Emmanuel Lutheran Church - Knippa, TX - Lutheran Churches on Waymarking.com

From the Knippa Emmanuel Lutheran Church Website.

You will find there are no perfect people here.

We are a people of faith who believe that God is a God of grace who welcomes all, and in that grace offers reconciliation to God and to one another.

If this sounds like the kind of community for which you have been longing, we invite you to come and check us out!

What we believe - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17 )

God created and desires a relationship with all people. The basis of that relationship is God's love in Jesus Christ. God took responsibility for our sin through Jesus when Jesus took the sins of the world upon himself on the cross. Salvation is an offer that comes as a gift. It cannot be earned.

We can only receive it with empty hands, with a trusting heart. Grace means gift. It is intended for sinners (everyone) to free them from sin's curse and power. In Jesus we are made into a new creation. When we receive this new life, God lifts all condemnation and judgment that we once deserved.

1904: Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Knippa was organized July 10

1905: First confirmation, Oscar Kessler, Ella Kessler, and Albert Kessler

1910: Small white frame church with bell tower dedicated as a house of God (thru 1954)

1912: Rev. Gottlieb Langner began full time pastor

1913: Ladies Aid Society developed (now Women of Emmanuel Lutheran)

1927: Kerosene lamps were replaced with electric lights

1929: Membership 49 voting members (mostly men listed)

1944: First parsonage was built

1946: Rev. Eugene Meier accepted call as pastor (thru 1950)

1950: Rev. M. C. Hoermann served at pastor (until 1956)

1954: New brick Church with balcony and annex dedicated

1957: Rev. Raymond Wolf accepted call as pastor (until 1967)

1966: New parsonage dedicated

1967: Rev, Walter Hildebrandt accepted call as pastor (until 1980)

1974: Central air and heating was installed

1981: Rev. Steven King served as pastor (until 1985)

1982: Fellowship building was dedicated

1985: Rev. Gary O. Bruns accepted call as pastor (until 1992)

1993: Rev. Daryl Knox served as pastor (until 2002)

1996: Historical Marker dedicated in memory of Jeanette Langner

2004: Centennial celebration July 11, 2004

2004: 150 members

2007: Rev. Daryl Knox returned as pastor (until 2012)

2012: Rev. Nathan Lafrenz accepted call as pastor

This church traces its origins to 1904 when nine charter members led by the Rev. Gottlieb Langner organized a congregation in Knippa. Services were held in the homes of its members, who were served by area pastors and traveling missionaries.

Georg Knippa, for whom the town was named and a charter member of the church, died in 1905. The land he donated in his will to be used for a Lutheran Church was exchanged for this church site. A wooden church with a 67-foot bell tower was built in 1910. Pastor Langner became the first full-time pastor in 1912, organizing a Sunday School and choir.

The German-speaking congregation conducted its services in German. During World War I, a Uvalde County resolution prohibited the use of the German language. Challenged and appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1918, the court ruled it was a matter for the church to decide. German was spoken in church until 1942.

A new sanctuary was constructed for the growing congregation, and was dedicated on the 50th anniversary of the church's founding in 1954. A new parsonage, annex and fellowship hall were later added. This church continues to serve its membership and the community as it has for more than 90 years. (1996)