One step at a time, members of Calvary Lutheran carried their worship items to Our Redeemer's Lutheran during a Sunday morning march to officially begin a merger between the two churches.

Members of both churches had been discussing the merger since early last year.

"As Ballard has changed, the church attendance waned," said Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church head pastor Kathy Hawks.

Over the years, declining attendance at Calvary had its members looking for another church to join.

Calvary members were looking at four churches in the Ballard and Phinney area to merge with and chose Our Redeemer's.

It took one year of discussion and getting acquainted to the deal to finally go through. Thirty to 35 Calvary worshippers are joining Our Redeemer's membership of 450.

Hawks said the Calvary members found good energy at her church and it was close by.

The Icelandic community of Ballard started Calvary Lutheran, in 1902. It was known as Hallgrim's Congregation at the time.

The Calvary Lutheran Church building on 23rd Avenue Northwest will be sold.

It's tough to let go of a place where children were baptized and people were married, said Hawks.

Our Redeemer's Lutheran Church was formed in 1944 with a Swedish emphasis.

Swedish heritage is still a cherished part of Our Redeemer's but those demographics are as well represented in the current congregation. First generation membership is dwindling.

Both churches believed in serving the less fortunate with Calvary's Soup Kitchen program and Our Redeemer's hosting Tent City 3 this month and in April.

The soup kitchen lunches at Calvary to feed the homeless will be scaled back to one day at Our Redeemer's because of space considerations. Our Redeemer's does not have a large enough facility to host a lunch program schedule that Calvary had.

Calvary sponsored the Monday lunches. The Ballard Food Bank sponsored Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays meals.

Nancy McKinney, executive director of the Ballard Food Bank said she is waiting to see if the purchasers of the Calvary Lutheran Church building want to continue the lunch programs.

There are other churches in the area that are interested in taking over the lunch programs, said McKinney.

Dean Wong may be reached at 783.1244 or deanw@robinsonnews.com