Holy Inspiration - A Building Fit for MPLC

On September 14, 2025, Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church will celebrate the 50th anniversary of our church building, exactly 50 years after the first worship service was held in the new worship space on September 14, 1975. The formal Dedication Service for the building was held two months later, on November 7, 1975.

A church building is a holy place. It's where we come together to worship God, where God's people are fed and strengthened in faith, and it serves as a "launching pad" for the ministry of all the baptized after they leave the worship space. We give thanks for this holy place in the midst of God's people we have known as Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church for the past 50 years.

Pastor Ted Romberg was pastor of Mount Pleasant Lutheran Church from 1972-1983.

Before ground was ever broken, however, Pastor Ted Romberg articulated a beautiful vision for the church building-to-be in his letter to the congregation on October 17, 1973. In his preamble to the “Forward with a Mission” Report to members, Pastor Romberg wrote:

"Dear Friends,

The next year will be an exciting and busy year at Mt. Pleasant. Exciting, because a decade of dreams will actually begin to take shape....First a word about Mission:

The mission of our church is threefold:

1. Congregational Care – corporate worship and administration of the sacraments is the basic activity of Christians. Congregational care also includes the nurture, education and training for Christian discipleship of our members. Fellowship is very important too.

2. Outreach – to communicate the “good news” about Jesus Christ to people outside our church. This is what Christ asks of us, and we have a definite responsibility to do this in all arenas of our lives.

3. Social Concern – we are called to extend a “cup of cold water” to our neighbors in need. As such, the church needs to be involved in the social, economic and political issues in our local community and in the world.

General Considerations:

Whatever else happens to our community—if no one were to attend worship, church school, or any auxiliary meetings—the church building would still in its own silent way point [people] to God. Therefore, the building ought to be immediately distinguishable as a church. It should be majestic and warm, reflecting the love, majesty and everlasting character of God.

....Also, our appeal is to [the] contemporary [person], who often looks upon the church as an unchanging relic of a dying age. Therefore the church building should also say we are living in the 1970’s, 1980’s and beyond.

The first real service of the Christian Church occurred at the time that Jesus and his disciples gathered for the last supper. From that time on gathering around the table of the Lord became the center of the life of the Church.

The arrangements and atmosphere of the Church nave and chancel ought to convey a feeling of the people of God gathered around the table of the Lord to be fed, and to respond to God and to each other.

We do not come to worship as individuals in isolation and without communicating with one another. We are a community, a family of God. As such the nave ought to encourage togetherness and a sense of community among those who gather in it.

Beyond these primary functions the atmosphere of the nave and chancel ought to set the tone for worship. We are open to the use of color, tones and lighting to create warmth and a worshipful atmosphere. While we wish to preserve a sense of awe, worship is also our joyful response to God.

Once again, bear in mind that people of all ages will worship here; children who come and sit on the floor of the chancel for children’s sermons, young people who are light-hearted, youth who sing lively modern music in their choir, adults who vary from very traditional to those who have a more innovative spirit about them and senior citizens who often long for identification with their past.

It is in this spirit that we seek to build our new church.

Sincerely,

Pastor Theodore H. Romberg"