Christ Lutheran Church was founded in Old Orchard when Albert H. Buser moved to Webster Groves and found other Lutherans who were looking for a church home. He asked his pastor, Rev. Martin Sommer of Grace Lutheran Church, to help. They located a meeting room and began to have services on March 14, 1897. The group of families asked Dr. Friedrich Bente, a Concordia Seminary professor, to serve as their part-time pastor.

 

Christ bought its first church building in 1909. In 1915 the congregation called Rev. George Luecke, Jr. to serve as the first full-time pastor. The congregation grew steadily over the decades. They built their next church building (now the office of the superintendent of the Webster Groves School District) in the early 1920s. The present building opened in 1942 and serves the congregation to this day.

 

In 1988 the congregations of Living Word Lutheran Church and Christ Lutheran Church merged. That same year the merged congregations became members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In 1996 a substantial number of the members of Luther Memorial Lutheran Church joined Christ Lutheran.

 

Members continue to worship, study, and learn together every week. Christ actively supports Webster-Rock Hill Ministries and Humanitri. Christ Lutheran Church still seeks people who, like our founding members, are looking for a place where they can worship, and welcome and serve in the name of Jesus.

 

Additional information about the history of Christ Lutheran Church can be found in our 100th Anniversary Booklet  and in an article written for the Webster-News Times in 1950.

 

 We are a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  For information about our demographics, look us up on the  ELCA website.