Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church (MPLC), also known as Mount Pleasant Church, is an architecturally and historically significant church in Racine, Wisconsin. It was designed by Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin-based architect Helmut Ajango with Gene LaMuro. Nicknamed the Spaceship Church, it is located at 1700 South Green Bay Road and was built in 1975. [1] It is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. [2]
Racine is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is located 22 miles south of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 U.S. census, the city had a population of 78,860, making it the fifth-largest city in Wisconsin. Its median home price of $103,625 makes it one of the most affordable cities in Wisconsin to buy a home. In January 2017, it was rated "the most affordable place to live in the world" by the Demographia International Housing Affordability survey.
Fort Atkinson is a city in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States. It is on the Rock River, a few miles upstream from Lake Koshkonong. The population was 12,368 at the 2010 census.
Helmut "Mike" Ajango was an Estonian-born architect based in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin in the United States. He designed more than 175 churches in southern Wisconsin as well as Fireside Dinner Theater (1964) and The Gobbler. His work has been described as combining Mid-Century Modern architecture and Prairie Architecture. Fellow Fort Atkinson architect Gene LaMuro worked with Ajango on some of his projects.
The church was designed to represent the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ during his crucifixion. It includes a dome enclosed in a metal band with outward protruding thorns and a towering metal cross rising skyward. Part of the church was built underground and it has been expanded with an education center, also built underground with skylights. A narthex foyer is part of the complex and the church's entrance includes a stained glass wall by church member and artist Cathy Meader (who designed it in memory of her father Robert Bohm who oversaw construction of the original church building). [1]
According to three of the Gospels, a woven crown of thorns was placed on the head of Jesus during the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. It was one of the instruments of the Passion, employed by Jesus' captors both to cause him pain and to mock his claim of authority. It is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew, Mark (15:17) and John and is often alluded to by the early Church Fathers, such as Clement of Alexandria, Origen and others.
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang, perhaps for several days, until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation.
The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex was a part of the church building, but was not considered part of the church proper.
Other nicknames for the church include St. Saucer, Spaceship Church, and Pancake Parish, and its circle in the round design centers the sanctuary on the altar and stone baptismal font behind it, "the water and the word". The circle also embodies the unity of the church congregation. The church has a John-Paul Buzard organ. [3]
The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS), also referred to simply as the Wisconsin Synod, is an American Confessional Lutheran denomination of Christianity. Characterized as theologically conservative, it was founded in 1850 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As of 2018, it had a baptized membership of 359,426 in 1,281 congregations, with churches in 47 US states and 4 provinces of Canada. The WELS also does gospel outreach in 40 countries around the world. It is the third largest Lutheran denomination in the United States. The WELS school system is the fourth largest private school system in the United States.
Association of Free Lutheran Congregations is the sixth largest Lutheran church body in the United States. The AFLC includes congregations from the former Lutheran Free Church before 1963, in 27 different states, as well as four Canadian provinces. The AFLC is not an incorporated synod, but a free association. Each local congregation is a separate corporation. Minnesota is the geographic center of the organization, with over 80 congregations and over 12,000 members. There are also numerous congregations in the neighboring states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. The AFLC headquarters are in Plymouth, Minnesota along with the Association Free Lutheran Bible School and Seminary.
Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary is a post-secondary school that trains men to become pastors for the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). It is located in Mequon, Wisconsin.
Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Lutheran church located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated State Historic Site. The building was also declared a Milwaukee Landmark in 1967.
St. Stephen Lutheran Church, or Iglesia Luterana San Esteban, is a designated Milwaukee Landmark. It is in the historic Walker's Point district of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church is a church located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Milwaukee Landmark.
Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church is a congregation of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS) located at the intersection of Barr and Madison Streets in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Founded in 1837, it is the second oldest Lutheran church in Indiana and the oldest in the northern part of the state. Thanks largely to its size and to the leadership of its pastors, it has long played a prominent role in Indiana Lutheranism and in the Missouri Synod as a whole.
