Dinkytown church holds on to hope

The congregation of Dinkytown’s University Lutheran Chapel, at risk of being sold by its overseeing district, has more to be faithful in with recent findings.

The Minnesota South District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, the owner of the church, wants to sell it. But the church’s pastor is using two resolutions — one from 1963 and one from last month — to buy the congregation more time.

Church members “are cautiously hopeful,” said Pastor David Kind, who spent hours digging through archives and found the 1963 resolution that appears to prohibit the South District from selling the property without the North District’s approval.

Nearly 50 years later at its May 17 meeting, the South District board of directors created another resolution compelling its treasurer to hire a real estate broker to find the true market value of the property. It encourages the congregation to buy the property at fair market value.

At the meeting, Kind also gave a presentation about why it’s important not to sell the campus ministry.

“If we disappear, our students won’t have anywhere to go,” Kind previously told the Minnesota Daily. About 100 students regularly visit the University Lutheran Chapel, making up nearly half of the congregation’s 219 members.

The board’s May resolution also stops any further action until the treasurer reports back. Under the resolution, campus pastors will be able to attend the board meeting when the report is made. Previously, the meetings were closed to the public. The South District didn’t comment on the issue.

In search of any document that could help, Kind spent hours going through district documents in recent weeks in the Concordia University Library, where archives are stored. The resolution he found will give the ULC time as it fundraises in case it has to buy the property.

Before 1963, the North and South Districts were one. When they split, the University Lutheran Chapel was not definitively assigned to one or the other, according to a document Kind found.

The campus ministry was to serve both districts, with the South District holding the title and “assuming control and cost of operating.”

It’s still unclear whether the South District can legally sell the property without the North District’s say. The North District plans to hire a legal expert to explain what the resolution means, said its president, the Rev. Don Fondow.

The North District is also reviewing minutes of conventions since 1963 in search of anything related to ULC, Fondow said.

Aside from sending letters, making calls and updating the situation on a Facebook page dedicated to saving the church, the ULC congregation started a campaign to raise money, should they have to buy the property.

Working with church alumni, about 100 “cottage meetings” are expected to take place nationally beginning this fall, Kind said. At these meetings, alumni will explain the issue and friends and family can donate.

Kind estimated the property is worth about $1 million to $2 million.

The campus ministry plans to hire its own real estate broker within the next month to find the property’s value, since the South District won’t release its findings until the board meeting in September, Kind said.

At that meeting, the board will review information and present a proposal for the church’s fate.

The South District tried to sell the property in 2008, but failed because of the bad housing market.

Unlike that attempt to sell, the new endeavor, which started in September, does not involve anyone from the campus ministry. The purpose of selling now would be to make money to open more campus ministries across the state.

“The most frustrating thing is that we want a seat at the table,” Kind said, adding that the proposal was shocking since it was not an open discussion.

 “Churches are supposed to treat each other as brothers and sisters.”