedes built homes and businesses north of Fullerton Avenue (which was the northern city limit until 1889), “suburban” Swedes continued to travel to Swede Town for church. Swede Town was both spiritually and culturally important to the Swedes. However, traveling 7 miles on a Sunday morning in a Chicago winter was not always easy for families with children. So, starting in 1891, a group of families, all members of Immanuel Lutheran in Swede Town, began a regular Sunday morning meeting in a candy store located at 1610 West Summerdale. The first ministry of this group was to provide Sunday school instruction. The women also formed a sewing society, which eventually became known as the Dorcas Society, a group that remained active at Ebenezer for more than a century.

This small group of Swedish immigrants, consisting of 17 adults and 16 children, resolved to form a Swedish-speaking Lutheran church in the Summerdale sub-division of the Edgewater district (a.k.a. Andersonville). Assisted by Rev. C.A. Evald of Immanuel Lutheran Church (then at Sedgwick and Hobbie in Swede Town), Ebenezer Swedish Lutheran Church was officially chartered January 22, 1892, with its name meaning: “Thus the Lord has helped us.” The Dorcas Society provided the funding for the cost of incorporation and for the initial church furnishings.

The early years of this steadfast Swedish congregation were a struggle, with four pastors in ten years. The first, the Rev. C.P. Rydholm, stayed only a few months. After a succession of short-term and interim pastors, Ebenezer called the Rev. Theodore Johnston in 1902, Under his leadership, Ebenezer purchased the property at Paulina and Foster and built a permanent sanctuary, as well as a Queen Anne style parsonage on the property east of the church. With the completion of the impressive gray limestone clad neo-Gothic church building. Ebenezer was poised to become Chicago’s “Swedish Cathedral.”

The Rev. Elof Jonson succeeded the Rev. Johnston in 1915. With ever-growing numbers of Swedish immigrants arriving in Andersonville and with the transformation of Swede Town into a gritty urban neighborhood, the Rev. Jonson had the vision for making Ebenezer into not only a spiritual home for the Swedes in Chicago, but also a cultural center. During his 28-year tenure as pastor, Ebenezer swelled to nearly 2,000 member families, with 3,00 people worshipping at 4 services each Sunday. The leadership of the congregation made the bold decision to build a Community House to house a gymnasium, kitchen and dining room and a two-story high auditorium, with a balcony on 3 sides. When not in use for guest speakers, musical and theatrical events and other community events, the auditorium could be divided into 28 Sunday school classrooms using sliding tambour doors that would fold out from the walls. Community House construction meant razing the parsonage and connecting the Church building to the Community House with the link building of offices and meeting rooms. The largest of these rooms is known as the Parlor, large enough for the Dorcas society to make quilts and do other needlework. The Community House building was built with $1 subscriptions from every Swede in Andersonville, regardless of affiliation with the Ebenezer Church Congregation. The cornerstone was laid in 1928; the architect was Andrew Norman. The building opened to the public the week the Stock Market crashed in 1929.

During the 1930’s and 1940’s, Ebenezer had a senior and at least one assistant pastor. The Rev. Jonson broadcast a weekly church service on the radio, and the congregation sponsored 5 choirs, all of which sang in Swedish. The Sunday School Superintendent oversaw all the children and all the Sunday school classrooms were full. Ebenezer teams also competed in the Lutheran Sports League. The Senior Choir presented an operatic performance as part of the 1933 Chicago Century of Progress World Fair and helped fill Soldier Field in a pan-Lutheran performance of Handel’s Messiah. When World War II broke out, Ebenezer not only sent its members to serve in the armed forces, but the Ebenezer Parlor became an active center for the American Red Cross, training nurses and preparing kits for the troops. The Ebenezer Campus was a very busy place.

The 1940’s and 1950’s brought change to Ebenezer and the Andersonville neighborhood. The stream of Swedish immigrants stopped, and many of the 2nd and 3rd generation residents of Swedish descent began a migration to the suburbs. During the pastorate of Theodore Matson, during the mid-1950’s, the congregation began to perceive that its mission and ministry extended beyond the Swedish community, as the neighborhood became home to many other immigrant groups other than Swedes. The official language of the Ebenezer changed from Swedish to English; and, while Swedish language and culture remained an important component of Ebenezer, the church increasingly reflected the changing demographics of the neighborhood.

In 1962, the group of Swedish churches to which Ebenezer had belonged since its founding, the Augustana Synod, merged with other Lutheran church groups, most of which were founded by Scandinavians, to form the Lutheran Church in America, the LCA. A significant change to church life under during the LCA period was the recognition of women as pastors. During this time Ebenezer also welcomed Sweden’s King Karl XVI Gustaf to attend Easter services as part of America’s Bicentennial celebration in 1976.

When a new merger of Lutheran churches arose on the horizon in 1988, Ebenezer became part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, of which it is still a member today.

When the congregation called the Rev. Paul Koch as senior pastor in January 1989, the leadership began to articulate more fully the congregation’s desire to reach out to all the residents of Andersonville. Three major goals for mission and ministry were established: Ebenezer would become a home for those seeking a place to explore their own spirituality; Ebenezer would become a community center in which organizations and activities that addressed the interests and needs of the north side would be welcome; Ebenezer would engage itself in working for justice on the north side and throughout Chicagoland.

As Ebenezer re-positioned itself, it adopted a strong Reconciling in Christ stance. This means gays and lesbians are welcome to use the building, join the congregation and its leadership, and have their marriages performed by the pastor. The building has become a beehive of activity sponsored by the church and by community groups and clubs.

Ebenezer’s current senior pastor, the Rev. Michael Fick, was called to serve in 2011. Pastor Fick is leading Ebenezer through growth in membership, vibrant and growing ministries with children, a remarkable diversity of ages and backgrounds engaged in the community, and discerning the needs of our community and facilities for the years to come. The Sunday liturgy is a lively expression of the Christian tradition utilizing original music and music from around the world, a variety of instrumentation, and intentional lay leadership alongside the pastor. Currently the Swedish heritage of the congregation is maintained primarily during December. On December 13th, the Swedish-American community meets in the evening to observe St. Lucia Day. A Julmässa, or Christmas liturgy in Swedish, is held in the afternoon on a Sunday before Christmas in partnership with the office of the Consulate General of Sweden.