The Minnesota South District is one of the 35 districts of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS), and covers the southern third of the state of Minnesota including the Twin Cities area; it also includes two congregations in Wisconsin. The northern two thirds of Minnesota constitute the Minnesota North District, and the rest of Wisconsin is divided between the North Wisconsin and South Wisconsin Districts. In addition, two Minnesota congregations are in the non-geographic English District. The Minnesota South District includes approximately 246 congregations and missions, subdivided into 24 circuits, as well as 49 preschools, 45 elementary schools and 7 high schools. Baptized membership in district congregations is approximately 127,000.
There are several long-established Nordic churches in London. All seek to provide Lutheran Christian worship and pastoral care to their respective national communities in their own languages. Many of the churches also organise language classes and organise a wide range of social activities.
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church is an historic Lutheran church located at 112 Walters Street in Corning, Missouri. It was founded as a Confessional Church, adhering to the Unaltered Augsburg Confession. It later became a member of the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS).
Gethsemane Church is one of four church buildings of the Lutheran Northern Prenzlauer Berg Evangelical Congregation, within the Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia, an umbrella organisation which includes Lutheran, Reformed, and United Protestant Calvinist congregations.
The Independence State Hospital was built in 1873 as the second asylum in the state of Iowa. It is located in Independence, Iowa. The original plan for patients was to relieve crowding from the hospital at Mount Pleasant and to hold alcoholics, geriatrics, drug addicts, mentally ill, and the criminally insane. It was built under the Kirkbride Plan. The hospital's many names include: The Independence Lunatic Asylum, The Independence State Asylum, The Independence Asylum for the Insane, The Iowa State Hospital for the Insane, and The Independence Mental Health Institute. There is also a labyrinth of underground tunnels which connect every building. Like most asylums of its time, it has had a gruesome and dark history. Remnants of this are the graveyard, hydrotherapy tubs, and lobotomy equipment.
St. Paul Lutheran Church is located in central, Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The church's original property, which subsequently housed other Protestant congregations, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, but has since been torn down. The present complex was built in 1952 and contains two buildings that are contributing properties in the Vander Veer Park Historic District. The present church building was completed in 2007.
Westby Coon-Prairie Lutheran Church is an ELCA Lutheran church located in Westby, Wisconsin and is part of the La Crosse Area Synod. It is currently served by Pastors Dan and Julie Wollman. As of 2012, the congregation has 1,012 baptized members.
Trinity Lutheran Church is a historic former Lutheran church in downtown Canton, Ohio, United States. Built in the 1880s for a flourishing congregation, it closed in the early 2010s, leaving behind a church building that has been named a historic site.
The Church Hill Historic District is a mid-to-upper-class residential area north of Portage's downtown. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 for its significance in architecture and social history.
Fireside Dinner Theater is a historic dinner theater and special events venue in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. The original building and several expansions were designed by Fort Atkinson-based architect Helmut Ajango, who also designed The Gobbler, and built in 1964. A nearby building was purchased for conversion into a theater and added to the complex. The business is run by the Klopcic family.
Hebron Church is a mid-19th-century Lutheran church in Intermont, Hampshire County, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Hebron Church was founded in 1786 by German settlers in the Cacapon River Valley, making it the first Lutheran church west of the Shenandoah Valley. The congregation worshiped in a log church, which initially served both Lutheran and Reformed denominations. Its congregation was originally German-speaking; the church's documents and religious services were in German until 1821, when records and sermons transitioned to English.
Mount Pisgah Lutheran Church, also known in its early years as the First Lutheran Church and First English Lutheran Church and more recently as The Sanctuary on Penn, is located at 701 North Pennsylvania Street in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The historic church was built by the city's first Lutheran congregation, which organized in 1837, and was its third house of worship. The former church, whose present-day name is The Sanctuary on Penn, is operated as a for-profit event venue.