In 1951 there was a 100-year anniversary celebrated by the East and West Paint Creek Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Churches. A booklet was made to share with the attendees.
A GREETING FROM THE PASTOR
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen.
One hundred years have brought many changes. Modern conveniences have replaced old ways. Where oxen and horse were the chief means of transportation, now we have the automobile, train, and airplane. Messages that had to be delivered in person, now take only a few moments. Few today speak the language of the early founders who have long ago been laid to rest to await the Resurrection morn. A new generation, the children and children’s children is taking their place. Surely we are only strangers and sojourners in this world.
But amid all the changes of this life, there is one thing that has not changed, and that is the Word of our God. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, Who is the very center and core of the Bible says: ‘I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
By God’s grace that Word of God which shall never pass away has been proclaimed in its truth these one hundred years. Though the visible Church has been rent asunder and by heresies distressed, God’s Word floateth like a banner before God’s host unfurled. It still remains the only chart and compass that guides men in the old paths that lead to Christ and to His salvation.
In these one hundred years the unconditioned Gospel of God’s free grace in Christ Jesus has been proclaimed; sinners have been admonished to repentance; children have been baptized unto Christ and confirmed in their baptismal faith; the Sacrament of Holy Communion has been administered; marriages have been blessed; and many a sinner has been comforted in his sorrow.
God grant that we who have fallen heir to such unmerited blessings may with humble and grateful hearts thank our God for His goodness in preserving unto us His Holy Word in all its truth and purity, with all its saving grace. May it not be proclaimed to us in vain. May we nowandevercontinueinGod’s teaching pure that we might be His disciples indeed.
God’s word is our great heritage, And shall be ours forever;
To spread its light from age to age Shall be our chief endeavor;
Through life, it guides our way,
In death it is our stay; Lord grant, while worlds endure.
We keep its teachings pure, Throughout all generations.
Your Pastor,
ARVID G. W. GULLERUD
Outline of the History of Paint Creek Congregations
“Kommer eders veiledere i hu, som have forkyndt eder Guds ord, og naar I betragte udgangen af deres vandel, da efterfolger deres tro! Jesus Christuser igaar og idag den samme, ja til evig tid. Lader eder ikke omdrive af mangehaande og fremmede laer- domme! Thi det er godt, at hiertet styrkes ved naaden, ikke ved mad, hvoraf de ingen nytte have havt, som have holdt sig detril.” Heb. 13:7-9.
“Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.” Heb. 13:7-9.
As early as 1850 the settlers at Paint Creek met together for the purpose of organizing a congregation. According to the earliest dated entry (Jan. 6th, 1851) in the Minutes (Protokol), the first trustees of the Congregation were Nels T. Roe, Syver O.Vold, Thomas Anderson, and Ole Larsen, with J. S. Moller as Secretary and Treasurer.
From the beginning, the Congregation realized that Christian education is indispensable and that the future is with the children. According to the Minutes for March 8th, 1851, the Congregation resolved to organize a school district and to build a school house on the church property. The schoolhouse was to serve also as a church Several pastors served the settlement occasionally before the appointment of a regular pastor. The first to visit the settlement was Pastor Clausen (July 2, 3, 4; 1851). On Jan . 6th, 1852, it was decided to request Pastor Clausen to have a pastor called from Norway or elsewhere.
1853-1862. During these years Pastor Ulrik Vilhelm Koren served as Pastor. Koren was ordained in 1853 and died in 1910 as President of the Norwegian Synod. He preached his inaugural sermon on New Year’s Day, 1854, in a log house belonging to Syver Vold. In the same year, a log house church was built. In 1855 the Congregation joined the Norwegian Synod. In 1858, the Congregation, owing to its growth, was divided into East Paint Creek and West Paint Creek.In1862, the work having become too extensive for him, Pastor Koren resigned this call.
1862-1879. During these years Pastor Ove Jakob Hort served as pastor. Hjort was the son of a military doctor (Brigadalaege) in Christiania (as Oslo was then called): Owing to having lost an eye he did not complete any course of study in Oslo but studied at an agricultural college in Sweden, after which his father set him up as a farmer. He married Christiane Elisabeth Ottesen, daughter of Dean (Provst) Ottesen of the State Church of Norway, who was also the father of Pastor Jakob Aal Ottesen of the Norwegian Synod. When Prof. Laur. Larsen came to Norway in 1860, urging young men to come to America and serve the immigrants as ministers of the Gospel, Hort decided to go to America, leaving Norway in the Spring of 1861. He studied Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, where, in those days, our candidates for the ministry were educated. In 1862, he was ordained as Pastor of Paint Creek and there he remained till his death in 1879.
