Attend German Christmas service at St. Paul Lutheran Church Dec 17

St. Paul Lutheran Church in Mount Prospect will be holding a German language Christmas service at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at the church, 100 S. School St.

This is the congregation's 10th annual German Christmas service, and it draws worshippers from across Chicago's Northwest suburbs.

While the traditional Lutheran service will be conducted in German; an English translation of the sermon will be available. The German service is one of the last being held in the Northwest suburbs. Musical selections will be sung by the German-American Singers of Chicago Choir.

St. Paul Lutheran Church was founded in 1912 by German farmers and small-business men residing in the area that was soon to become the village of Mount Prospect. The first church was built in 1913, a couple blocks east of downtown Mount Prospect on land donated by George Busse. Many of the village's founding families were early members of the congregation.

St. Paul was originally a satellite church of St. John Lutheran Church, which in 1848 was the first Lutheran church established in Elk Grove Township. St. Paul held services in German until the mid-1930s and the congregation's Lutheran school taught the German language until the late 1970s.

In 2011, the church reintroduced a German Christmas Service as a kickoff to the congregation's 100-year anniversary. The service was so well received by the congregation's members and the broader community that it was decided to turn it into an annual tradition.

Senior Pastor the Rev. Bo Graham notes that the service "is not just for German speakers but for all who would like to experience Christmas worship in the tradition of our area's earliest residents."