SIMPLY CHRISTIAN - Geneva’s Simply Church unanimously decided to make the church a non-denominational church. Pictured above is Pastor Todd Lundgren of Owatonna.
Star Eagle photo by Melanie Piltingsrud
By MELANIE PILTINGSRUD
Staff Writer
Todd Lundgren of Owatonna is the new pastor of Simply Church, formerly called Victory Life, in Geneva.
Lundgren is a businessman with three daughters. He and his wife, Grace, own Country Goods, a business known as “southern Minnesota's largest gift store.” The 18-year-old shop at 4515 NW 22nd Ave., Owatonna – across the freeway from Cabella's – is open seven days a week. Lundgren's three daughters are all over the map. One daughter, together with her husband, is a missionary in Kazakhstan. Another lives with her family in Lawrence, KS. A third daughter is in her fourth year at the University of Northwestern in St. Paul. Lundgren also lost his fourteen-year-old son seventeen years ago in a boating accident, just one year after Lundgren had opened his business.
“Most of us Owatonnans don't really get to Geneva too much,” says Lundgren, “so I wasn't too familiar with Geneva.”
Lundgren says the Geneva church started about eight years ago, and was connected with the Assembly of God denomination. “For whatever reason, they decided they didn't want to be part of that denomination or any denomination,” says Lundgren. The congregation voted unanimously to be a non-denominational church, deciding to be known as, “just strictly Christian.”
They also wanted a new moniker. “I gave them a big, long list of potential church names,” Lundgren says. But the congregation didn't choose any of those. “Lo and behold, they unanimously voted on the name 'Simply Church.'”
Simply Church is Lundgren's third congregation. He was previously the pastor of a church in Brainerd, as well as chaplain of the Crow Wing County Jail. When he and his wife moved to Owatonna, he founded a church there, which he pastored for nine years before resigning.
When Covid hit, the Lundgrens didn't attend a church for approximately one year.
“Then one day at our store, one of the men from this congregation happened to come into the store as a customer,” says Lundgren, “and I wasn't even there. He was talking to my wife.” Lundgren isn't sure how they started talking about churches, but suddenly Lundgren was invited to speak at the Geneva church. Lundgren offered to preach the sermon for four Sundays for free. Lundgren told them, “If you like me, fine. If you're not so sure, tell me: 'Thank you and good-bye.'”
That was back in February. Lundgren has been preaching the sermons at Simply Church ever since.
Lundgren and the congregation created a list of core beliefs, which he says are, “probably similar to what most churches have. We believe Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior. We believe God incarnate came from heaven and lived and taught and died for our sins, and we're to go and make disciples... Most churches believe that.”
Lundgren says that some churches are heavier in one area or the other, but adds, “We're seeing more and more churches that are deciding they don't need to agree with what some of the Bible says even. I think sometimes all of us, without even knowing it, we may be [going down a] slippery slope, where we start being sort of not the way we should be, and we just kind of gradually slide down a hill.
“This congregation seems to be just solid Bible and pretty conservative,” Lundgren says, though he admits that in seven months, he hasn't had the opportunity to cover every topic that might offend someone.
A Bible study at 6:30 on Wednesday evenings usually involve studies on Biblical themes. One recent study concerned how to gain respect, and how to respect others, but for anyone concerned that the gathering might not be spiritual enough, there's no cause for concern; the group just started a series on the basic beliefs presented in the Bible. “All those things that are important to the regular church,” Lundgren explains. “And that's kind of good, because, for whoever's attending, it gets everybody sort of on the same page.”
The gathering on Sunday mornings is small, but attendance is on the rise. Besides those regularly in attendance, Lundgren says, “We do have some people that are just kind of starting to pop in. Sometimes they are members of other churches, who drift in for the Wednesday evening Bible study, or for a Sunday morning service.”
The one fact that Lundgren laments about Simply Church is that there are as yet no families with young children. “My wife and I, we love kids,” says Lundgren. Recalling a picnic potluck from the previous Sunday, Lundgren says one of the picnickers brought his girlfriend's son. “I only talked to him for maybe two minutes,” says Lundgren. Yet, when it was time to leave, the child gave him a big hug, a circumstance which made Lungren feel “very honored.” He and his wife look forward to the day when there are families with young children at the church.
There is one congregant who is eager to start a children's Sunday school, but Lundgren knows that not all kids want to be away from their parents on a Sunday morning. “In some churches, if kids make a little noise, they get the look,” says Lundgren. “All the heads turn. But, if kids make some kid-type noises, I actually think it's wonderful.”
Though there are no younger children, there are teenagers at Simply Church, and a youth group meets there on Tuesday evenings, at whatever time is convenient for their work schedules. “They kind of have an amazing turnout,” says Lundgren. Four to six teenagers gather, only two of whom regularly attend the church. “They've really built up a good camaraderie.”
Simply Church has a 9:30 a.m. Sunday school on Sunday mornings, and a 10:30 a.m. service.
Ludgren's invitation to the church is of the 'no pressure' variety: “If you ever wake up some Sunday morning or even on Wednesday night, and you feel like giving it a whirl, come on over,” he says. “We don't do anything weird.”
There is as yet no men's or women's group at Simply Church, though it is suggested from time to time. For Lundgren the congregation already feels like something of a small-group gathering. He says, “When you're ten, 15, 18 people, really, maybe we should just all be together.”
Indeed, for what other purpose does a church serve other than to provide an opportunity for like-minded Christians to be together with Christ?