Over sixty years ago, on September 9, 1956, Rev. Robert Moldstad held the first service for our ELS mission in Lombard. Four people were present at the Pleasant Lake School building for this service. The next year, the small group purchased thirteen lots, where St. Timothy Lutheran Church now stands. Two years later, the first service in the two-story building was held on Good Friday evening in 1959. A parsonage was completed in 1968, and a larger sanctuary was built in 1975.
What the above paragraph cannot tell us is the many hours of canvassing homes, Bible instruction, meetings, and labor on the part of six pastors and many lay-people it took to make St. Timothy prosper. The Lord blessed the preaching of the Gospel and the work done for His kingdom, so that St. Timothy Lutheran Church continues to this day.
God has placed St. Timothy and its members as a light into the world. Jesus declared that He is the light of truth. Those who trust in Him will not stumble in the darkness of unbelief, for the truths of God’s Word are a light to their path on the way to heaven. As we “declare the praises of God who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light,” the Holy Spirit works through our words to enlighten the hearts of others to believe the truth of the Gospel.
What is the true light that we confess? That while all people have broken God’s laws and deserve His wrath, God sent Jesus to rescue all people from their sins. By His holy life and innocent death, Jesus provided everyone with salvation—a rescue from sin and death. God promises to forgive every sin through faith in Jesus, to adopt us into His family by faith in Jesus, to hear and answer our prayers, and to take all who believe on Jesus into heaven. God wants everyone to believe this message—to know the light of truth, to worship Him in spirit and truth, and to trust in Jesus.
May God bless the anniversary of St. Timothy as we glorify God for His light and dedicate ourselves to proclaiming His truth.
