Three Lutheran congregations that have shared pastors for almost forty years and who work cooperatively on many of their ministries have adopted a new name for their common ministry. The congregations of North Crow River, Grace and Redeemer Lutheran  Churches will now refer to their parish as “The Triune Lutheran Parish”.

The three churches will retain their respective names for the individual congregations, explained Pastor Mike Nelson who serves the parish, but the shared ministry of the three churches will be referred to as “The Triune Lutheran Parish”.  

Until now the only appropriate way of referring to the three-point parish was to say the North Crow River, Grace, and Redeemer Lutheran Parish.

“This got to be rather long so often people would shorten it and refer to us as the ‘North Crow River Parish,’ Pastor Nelson explained. “This, of course, is incorrect because only one of the three churches is ‘North Crow River’.

“We chose ‘Triune’ as a name because it describes the parish being three congregations working together in one shared ministry as well as describing our belief in the Trinity, the doctrine of one God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.”

The three churches that make up the parish are all member congregations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). North Crow River Church is located seven miles north of Cokato at 45 Quinnell Ave. NW (Knapp), Grace is located at 17225 30th St. NW, South Haven (three miles west of French Lake) and Redeemer is located at 72359 CSAH 27 on the east edge of Kingston.

The churches made the decision about the name at their respective annual meetings held in October.