Volga German Lutherans were gathering in Calgary for worship and Bible study as early as 1899 with the Rev. Emil Eberhardt of Stony Plain presiding. Immanuel Lutheran Church was founded in 1902 by Volga German families and was affiliated with the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
The members of Immanuel split into about even groups of 200 members over the issue of whether to continue using the Volga German Songbook (Wolgadeutsche Gesongbuch) or switch to the hymnal being used by the Lutheran Church - Missouri Congregations. The 200 members who left in 1913 established St. Paul Lutheran Church.
The congregation never really recovered from this quarrel. It was dissolved in 1948 with only 28 members.
Immanuel Lutheran Church was served by the following pastors:
P.A. Schlemmer (1903-1904)
J. Möbius (1904-)
F.W. Janzow (1912-1916)
A.J. Müller (1916-1927)
Walter A. Rädeke
E.B. Fox (1941-1947)
Reinhold Threinen (1947-1948)
- Cherland, Carl Marcus. The Lutheran Legacy: Growth of Calgary's Lutheran Churches (Calgary: Century Calgary Publications, 1975): 53-55.
- Scheuerman, Richard D. & Clifford E. Trafzer. The Volga Germans: Pioneers of the Northwest (Moscow, ID: University of Idaho Press, 1985): 174.
- Settlement history of "the Germans" in Calgary between ca. 1900 and 1914 (Univ. of Alberta)