History
Humble beginnings
Pastor Roy G. Berg founded Nora Community Church in 1946. At the time, Nora had no church in the village.
The story of Nora Church began in the early 1830s, when Nora was first settled. From these early settlers - such as Garrett Garner, Asher Miner, George Stanchfield, and Samuel Stanchfield - the church at Nora would emerge.
In 1874, a house of worship, plain but neat, thirty-two feet by forty feet, was erected. The total cost of the project was $1,400. The exact date of the church organization at Nora is unknown, but this first church in Nora had an attendance of 150.
Like so many small villages, with the advancement of the mechanized world, Nora fell into decline. For many years this small town was left with no strong spiritual ties.
In 1940, Rev. Henry Lee attended a Sunday school held by a few of the mothers in Nora. Rev. Lee endeavored to form a St. Paul Lutheran Church. This consisted of a few from Nora and other Lutheran people in the surrounding territory, but at no time exceeded more than twenty-five members. Rev. Lee held one catechism class through which four children were confirmed; however, these efforts slowly faded away.
Then, in the year 1946, Roy Berg, a teacher at Roosevelt Junior High School in Beloit, Wisconsin, was motoring through the village. Filling his gas tank at the filling station provided an opportunity for inquiring about the churches of the area. The sad situation, he was informed, was that this was a churchless town. This, however, was the opportunity for which Roy Berg had been looking.
Pastor Berg, after vowing to himself to remedy this situation, found it not an easy task. He met with a mixture of responses. He began showing a series of Bible motion pictures which garnered interest. The first meeting held in the re-opened church began with twenty attending. The next step was the organizing of a Sunday School. The unusual hour of 7:30 in the evening was set aside as the time, this to immediately precede the showing of the pictures. Interest was even better than expected, with adults as well as children attending. A regular church program had begun.
In the fall of 1946, the church was officially organized as the Nora Community Church, with a membership of fifty-one and enrollment of seventy-eight in the Sunday School.
Acquiring the building
The church quickly outgrew its building. Chelsea Church was purchased and moved into the village in 1950.
Four fruitful years passed. The church gave willingly to improve the grounds and frequently met in one another's homes for meals and fellowship. Soon, the congregation increased to the extent that they no longer had adequate seating capacity. After much deliberating, the Chelsea Church (located on Chelsea Road south of Nora) was purchased for $1,000. Three lots were donated - two by Mr. Lyons and one by Mrs. Ida Wilbur - in the village of Nora to which the building would be moved. Moving the old Chelsea Church was an arduous task, but "where there is a will there is a way."
Sagging in the middle, plaster cracking on the walls, badly in need of paint but complete with organ and old wood stoves, finally the church stood on its new and current site. Some of the congregation gave much of their time and resources and within a short time its appearance was vastly improved.
On October 28, 1950, the church was dedicated. The day was a beautiful, warm summer day and the response of friends was spontaneous. The church was filled to overflowing. The speaker for the afternoon was H.D. Bedringer of Stockton, Illinois. Among the audience were a few old members of the former Chelsea Church who shed tears of thankfulness to see their church again doing the Lord's work. In the evening, Pastor Berg gave a beautiful sermon having as his text, "Ours is a singing church and for the occasion we shall sing more joyously in the Thanksgiving." At this date, the Sunday School enrollment was 122 with an average attendance of eighty-eight.
The Lord gives the growth
By its tenth anniversary, the church had a membership of 184, the congregation gathering from Nora as well as the surrounding areas.
By 1956, the Sunday School enrollment has reached 216 with an average attendance of 164. The membership was 184 and the congregation came from Nora as well as the surrounding communities.
In the 1960s, another pastor was brought to assist Pastor Berg. Pastor Tom Shaffer grew up in Martintown, Wisconsin and was led to Christ by Pastor Berg as an adolescent. (The church's parsonage was located in Martintown for many decades until it was finally sold years later.) Soon after, Pastor Shaffer went to college and then seminary and began serving as co-pastor in the 1963.
Also, in the year 1960, the front addition was built. This made possible the wash rooms, a foyer, and an upper room for young people to study the Bible. To the outside of the church was added a large, illuminated cross and the addition's overhanging roof.
Sadly, not much is known of the church's history from the 1970s through the 1990s. It does seem apparent that the church declined during this time due to members passing and their children moving away. Not only this, but the building grew older and, with less people to care for it, was somewhat neglected. The town of Nora, likewise, fell into decay. In addition to the train depot shutting down, the school closed and so did a number of businesses. Since a church is made-up of people, Nora's population decline took its toll on the vitality of Nora Community Church.
However, during this time, it is known that Pastor Carl Lundgren served the church for a time.
In the 2000s, Pastor Ernie Wilbur and his wife Carol served faithfully, until poor health forced him into retirement in 2022 at the age of 80. Carol had attended Nora Community Church since she was a young girl of eleven. Pastor Ernie served for twenty years as pastor, actively engaging the community in door-to-door evangelism as well as a summer Bible programs.
In the fall of 2022, Pastor Jordan Cernek began serving the church at Nora.
From humble beginnings full of reliance on the Lord to accomplish his work, we press on in Nora, committed to Christ, his Word, and his Truth. Our prayer is to see the community awakened through the power of the gospel and to see many added to the Lord's number who would join in Christ's work at Nora.