Pastor Hiort’s daughter, Lula, was married to Pastor C. K. Preus (president of Luther College for about twenty years) and became the mother of several well-known men connected with Norwegian Lutheranism.
Doctor O.J.H. Preus was president of Luther College from 1932-1948.
Pastor J.C.K. Preus of Minneapolis, Minn.
J.A.O Preus, former governor of Minnesota.
Dr. H. A. Preus, professor of Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn.
Two of her grandsons are now serving in our reconstituted Norwegian Synod, namely. J A.O. Preus (Jr.) of Luverne, Minnesota, and Robert Preus, now studying at Edinborough University, Scotland.
Another of Hort’s daughters. Linko was married to Pastor I.W. Preus, brother of C.K.Preus.
J. W. Breus became pastor in Calmar, Iowa, succeeded by his son, H. A Preus, who is now pastor at Trinity Lutheran congregation of our Synod in Calmar, Iowa. The youngest daughter of Hort, Cath became the wife of Pastor John Strand who served St. Linka, the congregation of our Synod in Chicago, Illinois, until Luke’s con is death. The son of J. Strand, Ahlert, became pastor of St. Luke’s and is now serving S.t Mark’s in Chicago, which was amalgamated with St. Luke’s.
It is fitting here to record the circumstances of Pastor Hiort’s death and in particular, the last letter to his congregation, written a few weeks before he died. This was taken from an article, Minder tra den gamle Paint Creek praestegaard (“Reminiscences from the old Paint Creek Parsonage”) by his daughter, Lulla Preus, which appeared in Symra, Feb. 1911, vol. 7, no. 1
She writes (Note: this and all other direct quotations are translated by the undersigned from the Norwegian originals):
“I will close by reproducing the following letter, which will show my Father’s true character better than my descriptions could ever do it:
Dalby, IA- 27th September, 1879.
Dear Congregation:
Since I am so weak, that I am not able to preach for you tomorrow, I hope that you will kindly excuse me. Perhaps God will again make me well and yet, for a while, grant me the grace to work among you in Word and instruction, but perhaps not. Oh, how much I do wish that I might yet be permitted to do this! In any case, God grant me the grace to surrender myself to His good will! I was to have preached tomorrow on the glorious text of Jesus raising the widow’s son of Nain. And that brings me, really vividly, to think of my death. Forgive me then, for Jesus’ sake, all negligence and frailty, that I have been guilty of during the 17 years I have carried out the duties of my office among you, and pray for me wretched sinner, that God, for the sake of the precious merit of his Son, will be merciful to me and grant me a blessed death and a happy resurrection to eternal life and glory with Him! God give also unto You all grace to keep the seed of the Divine Word, which He, through my mouth, has sown among you, that ye may bear fruit unto eternal life!
Oh, repent ye! You who have hitherto still walked in your vain, earthly minds! Let now, at last, your Christianity be real and serious. May God teach you to number your days, that you may apply your hearts unto wisdom.
And you, ye despairing, troubled souls! God has verily so loved you, that He gave His only begotten Son, that who so ever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, believe therefore in Him, who is the way, the truth, and the life! Confidently put your trust in Him, who in Baptism in the Lord’s Supper, and in His unfailing Word has proclaimed unto you the forgiveness of sins!
And you, ye souls that are the partakers of grace, you, who have learned in truth to make your own the comfort of the Gospel! Hold that fast which you have, that no man may take your crown.
Yes, let us all hold fast to the confession of the unshakable hope, for God is faithful, who gave the promise! To this end help Thou us all, dear Lord Jesus, our Saviour, Thou, who prepared the way for us, Thou, who art our Advocate! Without Thee, we can do nothing at all, but Thou, who hast begun the good work in us, hast also promised to perform it until the day. Thou hast of a verity come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief!
Teach us, therefore, with full confidence of the heart to say: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me, Lord; Thyrodand Thy staff comfort me.”The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all! Amen.
