The congregation of Christian Outreach Church in Goldman will celebrate its 50th anniversary this weekend.
The church, at 4430 Outreach Drive, was officially dedicated on May 18, 1975.
To celebrate the dedication, a worship and praise service will be held from 6-9 p.m. Saturday and will include a video slideshow of photos from the first 50 years, testimonies and musical worship led by the Friends of the King group.
On Sunday, Dan Kennedy will lead a worship service that starts at 9:45 a.m. The Friends of the King will hold a concert at 7 p.m. at the church.
The church was founded by Bob Heit, a former Lutheran pastor; Linn Haitz, a missionary; and Ron Sutton, a pioneer of the Jesus Movement who worked with St. Louis-area youth, according to literature describing the church’s history.
Church members, pictured in the late 1970s, worship at Christian Outreach Church.
The church property is the former site of a tuberculosis sanatorium and a Camp Mater Dei, a Roman Catholic girls’ camp. Christian Outreach Church began not so much as a church organization, but as a place where various ministries could work together, according to the history.
Heil wanted a school to train leaders. Haitz, who started Children of Promise International just a few years earlier, wanted to house his missions organization and train missionaries. Sutton wanted a refuge center for outcasts and drug addicts from St. Louis.
The congregation came out of necessity, with people coming from all over the world for the church’s ministries.
In the early years, the church went through multiple pastors. In 1989, Nick Ittzes became pastor and served for nearly 25 years. In 2012, Ittzes, due to health reasons, retired and put seven elders in place to lead the congregation, according to the church history.
Former elder Tom Kraeuter said four elders lead the church: Stephen Kraeuter, David Kraeuter, Steve Miller and Daryl Roth.
Kraeuter said most of the church members have participated in either long-term or short-term mission trips, adding that mission work has been an important part of the church since the beginning.
He said about 70 people regularly attend Sunday services.
The church has operated Christian Outreach School, originally Christian Outreach Day School, since 1977. The school enrolls children in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade and serves nearly 100 students.