Cormorant Lutheran’s roots are deep in the history of the Lakes Community. When Becker County opened the territory for homesteading in 1870, a few immigrants primarily from Norway and Sweden found their way into the wilderness now known as Cormorant Township. Lakes, fish, fertile soil, and virgin timber attracted these hardy pioneers. The blessings of the new land coupled with the challenges of poor crops, prairie fires, and grasshopper plagues convinced the community that they need a place to center their lives in faith – to give thanks to God and to ask God’s guidance and strength in living and serving as God’s people in this place. In 1871, on the Nils Erickson farm, south shore of Big Cormorant, several families came together to pray and to plan and a new faith community was born.

Nearly 150 years later, Cormorant Lutheran still provides a gathering place for those who would center their lives in God’s promise and presence. Names, faces and buildings have changed – a new Sanctuary and Parish Hall was built at the turn of the new century –  but the Spirit is still the same and the good news of Jesus Christ still gathers and guides those who come and go in the Lakes area.  “Immigrants” come now from new places and many of life’s challenges have changed, but the need for forgiveness and hope and a place to belong remains the same. Thanks be to God for those who went before and upon whose faith legacy CLC continues to build and grow!