1970Sister Frieda Gatzke
Pastor Chell
SISTER FRIEDA GATZKE
In January 1970, a community centre was built adjacent to our church. With
the dedication of our new community
centre, FIRST had taken a firm stand to
minister to the downtown. The new
addition served as a drop in centre for
some of the less fortunate people in the
surrounding community.
Sister Frieda Gatzke, Lay Assistant with
the Division of Missions in North America
(LCA), began her work with us in June
1971. Her work centered on the youth and young adults in the community. She organized many opportunities for the young people of that era to participate in the work of the church, and is still fondly remembered by many of them.
PASTOR CHELL
Pastor Jacobson left FIRST LUTHERAN in December, 1972, to serve a smaller
parish in Canmore, Alberta. Pastor
James Chell accepted the call from FIRST and was installed as our resident Pastor
in August, 1973.
An American by birth, Pastor Chell was
married with six children. He received
his education in Minnesota, graduating
from Gustavus Adolphus College with a
Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956. He received his Bachelor and Master of Divinity degrees from Augustana Theological Seminary in Rock Island, Illinois, graduating in 1960 after internship in Kenora, Ontario. He was ordained on June 12, 1960, and accepted a call to serve a new mission parish in Stavely, Alberta. He served Trinity Lutheran in Stavely for seven years, and simultaneously served as Mission Developer at Good Shepard in High River, Alberta. He eventually relocated to High River, where a parsonage and church building were constructed.
In 1967, Pastor Chell left his two-point parish to accept a call to serve as Chaplain at the Good Shepard Lutheran Home for the Aged in Wetaskiwin.
Pastor Chell must have had a lot of western blood, for he broke and trained some of his own horses which led him to pioneer an outpost camp, including a covered wagon, horseback riding, and tenting in the mountains. It was indeed a big step for Pastor Chell to leave the rural life to become involved with an inter-city ministry in downtown Calgary at FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH in August 1973.
He embarked on his ministry at FIRST with great enthusiasm and optimism. A number of programs and projects were facilitated and federally funded. Among the projects undertaken were Opportunity for Youth programs, providing family recreation for the inner city, and employing high school and university students. The church participated in the Inter-Faith Committee on Urban Life and Development, The Downtown Exchange, and Ministry with the "vertical villagers", and conducted research among the congregation members as well as the managers, owners, and tenants of the high rises surrounding us.
Urban change waits for no one! Life in the inner city can be lonely for the individual and even more so a the density of the population increases. The church was beginning to be overshadowed by the rapid growth of buildings around it. The family residences fell to bulldozers. FIRST was determined to stay downtown and minister in the ever-changing environment.
1976 saw an expected change at FIRST LUTHERAN as our highly competent Pastor, Jim Chell , was appointed to the position of Assistant to the Bishop of our Western Canada Synod. Pastor Chell looked upon his ministry at FIRST as a turning point in his experience as a Pastor as he experienced the vitality of a congregation responsive to the need for mission in the community.
