DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Immanuel United Church of Christ of Spring, up there in Harris County. Now, there are some stories that start quiet and end loud, and this is one of them. It begins in 1913, when a congregation was established in the little community of Spring, Texas.
They chartered it in 1916 under a name you'd want to take a breath before saying — Deutsche Evangelisch Lutherischen Immanuels Gemeinde Zu Spring. The founders carried names that told you exactly where their roots ran: Lemm, Goedecke, Strack, Holzworth, Klein, Kothmann, Benignus, and Arp. German heritage, plain and proud.
Those same founders didn't just establish a congregation — they designed and built their first church themselves, and they had it standing by 1916. A simple frame building, one spire reaching skyward, and stained glass windows donated by First Evangelical Church down in Houston. Services were held in both English and German, and that continued right up until World War II.
The years rolled on, and the congregation and the community kept building things together. In 1948 they completed a parish hall addition — a project that caught enough attention to be recognized by the Board of Missions of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, a merged group of Lutheran churches. That's no small thing.
That's a community proving itself. And then 1953 arrived, and it brought fire. Not a small fire.
Not a manageable fire. A conflagration — and that word is doing real work here — that destroyed the entire campus. Every last bit of it.
Now, you might expect a congregation to take years to recover from something like that. These folks dedicated a rebuilt church and Parish Hall in December of 1953. The same year.
Let that sit with you a moment. But here's where that fire left a mark on more than just Immanuel. The destruction woke Spring up to something it had been doing without — a fire department.
The town formed one in 1954. So when another fire threatened Immanuel in 2008, this time there was someone to answer the call. The fire department saved the sanctuary.
That's a thread worth noticing. Over more than a hundred years, Immanuel has changed with the land around it. The membership moved from agrarian to urban.
The name changed to Immanuel United Church of Christ. The once tight-knit German family church turned its attention outward, centering on outreach and mission. The language of the services changed.
The faces in the pews changed. But the dedication to the community — that held. Today, Immanuel United Church of Christ still stands at the entrance to the town of Spring.
It has outlasted fire, war, hardship, and a century of change. The marker says it continues to flourish and persevere, and given everything that church has been through, that word — persevere — has earned every letter.
What the marker says
Immanuel’s congregation was established in 1913 and chartered in 1916 under the German title Deutsche Evangelisch Lutherischen Immanuels Gemeinde Zu Spring. The founders’ names reflected its German heritage – Lemm, Goedecke, Strack, Holzworth, Klein, Kothmann, Benignus and Arp. The founders designed and built their first church by 1916, a simple frame building with a single spire and stained glass windows donated by First Evangelical Church in Houston. Worship services, both in English and German, were held there until World War II. Over the years, the congregation and community joined forces to complete projects, including the 1948 parish hall addition, a project recognized by the Board of Missions of the Evangelical and Reformed Church, a merged group of Lutheran Churches. In 1953, a fire destroyed the entire campus. Members rebuilt quickly, and the present church and Parish Hall were dedicated in December 1953. The conflagration awoke Spring to the need for a fire department, which formed in 1954. When another fire threatened Immanuel in 2008, the fire department saved the sanctuary. As the area has evolved, so has Immanuel. The membership has changed from agrarian to urban, the name changed to Immanuel United Church of Christ, and the once German family church now centers on outreach and mission. For more than 100 years, Immanuel has remained dedicated to the community. Despite hardships, Immanuel United Church of Christ continues to flourish and persevere. The church has left a lasting influence on the history and development of the area and remains a landmark at the entrance to the town of Spring. (2016)