The Lutheran Church of the Resurrec-tion, 9907 Sappington Road, will celebrate its 50th anniversary with two events this month under the theme “50 Years of Faithfully Celebrating Christ’s Resurrection.”

A worship service will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, June 4, at the Chapel of St. Timothy and St. Titus on the Concordia Seminary campus. With the theme of “Prophecies, Dreams and Visions,” the service will gather the congregation together as one to celebrate Pentecost. It will be the only worship service conducted that weekend.

A banquet will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 25, at the Viking Restaurant and will feature former Missouri District President Dr. James Kalthoff as guest speaker and a program celebrating the congregation’s 50 years of serving God. A special event will be offered at church for children too young to attend the banquet.

The first session of Sunday School took place at 9:30 a.m. June 24, 1956, with 38 children present and 10 adults enrolled in Bible class. Classes were conducted in the two rooms of the farmhouse on the Sappington Road property purchased by the Western District from the Otto Eime family. By 10:30 a.m., 118 people gathered in the living room and dining room of the farmhouse for the first worship service of the “Sappington Mission.”

The Rev. Harold A. Iben of Muskegon, Mich., accepted the call extended by the congregation to become its first pastor.

The men of the congregation volunteered to remodel a chicken house/machine shop on the property into a chapel, which was dedicated in November of that year.

The congregation continued to grow, and on the Festival of Pentecost, May 21, 1961, Lutheran Church of the Resurrection dedicated its current sanctuary with its stainedglass window designed by world-renowned artist Siegfried Reinhardt.

The church today has more than 1,500 baptized members and 1,200 confirmed members. It is an active participant in the Sunset Hills-Sappington communities with its Early Childhood Ministry, which includes preschool and parents’ day-out programs, as well as its monthly dances for junior-high pupils.

Its vacation Bible school each summer is attended by many children from the area.

Resurrection conducts worship services at 5 p.m. Saturdays and at 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sundays.

For more information, call the church office at (314) 843-6633 or visit its Web site at www.lcrstl.com.