Pastor Raymond Yauk, our first Canadian pastor, was already in Toronto doing graduate work in Theology when he began to serve St. Ansgar as an interim pastor, and then accepted the pastoral call and was installed on April 23, 1967. This was a period when the growth (most Canadian Churches was halted and even reversed. The church as institution was generally held in low regard and some radical theologians proposed “God is dead.” Church membership and attendance declined as a new leisure life-style developed that did not accommodate church life. Our own church attendance and membership declined partly through these trends and partly as many geographically distant members transferred out to new Lutheran congregations in the Metro area. While it was a period in which the membership dropped, and it was easy to become discouraged, many were receiving an even stronger faith and deeper commitment as an emphasis on adult Christian education on Sunday mornings and week-night home study meetings provided Christian sharing.
St. Ansgar continued to gain a few strong new members from the community, and more Lutheran immigrants arrived from the United States and from many parts of the world. During Pastor Yauk’s ministry we also began to show greater concern for our community. We helped initiate an inter-church helping agency, Care-Ring, which became a model for many churches and communities. We also organized a group of senior citizens which brought together both Church members and people from the community. Thirdly, we opened our building to an Alcoholics Anonymous group. Toward the close of this period, lay people assumed more responsibility for the work of the Church and its auxiliaries and this strengthened our total work.
The decline of church attendance and membership increased the financial pressures which had begun to be felt in the previous period. There were moments of discouragement about the future of the congregation and this burden weighed heavily on all and especially on Pastor Yauk whose health did not permit to continue as pastor after 1971. Despite the financial problems of the time, the congregation managed to fulfill a desire to obtain a good church organ and this was installed in a new balcony at a cost of $12,700 in 1968.
Discouragement, was not allowed to prevail as the leadership of St. Ansgar organized themselves in a very determined and successful effort to get the financial problems straightened out. A visitation produced $9,000 in gifts and $21,000 in personal notes which enabled us to eliminate the arrears and work out an affordable debt retirement plan. This was followed up with a stewardship program led by Perry Olsen, the synod’s development counselor, which increased the congregation’s level of giving and enable us to meet current expenses, and set us for a more optimistic and hopeful future.
Original Credits Carl Larson, Philip & Irene Jorgensen