Welcome to First Lutheran Church!
"Putting Christ First"

First Lutheran Church – “Putting Christ First.” First Evangelical Lutheran Church of Pecatonica is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and the Northern Illinois Synod. Our congregation serves people in the towns of Pecatonica and Winnebago, Westlake Village, and other nearby communities. Surrounded by the beauty of God’s creation and the bounty of the fields, we are blessed with a quality of life that is sought by many people today. Our congregation is known for its family atmosphere, its friendly and welcoming nature and for offering a unique blend of traditional and contemporary aspects of worship and ministry.

The traditions of Lutheran worship and ministry continue to provide the foundation for First Lutheran. We offer traditional worship each week; Holy Communion is offered at every worship service of the congregation; We walk together in Christ-centered relationship, striving to serve others as Christ’s Body in our world today.

Our Vision & Mission
We are church

We are what God has made us – people whom God has created by grace to live in union with Jesus Christ and has prepared to live faithful, fruitful lives by the power of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:8-10). In Jesus Christ, God has reconciled us to God and to each other. As we gather around word and sacraments, this life in Christ is what defines, shapes and guides us as a community of faith, the church. 

By God’s grace we can and do live confidently and generously in this community of faith and in service of others, amid the mysteries and paradoxes of this life in Christ – including our human limitations and failings, and the ambiguities, uncertainties and suffering that we experience.

Our History

The history of this congregation began in 1853, when a group of Swedish settlers began meeting for worship in a tool shed next to the Salisbury grain elevator. They asked Pastor Erland Carlsson to come from Chicago and help them organize an official church. From 1854 to 1856 the people attended worship at the Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Church in Rockford (today known as First Lutheran Church, Rockford.) In 1857 a wooden building was erected near the corner of Taylor and Eighth streets (across the creek from the location of the present church building) and Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church became a part of the Augustana Synod. From 1857 to 1860, Pastor A. Andreen came from the “mother church” in Rockford to the Pecatonica church once a month for worship and pastoral acts.

The present church building was constructed in 1881. The congregation continued to worship in Swedish until 1923, when the name of the congregation was changed to its present name, First Evangelical Lutheran Church, and worship was thereafter conducted in English. The building was completely re-bricked in 1923; a stained-glass window restoration was carried out in the 1970’s; a two-floor addition was built in 1984, creating a new fellowship hall, classroom and office space, and an expansion of the seating area in the sanctuary. The north church wall was removed to create this seating area and existing stained-glass windows were relocated to the office and classroom area. In 2002-3, the sanctuary was renovated, and air conditioning was added to the worship space.

We are Lutheran

We are a church that walks by faith, trusting God's promise in the gospel and knowing that we exist by and for the proclamation of this gospel word. We proclaim Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the dead for the life of the world. As the apostle Paul wrote (Romans 1:16-17), and we echo in our Constitution (2.02), we are not ashamed of this gospel ministry because it is God’s power for saving all people who trust the God who makes these promises. “We are to fear and love God, so, that we do not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead keep that word holy and gladly hear it and learn it” (Small Catechism). God’s word, specifically God’s promise in Jesus Christ, creates this liberated, confident and generous faith. God gives the Holy Spirit who uses gospel proclamation – in preaching and sacraments, in forgiveness and in healing conversations – to create and sustain this faith. As a Lutheran church, we give central place to this gospel message in our ministry.

We understand to be Lutheran is to be ecumenical – committed to the oneness to which God calls the world in the saving gift of Jesus Christ, recognizing the brokenness of the church in history and the call of God to heal this disunity.

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