National Fund For Sacred Places

We are delighted to announce that Christ on Capitol Hill has been selected to be in the 2024 Cohort of grant recipients from the National Fund for Sacred Places.

The membership of Christ Lutheran Church, now known as Christ on Capitol Hill (COCH), was first organized in 1868 by Scandinavian immigrants. Their 1915 Beaux Arts building was designed by Buechnner and Orth in 1915 to be in stylistic harmony with the Minnesota State Capitol, located directly across the street and completed in 1905. In its early days, the congregation was primarily composed of Norwegian immigrants, and their focus on serving newcomers to the United States has continued to the present day, welcoming immigrants and refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Eritrea, Liberia, and Nigeria, all now part of the COCH community.

COCH’s strategic location allows the congregation to play an active role in its community. Their historic building is home to five non-profits serving a range of community members, including: facilitating solutions to language-, transportation-, and housing-related challenges for job seekers; advocacy for food justice in the areas of hunger, poverty, and the environment; a pay-as-you-can food truck that serves meals 4 days per week across St. Paul; and support for affordable housing through advocacy and policy development. In 2023-2024, COCH hosted over 25 legislative advocacy events, giving over 5,000 Minnesotans a space to gather before walking across the street to the State Capitol.

A National Fund grant of $175,000 with matching funds of $175,000 raised by the congregation will support masonry rehabilitation, creating a water-tight enclosure to prevent further deterioration of the walls and improving safety and public access to the building.

Give to support this incredible project!

Clean Water Land & Legacy Amendment

Construction to repair and restore portions of our building began in Spring 2024 and continued through October 2024. This project has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society (71%) and Christ Lutheran Foundation (29%).

Here are the construction details we know now.

Construction is to repair and restore the upper portions of the east and west sides of the sanctuary exterior and the bell towers and has begun and will continue through August 2024. There will be heavy equipment in the Peace Garden and on the east side of the building. During construction, the onsite leader from Watson-Forsberg will use a table in Fellowship Hall as his office space.

In addition, during the latter portion of this timeframe (beginning late July) an ADA-compliant restroom will be constructed in Fellowship Hall adjacent to the dishwashing room. 

This project has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the Minnesota Historical Society (71%) and Christ Lutheran Foundation (29%).

Christ Lutheran is listed in the National Register of Historical Places. 

Project Architect: MacDonald & Mack Architects Contractor: Watson-Forsberg