Bethel Thunder Bay closes

THUNDER BAY, Ont. - After 124 years of the Lord’s blessings in Word and Sacrament, Bethel Lutheran Church in Thunder Bay held its final Divine Service and closing of the congregation on July 4, 2021.

The chancel after the disposition of the building. The artwork features the ascension of Jesus and the promise that Christ will come again.

“It was a day filled with tears and bathed in the blood of Jesus dispensed in Absolution, Supper, and the Word,” noted Rev. David Haberstock, Lutheran Church–Canada’s Central Regional Pastor. Preaching for the service was Rev. Jamie Bosma, who has served the congregation for the past 21 years. The sermon text was Matthew 11:28-30.

The service saw the disposition of the building, symbolized by the removal of candles, altar books and missal, communion vessels, and so forth from the chancel. The removal of items was paired with the reading of appropriate Scripture passages.

Bethel Lutheran was the mother church of Thunder Bay, originally part of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran National Church (which later merged with The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod). The current building was built around 1934 after a fire in the congregation’s previous building. The records of the church will be given into the trust of nearby sister congregation, Epiphany.

Central Regional Pastor Haberstock offers the following prayer for those wishing to remember the people and ministry of Bethel Lutheran in prayer:

Lord God, our Heavenly Father, we thank You for the many blessings which You have showered upon Bethel Lutheran Church, especially for the Gospel and the Holy Sacraments and for Your continued presence with Your people. Forgive us where we have been slow to receive Your Word and unwilling to obey it. We rejoice in Your goodness and in the promise that You will never leave us or forsake us. Grant that no one among us may be left without the preaching of the Gospel and administration of the Sacraments. Bless Your Church throughout the world so that she may give faithful witness to the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ both in word and deed. Preserve and protect Your people at all times, and bring them at last to the heavenly home which You have prepared for all who serve You in faith and love; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Rev. David Haberstock, Regional Pastor