Faith Lutheran Church is celebrating 15 decades of community service this weekend, marking a milestone that reflects the deep roots Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian congregations planted in Michigan’s Copper Country.
The church will host a celebration Saturday featuring free games for children, historical displays and a chance for visitors to explore their family heritage through church records dating back generations.
“A Swedish congregation and a Finnish congregation came together in 1964 to establish Faith Lutheran Church,” said Jared Howard, pastor at Faith Lutheran Church. “And then later some folks from the Norwegian heritage ended up being part of this conglomeration as well. All three of those congregational identities — Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian — always had a strong connection to what the community is doing.”
The congregation built its current site in the 1960s, consolidating three separate churches into one unified house of worship. Pastor Robert Langseth, who arrived in 1964 and 1965, solidified the partnership between the church and the broader community through his work with national parks and other community initiatives.
Today, Faith Lutheran Church continues that legacy of service through multiple community programs. The congregation operates a mobile food pantry as part of the CLK Council of Churches, which receives support from throughout the region, including the Calumet Farmers’ Market.
“The last Friday of every month, we have a free community meal open to anybody just to come and have a free meal together — not anything other than just sitting, chatting and having a good time,” Howard said. “We also help with the CLK food pantry, which is located out of the Episcopal Church here in town. And we’re getting ready to start a mobile food pantry with our mobile trailer that will pick up some of the leftovers from the farmer’s market and distribute those to some of our neighbors in need.”
The weekend celebration offers a unique opportunity for community members to connect with their ancestry. Historical records on display will feature the names of ancestors from Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian heritage churches, allowing visitors to trace family lineage and discover details about their relatives.
“All the kids games are free that they’ll come up and be part of, and all the historical information will be free,” Howard said. “If you have heritage in the Swedish or Finnish national churches, we have your ancestors’ names written in our books that we’re gonna have on display. So you might be able to find your family name and some lineage and some dates that might surprise you — some things about your family you might not have known.”
The celebration reflects the church’s evolution from its origins in the Red Jacket area, now known as Calumet-Laurium, to its current role as a cornerstone of community life in the Keweenaw Peninsula.
For more information about Faith Lutheran Church’s 150-year celebration, visit the church online.
