The first few years of Hope Lutheran Church’s existence were spent wherever the members could find space around town, including the library clubroom and, by the time Liz Roberts moved to town in 1953, in the old Episcopal Church, which gave the new Lutheran church a time spot each week. 

The retired teacher is now the oldest living member of the church, first organized in 1951, that has now celebrated 75 years in Powell. Liz and husband Dean were the first couple to get married in the building on Avenue H where services are held to this day. 

“We have a very welcoming church,” she said. “It’s always been known as a warm and welcoming church … people who come, they say, ‘Oh, we just felt so welcome.’ And that isn’t just now, it’s always been.”

This summer, Hope Lutheran celebrated 75 years of service in Powell with a community barbecue at Washington Park in mid August and, the next day, the installation of a new pastor. 

The installation took place at the building on Avenue H, which was built in 1954 by Buck Pond, heavily expanded in 1981 by Dean Roberts, and has continued to serve not just the congregation but the Powell community for nearly the entirety of the church’s existence. 

Pastor Jayson Nicholson was installed by the ELCA Bishop Ben Quanbeck during worship service with a luncheon following for current and former members. 

Nicholson, formerly a pastor in Laurel and the interim pastor at Hope for more than a year, is also a U.S. Navy Reserve Chaplain. 

Longtime church member Susan Sironen, who grew up in the church, moved away and recently came back, said in Nicholson’s time at the church he has encouraged many new projects, including a new hearing-impaired sound system, lunch and learn Bible studies, and a book study program. He has also promoted many community outreach projects such as assisting First Stop of Park County (helping those in need), creating a closet at the church to store donations for Crisis Intervention Center and Baby Blessing Bags for new mothers in need at the Powell hospital. 

Hope has also joined with St. John’s Episcopal Church in creating a vegetable garden to grow vegetables to donate to the community through St. John’s food program. These are added to the church’s longtime ways of supporting the community and the world, such as quilts — look around the church and you’ll see piles of finished quilts — which, Roberts said, go to local organization Sleep in Heavenly Peace, and can also wind up as someone’s primary means of shelter in an underdeveloped country. 

“Pastor Jason has got us way more active in the community, because he’s so active in everything around here,” Sironen said. 

Nicholson enjoys leaning into both new programs and the history of the church and the more than 500 years of Lutheran tradition. 

“Being a pastor in the Lutheran tradition, a tradition that makes a lot of jokes about how we hate change, and one that is very steeped in 500 years of history, sometimes it’s a challenge to figure out how to be responsive to the ever-changing realities that we find ourselves in in a modern world,” he said. “And so it’s always a challenge and always a balance of trying to honor and recognize our past and our history, while looking forward to where God is calling us today.”

Roberts loves the history of the church — the walls in the fellowship area are plastered with pictures from past youth choir and communion groups, major church milestones and fun events — but she too doesn’t want to just dwell on the past. 

“We have done our celebrating, and now we’re ready to move on with the ministry of our church again,” she said.