History

Every historian will be the first to admit that attempting to capture accurately events of the past is a very frustrating experience. While the attention of people tends to be focused on the larger-than-life moments in life, Scripture teaches us that often God works most powerfully in the small and quiet details of life.

When we look back at the history of St. Paul congregation, we can only capture fleeting shadows and we surely are unaware of the multitude of wonderful memories that individuals who have called this church home have experienced from the hand of our gracious God.

The message of the bells has been reflected in both the pulpit and pew through the years. We pray that others who will pause at points in the future to consider the history of St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church of Slinger (Schleisingerville), Wisconsin, would discover that this wondrous blessing from God always remains.

Highlights

1849 St. John's United Evangelical Lutheran Church organized under Pastor Beckel. Pastor Beckel worked under Pastor Muehlhaeuser, first president of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod - the congregation tolerated false doctrine together with the truth
1850 Pastor Paul Meiss present at organization of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod
1851 -1853 Pastor A. Fuchs, member of Wisconsin Lutheran Synod
1853 - 1854 Pastor Johannes E. Sauer, member of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod
1854 - 1863 Pastor Fleischer, member of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod
1863 - 1867 Pastor Albert Opitz, member of the Wisconsin Lutheran Synod
1867 - 1871 Pastor J. H. Keitel, farmer turned preacher, no synodical affiliation, Lutheran leanings.
1869 congregation adopts constitution with decidedly Reformed leanings
1872 - 1873 Pastor G. Hirtz, no synodical affiliation, Lutheran leanings
May 17, 1873 Ten members leave to support the "Lutheran Evangelical Church" Pastor Opitz of Peace, Hartford, guides and serves the group
January 31, 1875 Lutheran group abandons attempts to retain the church property. New congregation organized. Pastor Albert Opitz of Peace, Hartford, serves the group as a second congregation
April 5, 1875 Group adopts the name, St. Paul Evangelical Lutheran Church
1873 - 1880 Pastor Albert Opitz
1881 - 1909 Pastor C. Probst, pastor of Peace Hartford, serves St. Paul
1885 Decision made to build church
1886 Church built
1893 Two bells purchased, first rung for Easter services
1909 Pastor Opitz retires
1909 - 1910 Pastor L. Ave Lallemant, first resident pastor of St. Paul
1910 Parsonage built
1910 - 1916 Pastor C. Auerswald
1916 - 1922 Pastor Rudolph Bergfield
1920 - 1922 strained relations between congregation and pastor
April 23, 1923 congregation dismisses Pastor Bergfield as its pastor
1922 - 1924 2 year vacancy. Congregation served by Pastor C. A. Otto of St. Paul, Brownsville
1924 - 1937 Pastor A. Lengling
1925 Pastor Lengling begins to serve St. Paul, Cedar Lake as a second charge
1937 - 1944 Pastor Erwin Scharf
1942 - 44 Leave of absence for Pastor Scharf to serve as a civilian chaplain. Pastor Norbert Reim
1944 - 1957 Pastor Frederick Gilbert
1945 organ purchased
1957 Hausfeldt property purchased for Sunday School room
1957 - 1961 Pastor John Ruege
1961 parsonage remodeled
1962 - 1971 Pastor Lester Groth
April 24, 1966 - discussion of purchasing "Nehm" property as site for a new church
1971 - 1979 Pastor Theodore Horneber
June 28, 1972 Nehm property (28 acres) purchased - present church site
February 29, 1976 decision reached to build a new facility
May 26, 1976 decision reached to set aside the design adopted in February and adopt a new design - present church
1978 Parsonage at 509 Highview Drive purchased to gain water and sewer access to church property - old parsonage sold
1978 Construction begins
1980 - 1995 Pastor George Enderle (Pr. Enderle was called home to heaven on Aug. 13, 2020)
1981 Education Fund established
1983 Garage constructed
1985 St. Paul's Little Learner Smile Center established
1990 Bell Tower addition construction begun
Easter 1991 Bells again used to call the faithful to worship
1992 St. Paul enlisted the help of Pastor Enderle’s son, Phillip, a senior at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary, to train and assist the elders of the congregation in calling on delinquent members. In the years that followed, senior seminary students would be hired to help with the educational ministry at St. Paul. This continued until St. Paul called a second pastor in 2000.1992-93 Phillip Enderle served our congregation as the first of many Sr. Vicars
1993-94 Kevin Mau served our congregation as Sr. Vicar

1994 Decision reached that St. Paul of Slinger and St. Paul of Cedar Lake each should have their own pastor
1994-95 Paul Schossow and Joel Otto served our congregation as Sr. Vicars

August 13, 1995 Pastor Enderle's farewell; he continues serving St. Paul of Cedar Lake as first full time pastor
1995 - Pastor David Cooper
August 20, 1995 Pastor Cooper installed
1995-96 Steven Schmidt served our congregation as Sr. Vicar

