By John Kriz
When one thinks of St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, the first thing that comes to mind is often that it’s that pretty, classic New England church that anchors the east side of God’s Acre. www.stmichaelslutheran.org
It certainly is that, but if the church’s cheerful new pastor, Rev. Mark Grorud, and friendly, energetic council have anything to say about it, there will soon be much more.
Church History
The church sanctuary, built in 1833 and New Canaan’s oldest house of worship, is arguably the quaintest church in town. Originally the home of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, the ‘high church Episcopal’ influence is clear from the tabernacle and many fabulous stained glass windows depicting a range of Christian scenes and symbols. There is also an excellent organ, a choir loft, and a brass bell in the steeple from an old New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad steam locomotive that rings loud and true when you pull on the rope, still calling the faithful to worship.
In the early 1960s St. Mark’s was outgrowing its home, and decided to build a new church campus, where it remains. Local Lutherans were looking to establish a congregation, and for $90,000 bought the church sanctuary and attached educational building, the parking lot behind the sanctuary, and the Ludlow House (also known as the Town Hall, erected in 1825 and used for town meetings for thirty-eight years) near the sanctuary, which was subsequently exchanged with the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society www.nchistory.org for some adjacent land for additional church parking.
Thus St. Michael’s Lutheran Church, which is now a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) www.elca.org took root in New Canaan.
COVID and Tough Choices
In 2022, the congregation was facing tough choices. Their beloved pastor, Rev. Derrick Fallon, retired, and a changing series of ‘supply pastors’ filled in, making the congregation feel it was at loose ends. Beyond that, active church membership had been dropping for a decade, and then there was COVID, which was no friend to St. Michael’s or to other houses of worship.
“COVID was just a big kick in the butt,” states Rev. Grorud, bluntly, with the ELCA noting that national church attendance is down by a third post-COVID. Says church member Elizabeth Tobey, “Anytime you change the habit of going [to church] and your community is somewhere else, and you can knit and drink coffee during church on Zoom, and then maybe you don’t do it one week and maybe you can do something else, you just lose the thread.” The church was not financially healthy enough to hire a new full-time pastor, and “we were sort of up against a wall, really.”
In the words of church council member Ingrid Hollinger, it became clear “that going forward, unless we came up with a better plan what to do, we would just kind of like fade in the sunset and the church would die. Now, the members — the active members — were actually very committed to the church and did not want to have this church go under. So there was a will to save the congregation and the church, and have us going forward and look at how we can make this church alive again.”
Adding to the burden was the church’s cash burn rate: The amount of money coming in vs. the amount going out for utilities, insurance, maintenance and the like. Action needed to be taken. The decision was to create a transition team to sketch out options. “It became clear to everyone that we needed a really different solution if we were going to survive as a congregation long term,” says Ms. Tobey.
Many options were considered, including partnering with a not-for-profit or pre-school that needed space, and a deal with a developer.
The core ‘non-negotiables’ were preservation of the congregation and continued use, and protection, of the historic church sanctuary.
Many of the groups the church considered working with “gave lip service to the idea that we could stay, but they didn’t really embrace the idea that they would like us to grow,” says Ms. Tobey. “We were pretty sure a developer could figure out how to make what they want happen, happen. And we did not want to do that. We wanted to be good stewards of our beautiful building and we wanted to find a way that we could stay here and continue to grow as a congregation. So we understood that we were selling our building, but honestly we were looking for a partnership.”
Enter the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society. Early in the process the church reached out to its neighbor to let them know the church’s situation, and the transition planning that was underway. The NCM&HS was interested – not only as a way to expand its campus, but also to preserve a historic church in New Canaan’s historic district, and address potential implications of a property sale and redevelopment.
After much negotiation, a deal was struck. The church’s property was sold to the NCM&HS for $2.1 million, with St. Michael’s congregation becoming tenants, with a renewable lease. The congregation has use of the sanctuary on Sundays, specified holidays, and periodically for special events, such as weddings and funerals. As well, it has exclusive use of offices for its pastor and a church secretary, plus periodic use of the fellowship hall in the annex. The NCM&HS gets much needed storage space in the annex behind the sanctuary, the 1987-built parsonage adjacent to the small parking lot behind the church, which has recently been listed for rent, and an expanded campus – plus preservation of the historic 1833 sanctuary. There are regular meetings between the two parties to schedule use of the property. Both parties view the transaction as a ‘Win-Win’.
New Pastor
With its financial situation much improved, St. Michael’s congregation was able to bring Rev. Grorud on as a dedicated, albeit part-time, pastor. This was an important step.
