An active group of members meets here every Sunday morning. Attending the Divine Service is our most important activity each week. This is the time that we receive God’s gifts and respond with prayer and thanksgiving.

Christian education is very important to us, including the education of the youth. The children of our congregation attend Sunday School, sing in church regularly, and put on a special Christmas program each year. Our pastor also leads a Catechism Class for junior high and high school youth, which culminates in Confirmation.

Our Youth Group meets for events through the year and has the opportunity to attend local camps and a national youth convention in the summertime. Our Ladies Aid and Men’s Club groups meet each month for Bible Study, fellowship, and event planning. They also contribute toward youth activities and other charitable causes.

Saude Lutheran Church was originally founded by Norwegian immigrants in 1857 under the leadership of the Rev. U. V. Koren. It was a member church of the old “Norwegian Synod,” a church body with its headquarters in Decorah, Iowa. When much of the Norwegian Synod merged with other Norwegian Lutheran church bodies, Saude entered a smaller church body in 1923, now called the Evangelical Lutheran Synod (ELS).

The ELS enjoys church fellowship with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS). Along with other Lutheran church bodies around the world, the ELS and WELS are part of the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference (CELC).

One of the notable members of the Saude congregation is Dr. Norman Borlaug (pictured), who was baptized here in 1914 and confirmed here in 1928. Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his pioneering work in crop production.

Saude has enjoyed a long partnership with Jerico Lutheran Church and shares a pastor with them. In 2018, these congregations formed a three-point parish with Redeemer Lutheran Church in New Hampton. To learn more about us, please click the links below and visit our History page.

Extended History of Saude Lutheran Church

Cemetery Listings for Saude Lutheran Church

Saude & Jerico WWII Program (1945)

Our congregation has been blessed with excellent pastors through the years:

1857-1869 — U. V. Koren (pictured)
1869-1889 — J. C. T. Moses
1889-1895 — J. G. Ness
1895-1903 — Karl Xavier
1903-1909 — J. G. Rugland
1909-1922 — M. K. Bleken
1923-1940 — H. M. Tjernagel
1940-1945 — N. S. Tjernagel
1946-1957 — M. H. Otto
1958-1971 — M. E. Tweit
1972-1979 — G. A. R. Gullixson
1979-1982 — Timothy E. Erickson
1983-1988 — Glenn R. Obenberger
1988-1995 — Mark E. DeGarmeaux
1995-2006 — Kent E. Dethlefsen
2006-2015 — Daniel E. Larson
2016-pres. — Peter J. Faugstad

When the Rev. N. S. Tjernagel succeeded his father as pastor, he brought the idea of a school before the Saude & Jerico congregations. A school was opened in 1943 in a rented public school building. The following year, a different building was purchased and moved to a plot on the south end of the town of Saude. The Saude congregation officially took over control of the school in 1947, and it remained in operation until 1979. At that time the schools were consolidated, and all students attended at Jerico. The Saude school building was sold in 1983 and removed from the property.

Saude Lutheran School Teachers:

1943-44 — Raymond L. Wiechmann
1944-45 — Armin Keibel
1945-46 — LaVine Hagen
1946-47 — Theodore Aaberg
1947-51 — Orla Anderson (Petersen)
1951-52 — Glen Reichwald
1952-55 — Paul Madson
1955-57 — Keith Olmanson
1957-58 — Ernest Geistfeld
1958-60 — Earl Brassow
1960-61 — JoAnn Storlie (Lillo)
1961-62 — Irwin Levorson
1962-63 — Margaret Myrum
1963-65 — Ruth Roberson
1965-66 — Donald Johnson
1966-69 — Norma Bell (Miller)
1969-70 — Linda Thesenvitz (Marozick)
1970-72 — Kathleen Skaaland (Keats)
1972-74 — Lael Bahn
1974-75 — Alona Steffen (Knutson)
1975-77 — Sarah Aaberg
1977-79 — Marie Aaberg