Be you all, then, herewith cordially greeted from the Pastor of your souls.
O. J. HIORT
P.S. I am now going to Lansing to submit myself to the doctor’s treatment.
On the 12th of December, in the same year as this letter was written, my Father died. One evening, when he said Goodnight to sister Johanna, he wished for her that she sleep well in the name of Jesus! And so often, in the time of his illness, he repeated these words:
“Oh, God, for the sake of the blood of Christ, make my last hour of departure to be good,” folded his hands and wanted to sleep. When it seemed to Olaus Erikson in Lansing, who was with him that night, that it got to be so wonderfully quiet about 2 o’clock in the night, and he went to see him, Father had slept into death without having moved a finger from his hands folded in prayer. Blessed be his memory!
LULLA PREUS.
Decorah, Iowa, August 1910
Pastor Hort taught the unconditioned Gospel. We are saved by God alone through the merits of Christ alone. We could not by our own reason or strength come to Christ or believe in Him; that is the work of the Holy Spirit. The foundations for perseverance in the truth of the Gospel were laid by the faithful workers up to this
time, and one of these who had served the congregation longest was Pastor Hjort. It can, in God’s Providence, be ascribed to the ministry of Pastor Hort, that the activity of his successor, Pastor Hartmann, failed to do more harm than it did.
1880-1886. During these years Pastor Hagbert Amandus Hartman served as Pastor. Pastor C. C. Stoltz, who had been Pastor Hort’s assistant, served for a while between the death of Pastor Hort and the installation of Pastor Hartmann. Pastor Stoltz returned eventually to Norway (see Synodalberetning for Iowa Distrikt, 1886, p.11). Pastor Hartmann was educated in Norway and was ordained in 1877 when he became a member of the Norwegian Synod. It seems that he became Pastor at Paint Creek between July 8th, 1880, when it was decided to call him, and Nov. 29th, 1880, when he was one of the co-signers of the Minutes of the Congregation. None of the doctrinal discussions (such as those dealing with Slavery, Absolution, etc.) hitherto carried on in the Norwegian Synod had had serious results. The doctrinal controversy that now emerged was different, causing schisms among congregations and much distress among men who, owing to this controversy, ceased to work as friends and were aligned in opposing camps. This controversy concerning election began about the time Pastor Hartmann came to Paint Creek. Being one of Prof. F. A. Schmidt’s radical adherents, Pastor Hartmann saw to it that the Paint Creek congregations were drawn into the controversy. He compiled a confession, entitled “Bekjendelse til de enfoldiges nytte” (“Confession for Use of the Simple and Unlearned). This confession falls into the old error of trying to explain, according to human reason, the mystery of why some are saved and some are not. Holy Writ leaves this a mystery, which is beyond human reason to fathom. Hartmann tried to solve it by making the Gospel a conditioned gospel, that is, a gospel conditioned by man’s acceptance thereof. The sinner, then, would have to rely upon his own acceptance of the Gospel as a deciding factor in his salvation, that is, he would have to rely upon himself. Hartman submitted his confession to the Point Creek congregations for their acceptance. It can be found in print in the Iowa District Synod- Alberetning for 1886, p.52-53. Hartmann was suspended from the Norwegian Synod in 1886. As a result of his agitation, the Paint Creek congregations were split, the majority adhering to him. He joined the Anti-Missourian Brotherhood in 1886, then the United Church in 1890, and in 1895 he returned to Norway.
In the sermon, preached by Dr. Koren in 1905 at the festivities commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Paint Creek joining the Norwegian Synod, Pastor Hartmann is characterized as a demanding individual: “At his installation at Paint Creek, he (Hartmann) stated: Idemand of the congregation… and again, Idemand of the congregation, etc. His demands became many, but when, finally, it was demanded of you that you should subscribe to a “Contes- sion” dictated by him, the measure was filled. And when many followed him, you had to remain outside and the others harvested where you had sown.
After the Hartmann episode, the loyal Synod people at Paint Creek were served by Synod pastors as follows:
1886-1888 by Pastor Andreas Kittelsen Sagen, who was ordained in 1879, was assistant to Dr. Koren, 1879-1888, was at La Crosse, Wis., in 1888-1903. He died in 1907.