Mark Grorud was born in Minnesota, and his father’s family was “poor as poor can be, and lived in a dugout for a while in the prairies in South Dakota.” His grandfather always wanted to be a minister, but died during the Depression while working on a WPA project. However, his dream was fulfilled when his three sons all became ministers. Several other family members have become ministers as well, so “his influence has affected all of us.”
However, ministry was not Rev. Grorud’s first choice. “My first vocational goal was to be a pirate. I thought that would be cool.” But the ministry drew him in, and this self-described Norwegian Pietist from northern Minnesota ended up at a large church near Omaha for 26 years. After that, he was called to work in the ELCA national office, focusing on building relationships with large congregations. After five years of that, he became the pastor of a large church in Omaha, eventually running a church-related charitable foundation. Then a move to Wilton with his wife Caryl, a nurse, to be near their daughter, and retirement.
It didn’t take long for Rev. Grorud to get restless, so he helped at several churches in the area that needed some support, eventually being called to St. Michael’s. He started on May 1.
Services are ‘high church’ Lutheran, with weekly communion and a sung Eucharist. Rev. Grorud is a practical and approachable homilist, whose separate post-Gospel children’s sermon is delivered neither at, nor to, the children, but rather with them.
How does he define his role? “To give them a little encouragement, as much as anything.” The core congregation is very committed, and has “really good people,” but they’ve been through some things and were tired.
New Vision
Rev. Grorud’s and the church council’s focus is to “reach out into the community, make themselves known.” He continues, observing, “Most churches are guilty — especially smaller churches are guilty — of not promoting themselves. It’s kind of like, ‘Well, we’re here. You can see the steeple. We’re here. We’ll wait for you to show up.’ And I think churches have to promote themselves a bit. I don’t mean patting themselves on the back, but just letting people know what they have to offer, why they’re here, what they see, what their vision is.”
The church council and Rev. Grorud started with the basics: contacting every person on the congregation list who is not a regular congregant and taking their pulse. “It’s just a matter of encouraging them to be active and find a home. And if not here, how can I help you find a home somewhere,” says Rev. Grorud.
Sunday attendance had been steady at around 25 to 30 people, with no ‘summer slump’, which is unusual in a positive way. Over 80 people attended Easter services, which was a good sign. “The members who are coming are pretty committed to being here,” stresses Rev. Grorud.
During this period of joint reflection and renewal, several strategies are being explored. One is to find a project or nonprofit in the community that the congregation can connect with. Says Rev. Grorud, “It’s always nice when a congregation can be identified as, ‘Oh, you are the church that does this.’ And I think most congregations struggle to find that, but I want to encourage them to keep thinking about that. What is it that will identify you to people in the community? When they hear St. Michael’s Lutheran, what are they going to think about? … What are we known for? How are we known for serving in the community? And that’s usually a big mountain to climb for congregations.”
Other ideas being considered are creating some community-friendly fellowship groups, and signature charity projects. Church Council member Norma Gerwig stresses ideas to “get youth back into the church.” Ms. Tobey notes the church’s enthusiastic, talented organist, and fabulous organ, and opportunities to leverage these tools and talents in art- and music-friendly New Canaan.
St. Michael’s organist, Alla Borzova, is a music prodigy from Belarus with a doctorate in composition from the Moscow Conservatory. She is also a conductor, pianist and singer. She, too, is excited about making greater use of the organ with its 1000+ pipes and trumpets.
One community outreach project that’s been going for decades is a food pantry, with the donations consolidated with nearby Lutheran congregations. Another charitable activity is making school kits containing necessities like soap for those who are in need. There’s also a knitting circle that makes shawls for cancer patients at Norwalk Hospital’s Whittingham Cancer Center. However, these laudable efforts are not broadly known, which curiously goes against the advice of St. Matthew, who notes in chapter 5, verse 15 of his Gospel, “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”
Summing it up, Rev. Grorud says St. Michael’s needs to be “more than just the third white steeple” on God’s Acre.
Green Shoots
One of the major ‘good news’ items for Rev. Grorud is that people do show up every Sunday, noting “if it was depressing to be here, they wouldn’t be here.” As well there is “a fresh spirit, a new energy” running through this cheerful, welcoming congregation.
And beyond that, Sunday attendance is rising. People who have not been seen in a while have started to return. And they’re bringing their kids. One church member notes how the whole ethos and feel of the church is different – in a good way.
Despite this encouraging progress, St. Michael’s Lutheran Church still has some wood to chop. While that might be off-putting to some, the dedicated, energized congregation seems up to the task – excited, even.
Rebirth is a core Christian belief, and that is what St. Michael’s is striving for. There was some great success on that score around two thousand years ago, so they know it can be done, and they’re working to do just that in their little New England church on God’s Acre in New Canaan.
