First Lutheran Church will reinforce its sanctuary building

The First Lutheran Church Council has approved a contractor's and engineering firm's recommendations to reinforce the church structure.

First Lutheran closed its historic sanctuary and fellowship hall last week due to structural concerns that were being monitored over several years.

The final report from the contractor and engineer, provided this week, confirmed concerns about the structural integrity of the church building, specifically the roof and the walls of the sanctuary. The walls are showing significant outward displacement due to issues with the roof.

According to the report, the roof's main rafters are showing twisting, bowing, bending, cracking and splitting, which is putting pressure on the east and west walls. The cracking and obvious movement of the structure seems to have been progressing at a faster rate over the last six months, making the building unsafe due to fear of collapse. Winter weather changes such as heavy snowfall and wind have the potential to make the situation worse. The contractor and engineer do not believe the existing roof can be fixed.

Stabilization efforts will include drilling into the church walls and installing tension ties across the sanctuary space. This will provide needed stabilization so monitors can be installed to evaluate further movement of the building. It will not make the building safe enough to occupy for regular activities.

Stabilization work is expected to begin next week.

A task force has been appointed to evaluate short-term safety issues and work to secure church assets, such as the organ, pews, pianos, and altar.

First Lutheran's staff are working to plan worship for the month of December and to take steps to continue regular programming in January. "Our plan is to continue with our regular three worship services and education schedule in January with as few modifications as possible," said Pastor Chad Huebner, lead pastor at First Lutheran.

First Lutheran is temporarily holding worship services at the Noble Recital Hall in Jenson-Noble Hall of Music at Luther College.

"We are learning of history that reminds us of our ties with Luther College," Huebner said. "The first building constructed at Luther was Campus House. Luther's founders intended to build Decorah's first Lutheran church in the area where Jenson Hall of Music stands now, so worshiping there brings our organizations full circle, in a way.

"We continue to be grateful to Luther College, as well as for the support of our congregation and community," said Huebner.

First Lutheran will hold Christmas Eve worship services in the Noble Recital Hall in the Jenson-Noble Hall of Music at Luther College at 3:00 p.m. (Family), 5:00 p.m. (New Song), and 7:00 p.m. (Traditional). Because the capacity of this recital hall is smaller than the capacity of the sanctuary, attendees who usually attend the early service are encouraged to consider worshiping at either of the later services to ensure that all worshipers can be served in the space. Arrangements are being made for parking, signage and snow removal.

First Lutheran will not hold Christmas Day worship this year.