About Faith Lutheran Church
-
Faith Lutheran Church was organized as a mission congregation of the Augustana Lutheran Church, and was the last congregation started by Augustana before the merger that produced the Lutheran Church in America, which is now part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The first worship service of the new congregation was held on November 4, 1962 in the basement assembly room of Pike School on Porter Road in Andover. Services were held at Pike for about a year until the building was sold. Phillips Academy in Andover then kindly provided the use of Peabody house on Sunday mornings and church holidays. The first church organ was assembled from a kit in eight weeks by the talented electronics engineers in the congregation. As one member commented when recalling the church’s early years, “We were not called ‘Faith’ for nothing!”
On December 1, 1963, Faith Lutheran was officially organized in the presence of Rev. Dr. O. Karl Olander, New England Synod President, and Rev. Hartland H. Gifford was installed as the first pastor. In April, 1964, the congregation purchased 3.4 acres of land located at 360 South Main Street, Andover for $14,000. The remainder of the present site, a 0.75 acre parcel at the corner of South Main and Wildwood Road containing an old house and barn, was purchased a year later for $13,500. Construction of the first church building began in January, 1967 and it was dedicated on September 10, 1967.
From its beginnings as a mission congregation organized by 34 charter members, Faith has grown to a thriving congregation serving more than 850 people who reside in Andover, North Andover, the greater Merrimack Valley and beyond.