1996 Purchased computerized synthesizer to augment service and choir music
1996 Children's choir organized
1996-97 Paul Rutschow served our congregation as Sr. Vicar

1997 Joined Kettle Moraine Lutheran Federation
1997 Elementary school research committee formed
1997-98 Heath Buttler served our congregation as Sr. Vicar
1998 Building committee organized
1998 Congregation celebrates 125 years of God's Grace
1998-99 Joel Sauer and Matthew Schwartz served our congregation as Sr. Vicars
1999-2000 John Werner served our congregation as Sr. Vicar
2000 Pastor Coopers suffers a severe stroke; returned to preaching 1 year later
2000-01 Andrew Schwartz served our congregation as Sr. Vicar
2001 Pastor James Castillo is called
2002 Kindergarten opens
2003 Christian Family Center (CFC) was built
2004 Contemporary Worship services were added
2011 Pastor David Cooper leaves / Pastor David Hein is called
February 6, 2014 the Lord called home our servant Pastor David Hein
July 2014 Pastor Robert Fleischmann was called as a vacancy pastor
June 28, 2015 Pastor Robert Fleischmann was installed as Lead Pastor on ¾ time basis due to his time being shared with his duties as the National Director of Christian Life Resources.
2016 Pastor Fleischmann re-instituted and re-enlisted the help of seminary seniors to help fill the void. This practice has continued to the present day.
March 16, 2016 the Daycare was licensed for 80 children.
May 24, 2016 due to necessity the daycare was re-license to handle 96 children.
2016-17 Luther Zuberbier served our congregation as Sr. Vicar
June 28, 2017, causing electrical damage to many systems in St. Paul’s buildings.
July 2017 Pastor Fleischmann reduced his call hours to half time due to his time being shared with his duties as the National Director of Christian Life Resources.
2017-18 Wolf Parsons and Jason Zuehlke served our congregation as Sr. Vicars
July 1, 2018 Pastor Ben Golisch was installed
2018-19 Benjamin Berger served our congregation as Sr. Vicar
May 26, 2019 St. Paul congregation dedicated a Civil War Memorial installed in our St. Paul Cemetery on Hwy 175.
July 1, 2019 Pastor Fleischmann resigns as pastor at St. Paul to return to Christian Life Resources full time
2019-20 Jordan Uhlhorn served our congregation as Sr. Vicar
March 17, 2020 all St. Paul events are cancelled till further notice. Gatherings to be limited to 10 people due to the Coronavirus pandemic - COVID 19. Preschool shut down and church services are pre-recorded and offered through our weekly email blast. Small group communion offered each Sunday to keep contact with membership. Daycare remained open as one of the businesses exempt from these restrictions. Daycare numbers dropped from 100+ to 10, but they received special requests to take in the children of first responders and medical professionals so they could keep working. We had special services pre-recorded to celebrate Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter on their appropriate days.
May 31, 2020 We were allowed to have services in the church again but limited to 25% of our capacity. We limited each service to 65 people and requested they preregister for which service they would attend by calling the church or signing up on SIGNUP GENIUS. We blocked off every other pew. We continue to offer pre-recorded services for those who (for health reasons) don't feel comfortable gathering in larger groups yet.
Confirmation was postponed until June 14, 2020
August 30, 2020 Lucas Callies served our congregation as Sr. Vicar.
September 13, 2020 Broadcast our first live stream Bible Class and Sunday School has an option of virtual learning (pre-recorded lessons provided by NPH) due to the Coronavirus pandemic - COVID 19.
June 6, 2021, St. Paul held a celebration honoring Pastor Golisch’s 25 years in the ministry.
July 2021 Vicar Callies left us for his first pastoral call at Good Shepherd, Cedar Rapids/North Liberty, IA.
September 15, 2021 - May 2022 Jonathon Fleischmann served our congregation as Sr. Vicar.
December 2021 St. Paul started using the new hymnal, Christian Worship (CW21).
August 2022 - July 2023 Aaron Bush served our congregation as Sr. Vicar.
October 2022 A columbarium was delivered and installed. It contained 64 niches including 24 double niches for spouses and 16 single units. Due to substantial interest shown by the congregation, a second unit was ordered. It arrived in July of 2023. It also contained 64 niches with 28 double niches and 8 single units.
March 2023 it was decided that Little Learner Childcare would not be able to have childcare for the older, 5K and up, children beginning in September 2023, at least until more teachers could be hired. About 111 children had to find a different childcare to attend.
May 21, 2023, St. Paul celebrated 150 years of God’s grace with 276 members, friends, and guests in attendance.
September 2023 - current Zachary Meier serves our congregation as Sr. Vicar.

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies. ~ John 11:25