In early 1902 AC Nielsen took an option on 1600 acre ranch east of JC. Divided the tracks into smallerAC Nielsen parcels and advertised in Danish newspapers in the mid-west inviting Danes to move and purchase the parcels.
The Nielsen family had lived in Clinton, IA and had attended a church pastored by Frederik Lange Grundtvig son of NFS Grundtvig, a influential theologian, bishop and hymn writer. NFS Grundtvig's followers are popularly known as the “Happy Danes” and belonged to the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. When AC Nielsen helped found Faith Lutheran on April 23rd 1902, Oregon had it's first and only “Happy Dane” congregation. Nielsen also had the intention in 1907 of setting up a “Folk” high school, called Pacific Folk High School, but was unable to get a leader for the school.
The church met in the current Fellowship Hall (Forsamlingshus) which was built in 1902 until the current sanctuary was completed in 1908. The church and hall were on Ivy (Hwy 99) until it was moved to it's current address in 1940. The statue of Thorvaldsen's Christ in the sanctuary was purchased by the Danish Ladies Aid and shipped from Denmark in 1913. The statue arrived at the train station and a young Fred Aasted accompanied his father to pick up the statue and was startled when seeing it, thinking it was alive.
Original Interior
The church prospered and grew with the Danish community in Junction City. By the 1940's English language services where firmly established with every other service being in Danish or English. In 1951 was the last regular service in Danish. The name Faith Lutheran Church was proposed by Pastor Harold Olsen in 1954 and accepted by congregation.
The now Faith Lutheran participated in the trend amongst other Lutheran churches in merging and uniting with other Lutheran bodies to form the Lutheran Church in America in 1963.
In 1961 Faith Lutheran was a founding member of the Junction City Scandinavian Festival. Over the years its aebleskiver booth has become famous. Many families come and stand in line to eat this unique Danish treat. For many it is a long standing tradition to both buy the aebleskiver and work in the booth.