Church to celebrate opening

First Lutheran rises from the ashes

First Lutheran Church, the historic church that burned in central Lorain, has announced a series of events to open its new church at 1019 West Fifth St.

It also will be a time to say goodbye for the Rev. Jimmy Madsen, who began his pastorate in central Lorain in 1979.

The church made statewide news Aug. 28, 2014, when an arson fire burned the sanctuary, along with its historic organ and much of the stained glass at 603 Washington Ave. The building was demolished in the winter of 2015.

Madsen at first planned to retire in 2015, but he delayed that due to the fire.

“Of course, that was not the time for the congregation to be without a pastor,” he said.

The new church has been under construction since summer of 2016.

“I like it a lot,” Madsen said about the building.

The church’s New Building Committee and congregation spent a long time creating a vision statement for the church’s mission and its new space, Madsen said. They did their best to design and build a space that

“It’s exciting. There’s still quite a bit to be done, but they feel very confident it will be done in about a month.” — Rev. Jimmy Madsen

will serve what the church does, he said.

“It will do that,” Madsen said. “It’s a well-constructed building. It’s going to last a long, long time. Everything is up to date.”

The church staff, including the new pastor, the Rev. Rosalina Rivera, will move into the building on Nov. 6. The new church will have its substantial completion date on Nov. 15.

“It’s exciting,” Madsen said. “There’s still quite a bit to be done, but they feel very confident it will be

done in about a month.”

On Nov. 19, the congregation will have its first worship service in the new building. The service is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. that morning, which is a Sunday.

At 3 p.m. Nov. 19, the church also will host a concert by jazz pianist Bradley Sowash of Columbus. Among a number of projects, Sowash has recorded nine albums in a variety of styles and he worked seven seasons on the PBS television series “The Piano Guy.”

At 11 a.m., Dec. 2, the church will have a grand opening celebration with Bishop Abraham Allende presiding. There will be a light lunch, open house and

tours, all open to the public.

The celebration deliberately is scheduled on a Saturday morning so that people from other churches can attend without missing other Sunday morning services the next day, Madsen said.

Dec. 10 will be Madsen’s last worship service with the congregation.

The service will be at 9:30 a.m. that day. There will be a 3 p.m. concert with Advent music of Johannes Brahms.

After the concert, a retirement party for Madsen is scheduled at 4:30 p.m.

Anyone who wants to attend should call 440-2446286 for reservations.