1888-1901 by Pastor Michael Olsen Borge, from Glenwood, Iowa, (where he was Pastor till 1905). Pastor Borge was ordained in 1873, and was a member of the Norwegian Synod till 1917, when he joined the united body, now called the Evangelical Lutheran Church. As a result of Hartmann’s activities, the Synod people were left without a Pastor, and without any church. For a while, the services were conducted in schoolhouses. Churches were eventually built. The Church of the East Congregation was built and taken into use in 1890 and was dedicated by Dr. Koren on June 11, 1891. The Church of the West Congregation was built and taken into use in 1891 and was dedicated by Pastor Sagen on August 20, 1892.
1901-1904 by Pastor Simon Aslakson Scarvie, who was ordained in 1901, belonged to the Norwegian Synod till 1917 when he joined what is now the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He died in 1918.
1905-1908 by Pastor Zakarias Johannesen Ordal, who was ordained in 1902, belonged to the Norwegian Synod till 1917 when he joined what is now the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He died in 1949.
1968-1917 by Pastor Lauritz Seman Guttebo, who was ordained in 1904 and belonged to the Norwegian Synod (both the “old” Synod and the reconstituted Synod) till his death in 1947.
1918-1946 by Pastor Joseph Bernhard Unseth, who was ordained in 1900, was a member of the “Old” Norwegian Synod and then of the reconstituted Norwegian Synod, still serving a parish in Bagley, Minn. Pastor Unseth’s son. Eivind, educated at Bethany College of our synod and Concordia Seminary of the Missouri Synod is now serving St. Paul’s Church of Chicago.
It was a blessing for the Paint Creek congregations during the troublous times of *Opgjor and of the resultant merger of 1917, to have the staunchly orthodox pastors, Guttebo and Unseth.
*( A compromise confession drawn up for the purpose of uniting the Norwegian Synod, the United Church and the Hauge Synod)
Opgior again tried to explain the mystery: why some are saved and some not, and again made the mistake of injecting a condition to be fulfilled by man. The Minutes of date, Oct. 10th, 1916, state that East and West Paint Creek
Congregations will not join the union unless the Synod accepts the petition of the Minority. Most of us remember the manner of that acceptance in the Austin Agreement. It was accepted in such a way that orthodox Lutherans would have to understand the disputed matter in the same way as the majority understood it. In other words, the
minority would be allowed to use its own words but would have to understand them in such a way as to convey the false doctrine of the majority. The Minutes for Dec. Ist, 1920, contain the resolution that Paint Creek will contribute to the re-constituted Norwegian Synod.
1947- The present incumbent of the call, Pastor Arvid Gullerud, was installed after his ordination in 1947. He comes from a family of pastors. His father, Pastor O. M. Gullerud, was pastor in the old Synod from his ordination in 1906 and he joined the reconstituted Norwegian Synod in 1918. His elder brother, Pastor Monrad Gullerud, serves Mount Olive Congregation, Mankato, Minn. Most of the students and faculty at our Bethany College and Seminary worship in his church.
In looking over the past of Paint Creek it is fitting to heed the admonition of the Word, the admonition to remember those who have guided the congregations. Those who have guided are further defined as those who have spoken (not their own words) but the Word of God.
The admonition continues, We are to follow their faith, considering how they conducted themselves and how their faithful lives reached a blessed end. The Word of God, these faithful guides taught, is shortly comprehended in the words: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” We must cling to Christ alone as our Saviour. We must, furthermore, not be deluded by reason or anything else and be carried about with divers and strange doctrines. May then, this remembering of our past guides and leaders, make us ever more faithful in studying
and following the precept of the Word they taught us, may we ever more and more deeply and confidently believe in Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever.
We pray this in His holy name. Amen.
Acknowledgments. In preparing the above I have used the Minutes (Protokoller) of the East Paint Creek congregation, which the Pastor and Congregation were kind enough to let me have for this purpose. With these Minutes there was the very useful pamphlet, *“Mindeblade om Jubelfesten for Ostre og Vestre Paint Creek menigheder i Allamakee county, Iowa, den 23de August 1905,” to which I am considerably indebted.
