First Phase

On September 8, 1950 there gathered a group of Finnish people for Bible study. During the course of that meeting, an idea was put forth by the group's chairperson Mr. Julius Luojus, about creating a congregation in the city of Port Arthur that would be based on the teachings of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

In their second meeting, they received news of a church being put up for sale at 70 Secord Street. They jumped at the chance immediately and so it was, that the old Swedish church was bought for $2,500.00.

September 22, 1950, the third meeting was held already in the newly bought church building. The church was also given its name at this meeting, the Independent Finnish Evangelical-Lutheran Church. The fledgling congregation had 58 members.

Almost immediately began the planning for renovations of the church - the old church was moved to the back of the property and became the parsonage, and a new sanctuary was constructed in front of it, downstairs holding a meeting hall and kitchen. The dedication ceremony for the new church was held September 23, 1956. The congregation had grown immensely by now due to new immigrants arriving from Finland almost weekly.

Over the years, there were numerous ministers attending and serving the congregation but there were also times when the congregation had to provide speakers from within their own ranks while waiting for new pastors as it was not very easy to get Finnish ministers to come to Canada. However, much was achieved during this time, the needs of the Finnish community were well served, Bible Circles, outreach program, ladies' groups, young people received teaching through Sunday school, confirmation, youth groups.

Since the beginning, there were also many attempts to join the synod but there seemed to be such a strong independent streak among the Finns that it was always voted down. Finally, in 1983, during Sakari Nurmesviita's tenure, and after numerous requests by the Church of Finland as well for us to join other Lutherans, the congregation voted 114 to 8 in favour of joining the synod. Thus, on April 15, 1983 we officially joined the MNO Synod.

Everything seemed to be going well. The congregation had bought a new parsonage on Evans Street, and in 1984 a summer camp was bought on One Island Lake, which served as a retreat for young and old, Bible camp, confirmation camp, picnics, etc.

Second Phase

Ideas are bounced around, they become more definite thoughts, they become aspirations and goals. They take form and become real.

Early in 1992 a group sat down once again, this time with Pastor Leo Glad at the helm; to discuss the future of our congregation, how to serve better the future generations, to provide room for growth and still take care of the aging Finnish population. The result of those ideas was, of course, a new church, a new name, new ideas and ways of reaching out to the community.

With tremendous foresight, planning, preparation; volunteer effort; donations and downright "sisu" (stubborn determination), we have before us this house of God, enormous by previous standards; beautiful in its simplicity; reflecting our heritage at the same time and reaching out to serve the needs of all who desire to hear the word of God. Our new name is Hilldale Lutheran Church . The church construction began in 1995 and the dedication service was held December 1, 1996 . The move from the old church to the new was undoubtedly a heart-wrenching experience when a ceremony was held at the old church, a procession proceeded to the new church where another ceremony was held. It was like a mother releasing her child to the world never to see him again.

But, with the new comes new spirit; new life, new challenges; new hope. However, a new church did not come without its problems. We were sometimes reminded that we were not the masters in this great project and this rang especially true when the City closed the doors of the church on us. We had to complete certain things before we could get an occupancy permit and so the pressure was on to get these done, so we could open the doors for Christmas. Thus, despite all the problems and frustrations, the congregation persevered and we have now completed all of the construction projects and are occupying a beautiful facility.

The English mission is now a very important part of our church ministry. It was begun already in the last year at the old church. Our first English mission pastor was Brian Krushel, whose dedication and hard work left the church with a sufficient English core that our new mission pastor Andrew Hinwood could continue to build on and expand. This is, of course, where our future lies. Andrew stayed with us until 2003 and then left to accept a position at Trinity Lutheran in Wisconsin. Ed Long then became our English interim pastor until retirement in the Spring of 2006. Arleen Berg is presently the English Mission Pastor serving with senior pastor Jari Lahtinen, and Ed Long has become honorary assistant pastor for emergency situations.

Presently, the Finnish side of the congregation is ably taken care of by Pastor Jari Lahtinen , who has now accepted the call to remain in Canada as Hilldale’s senior pastor.

We would like to give thanks to all those who have made this dream a reality; the MNO Synod and ELCIC for believing in us enough to support us in this great endeavour; the planners, the architects Kuch & Stephenson, the numerous people who willingly gave their time and money to help us through to this end. A special thanks should be given to Aarne Makinen and Minna Koski, who were chairpersons during the most difficult and demanding phases of the building project, and to Kari Jamsa, supervisor of construction and Aarto Elonen, the building committee chair, both of whom carried the greatest responsibility for getting the work done. And our appreciation and thanks also goes to Our Saviour's Lutheran Church for giving us shelter while we had no church building, enabling us to provide worship services to our members. The final thanks we give to God for giving us this opportunity to work for Him.