Lutheran Church of Our Saviour (Westland, Michigan) Records

Record Group

Identifier: Collection ID-1692

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Our Church Record

Baptisms 1958-1973
Confirmations 1958-1962
Marriages 1960
Deaths 1962

The Practical Church Record

Baptisms 1962-2019
Confirmations 1962-2014
Marriages 1965-2014
Funerals 1965-2016

History
Constitution and By-Laws
Demographic / Planning Report, 1999
Decommissioning of church documents, 2021
Voters' Assembly Meeting Minutes 1961-1966, 1970, 1986-2018
Parish Planning Committee Meeting Minutes, 1974
Ladies' Guild Meeting Minutes, 1987-1999
Insurance
Estate of Edward Harry Einem

This congregation partnered with Lutheran Homes of Michigan and Presbyterian Villages of Michigan to create Our Saviour's Manor Senior Housing, which was dedicated on June 8, 2003. The collection also contains information pertaining to the creation of this facility, including Board of Directors Meeting Minutes. Blueprints of the facility are also included.

Dates

Creation: 1958 - 2021

LIst of Pastors

Rev. P.C. Dumas 1958-1962
Rev. Carl Bormann 1962-1970
Rev. Robert Cullinan 1970-1971
Rev. Robert Weikart 1971-1973
Rev. Dennis Quackenboss 1973-?
Rev. Ed Einem (vacancy) 1982-1988
Rev. Allen L. Steinbeck 1988-1997
Rev. Ed Einem (vacancy) 1998-?

Biographical / Historical

Rev. P. C. Dumas received a call from the Michigan District of the LCMS in the early part of 1956 to become Missionary-At-Large for the district and to start a new mission in Inkster. Rev. Dumas was then sent to Saint Matthew Lutheran Church, Ferndale, Michigan in May 1956. The pastor of Our Master Lutheran Church in Inkster had made an urgent appeal to the Mission Board not to begin the new mission at Inkster at that time because his congregation was to be integrated. Our Master then called its new pastor Rev. Donald E. Frank. The Mission Board directed that Pastor Frank would contact Pastor Dumas and the families involved within his new congregation to meet with him and his council to discuss the matter of starting the new mission south of Michigan Avenue. This was accepted, and then they needed to find a place to conduct worship services and Sunday School. The first place of worship became the Melody Theater. The congregation received its name, as a daughter mission of The Lutheran Church of Our Savior, Detroit, Dr. E.H Buchheimer, pastor. Pastor Dumas then became the pastor of a dual parish, Saint Matthias Lutheran Church, Ferndale and the Lutheran Church of Our Saviour. During Pastor Dumas' ministry there, five places had to be secured for worship. From Melody Theater, the congregation moved to a store front, then a nicer place was secured, and then the Seventh Day Adventist Church rented their space to the congregation on Sundays. The present property was sold to Pastor Dumas in 1959, At that time, the Church Extension Board turned down this offer and the plan to purchase and build the new church building was dropped. When the next pastor was called in 1962, the pastor and congregation pressured the Mission Board and Church Extension Board to purchase the location. This was passed. The groundbreaking took place on September 29, 1963 and cornerstone laying on February 9, 1964. This congregation closed on July 12, 2021.