The following is a brief overview of our history as a Lutheran church in Corning. If you have an interest in our complete historical record, you are weclome to read 160 Years of Faith: 1853—2013.
Our very beginning…
In 1854, Corning Episcopalians consecrated a gray stone, early Gothic church on the corner of Erie Avenue (the present Denison Parkway) and Walnut Street. Local “Corning stone” was used to build this house of worship. In March of 1889, sparks from a nearby hotel fire did considerable damage to the church. Following repairs, the congregation worshiped in the church as best they could until a new one was built nearby. In 1896, the old church was sold to the German Evangelical Church in Elmira which was seeking to establish a group in Corning. Later, the U.S. government acquired the site for the present post office and assisted in the moving of the exterior of the church to its present site at 71 West First Street. It temporally closed during WWI because of hostility towards the Germans, and since the members became scattered it closed down soon afterward and the property was rented out to other church groups such as the Seventh Day Adventists and the Orthodox. In 1934 the Eastern District of the Missouri Synod began mission work in Corning and also rented the building, finally acquiring the premises in 1942. It has been a Lutheran church ever since that time.
Into the ‘30s, ‘40s & beyond…
In the 1930s, Redeemer Lutheran Church was formed as a mission congregation of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Pastors from Wellsboro, PA. served the congregation into the 1940s when the congregation called a fulltime pastor. In 1976, Redeemer chose to leave the LC-MS. At that time, 18 people who wanted to remain faithful to God's Word gathered together. With nothing but faith in the word and promise of the Triune God, Faith Lutheran Church in Corning was formed. By the Lord's grace, this congregation has remained and grown. It was then—and is now—dedicated to teaching and preaching the pure Word of God. At first served by Missouri Synod Lutheran pastors filling in from congregations throughout central New York, Faith's first full time pastor, Rev. Fred Greninger, served the congregation from 1986 until his retirement in 1998. Faith was then served by Pastor Gerhard Grabenhofer until 2019 when he accepted another call.
Because Faith Lutheran is theologically conservative and traditional in worship, Faith is especially relevant today as it applies God's unchanging Word to today’s ever-changing world.