*(Commemorative leaflets about the Jubilee for Eastern and Western Paint Creek congregations)
I have also used Dr. Norlie’s, “Who’s Who Among Norwegian-American Pastors.” The Synodalberetninger for Iowa District has also been consulted. I am grateful to Mr. William Rood, of Waukon, Iowa, for getting Pastor H. A. Preus of Calmar, Iowa, to lend to me the issue of Symra with the interesting reminiscences from the old parsonage at Paint Creek, and also for supplying me with the newspaper clipping containing material entitled “Founding of Preus Family told in yellowed clippings.’ Finally, I must record my gratitude to Pastor Arvid Gullerud, who has taken the trouble to scrutinize this outline a n d to correct errors and to supply omissions.
C. U. FAYE.
September 1950
“We Also Believe, and Therefore Speak.” I Cor. 4, 31
We believe that the Bible is God’s verbally inspired word, without error in all its parts and words, thoroughly trustworthy, and therefore the only source and rule of doctrine, faith, and life. 2 Tim. 3,16; I Cor. 2, 13; John 10, 35. Our scriptural slogan, therefore, must ever be: “It is written.”
We believe, on the basis of the Scriptures, that there is but one true God, the Triune God, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost-three distinct persons of one and the same divine essence. Col. 2, 9; Matt. 28, 19.
We believe that God in the beginning created all things “good,” and man, the crown of His creation, in His own image, and therefore perfectly holy. Gen. 1, 27
We believe that man through his fall lost the image of God, and now by nature is spiritually dead, and an enemy of God. Gen. 2, 17; Rom. 8, 7.
We believe since fallen man would not and could not come back to God, that God in His boundless mercy came to man in the person of His only-begotten Son, Who became man in our stead, fulfilling for us the Law, paying our sin-debt; and thus, reconciling the whole world unto God, earning the forgiveness of sins for, and opening heaven to, all sinners.-II Cor. 5, 19.
We believe that it is God alone, Who through Word and Sacrament creates faith in the spiritually dead heart of man and through or by this faith, not on account of or in view of this faith, justifies and saves the individual sinner. -Rom. 10, 17; Rom. 3, 28. Since it is alone by the word of God that faith is created and sustained, it follows itself that we believe that Christian education, from the cradle to the grave, home, church, and school, is education in the truest sense of the word. -Matt. 28, 20; John 8, 31-32.
We further believe–that natural man cannot but oppose and resist this blessed work of conversion, in no wise contributing even the very least of his own to his conversion, be it a bit better conduct, cessation of willful resistance, etc. No, the work of conversion is the work of the almighty and all-merciful God alone! Only then does God get the glory due to Him alone. Only then can the troubled sinner find true comfort.-I Cor. 2, 14; Phil. 2, 13; Eph. 1, 19; Titus 3, 5-8.
We also believe–that what God in time does for his elect, that He has determined to do from eternity, moved only by His mercy and the most holy merits of His Son. -Eph. 1, 3-7; Rom. 8, 28-30. We believe–that there is only one holy Christian church on earth; namely, the sum total of all who in their hearts trust solely in the merits of their Savior, despite false teachings that may be taught by their church, and even confessed at times by their own lips.-Eph. 2, 19-20; Acts 5, 14.
We believe- -that though all such Christians, no matter in which Christian church they find themselves, are our brethren in faith at
heart, nevertheless we dare not, much as we often would like to, extend to them the hand of brotherhood and outwardly worship with them. So To do so would be disloyalty to God’s clear demands, dishonesty towards erring churches, aye even a lack of love for our fellow believers there.- Gal. 5, 9; Rom. 16, 17
We believe that all who die as Christians will, upon leaving the Church Militant, enter into the Church Triumphant, eternal life; whereas those who die despising the merits of God’s Son will enter intoeternal death.-Matt. 25, 46.
We also believe that the Lutheran Confessions give correct expression to the doctrines of Scripture. Therefore, we subscribe unreservedly to all the Confessions of the Lutheran Church, not only in so far as but because they are in accordance with Scripture.
“GOD’S WORD AND LUTHER’S DOCTRINE PURE SHALL TO ETERNITY ENDURE!”
“Earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the saints.”
-Jude 4
To those who are members and friends of East and West Paint Creek Synod Lutheran Churches, this book is a priceless treasure. Our sincerest thanks go to Professor C. U. Raye who kindly consented to gather material and write the early history. We also appreciate the efforts of the Centennial Committee, the printers, and all who in any way contributed to this book. May all of these efforts serve to glorify the name of our God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.