A Short Summary of its History

On January 7, 1902, a small group of people who had been born in Sweden and were now residents of the United States gathered in North Granby, Connecticut. The chair of the meeting was Rev. Gustaf Lindstrom, pastor of the Springfield Swedish Church, and the purpose of the meeting was to organize a church.

During the following months, a corporation called The Free Christian Society of North Granby was formed with fourteen charter members, and a church was built 25′ wide, 30′ long and 10′ high. The church building was located in a corner of the apple orchard of John P. Stevenson, 1 ½ miles from the Southwick line, on Loomis St. in North Granby. The very next year, the building was altered with the addition of a tower, 32′ high and 11′ wide x 7′long.

The early members were all of Swedish heritage, and services were conducted in Swedish from 1902 with a gradual introduction of services in the English language until 1941, when the last service in Swedish was conducted. Rev. Otto Rafos, who served the church from 1946 to 1951, was the first non-Swedish pastor.

In religious belief, the founders of the church and their successors were covenanters, who broke away from the Lutheran church, the state church of Sweden. This organization has throughout its history adhered to the covenant tradition, even though the name has appeared in the legal name only since 1964.

During the early 1920’s, there was lots of discussion about moving the church to a different location, preferably on College Highway, which was paved. A vote of the entire committee of seventeen people was taken to buy Simon Simchak’s land on College Highway in Southwick. When it was discovered that there would be too many legal difficulties involved in moving the corporation to a different state, the church members opted to purchase land on College Highway in Granby, just over the state line, from Birnie Jackson’s father Monroe. Church member Carl Anderson was given the contract to build the new church, using as much of the lumber and other materials from the old church as possible. The dedication service of the new church was held on September 16, 1926. (There have been many alterations and additions since that time.)

Just as there have been only two church buildings, there have also been only two parsonages. In the spring of 1967, the present parsonage was built next door to the church. Prior to that time, from 1908 on, the parsonage was located at the corner of what are now Mort Vining Road and Vining Hill Road in Southwick. So for almost 60 years, the parsonage was in Southwick, Massachusetts, and the church was in Granby, Connecticut.

On the weekend of October 5-6, 2002, Pilgrim Covenant Church celebrated One Hundred Years of service. Three former pastors (Rev. Lawson, Rev. Haworth, and Rev. Moon) joined Rev. McNaughton during worship.

A list of all the pastors who have served this church follows.

Rev. John Thunberg June 1903 Died June 28, 1905
Rev. Conrad M. Molander Sept 1905 Jan 1906
Rev. Gustaf Brown Feb 1906 1907
Rev. A. J. Munson May 1907 July 1908
Rev. Conrad M. Molander Jan 1909 Oct 1923
Rev. A. J. Munson Sept 1923 Aug 1924
Rev. Carl Leonard Anderson Aug 1924 Apr 1930
Rev. Charles J. Vahlstrom Apr 1930 Sep 1934
Rev. Alfred P. Engstrom Dec 1934 Sep 1945
Rev. Frederick Lawson (Int.) Oct 1945 Aug 1946
Rev. Otto T. Rafos Sept 1946 July 1951
Rev. William Thornberg 1952 1962
Rev. Daniel Kim 1962 1963
Rev. Albert Damrose 1963 1966
Rev. Paul Roehl 1968 Sep 1972
Rev. Steven Gierstad 1972 1973
Rev. Daryl Darst 1974 1976
Rev. Jay Haworth 1976 Jun 1983
Rev. Dennis P. Moon 1983 Nov 2001
Rev. Dr. Robert McNaughton (Int.) Nov 2001 May 2003
Rev. Dennis V. Anderson May 2003 – Present
Rev. Matt Gillis May 2005 – Present

The pastors who stayed at least ten years include Rev. Moon (18), Rev. Molander (15), Rev. Engstrom (11), and Rev. Thornberg (10). Only one pastor, the first, died while serving this congregation. (Int.) signifies Interim.

The Evangelical Covenant Church

The Evangelical Covenant Church is a rapidly growing multi-ethnic denomination of more than 750 congregations in the United States and Canada with ministries on five continents of the world. Founded in 1885 by Swedish Immigrants, the ECC values the Bible as the Word of God, the gift of God’s grace and ever-deeping spiritual life that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, the importance of extending God’s love and compassion to a hurting world, and the strength that comes from unity within diversity.