The Living Waters Story

Beginnings

Living Waters is a mission congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American. It was founded on the Qualla Boundary in 1986. The first mission developer was Rev. Jesse David Hill. He founded the church with the support of the ELCA's Division of Outreach.

Through his hard work and compassionate ministry to the people, he was able to secured 8.35 acres of land on the Qualla Boundary and it was deeded to the church. Funding was provided through a mutual effort of the ELCA Division of Outreach, Mission Support, and the North Carolina Synod.

On it was built the parsonage which now serves as our worship center and office. During the time of Pastor Hill, the congregation met at a community center in Cherokee then continued worship in the unfinished basement of the parsonage.

The Living Waters Parsonage and Worship Center

In 1992 Rev. Hill left to continue his education and a licensed lay minister, Sol Bird Mockisin, took over the ministry. Mr. Mockisin is a member of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma and served at the church until 1998. Services were conducted in a local Catholic church and the parsonage. Upon his departure the ministry lay dormant until 1999 when the North Carolina Synod made the decision to revive Living Waters.

New Leadership

After a nationwide search for a native ordained minister, Rev. Mary Louise Frenchman accepted the call and came to Cherokee in January of 2000.

Pastor Mary Louise went right to work rebuilding a church which now had no members, little money, and a parsonage which had to also serve as the worship center.

Pastor Mary Louise started first in getting to know the folks of the Cherokee community and learning first hand about their ministry needs. Building trust took time, but love and patience began to secure bonds where ministry could begin to happen.

One important community need Pastor Mary Louise discovered was for a food pantry. A $5,000 grant from the NC WELCA Manna Food Bank in Asheville was made available, and the garage at the parsonage would was empty. This was the start of our food pantry. Shelves and painting were done by our mission partners. Although the original grant has been long spent, other Lutheran churches continue provide for the needs of the pantry.

Mission partners have been crucial in providing the support for many of Living Water's needs. Most of our furnishings have been provided by our mission partners. We have received chairs and hymnals. A temporary alter was made by a local cabinet maker. We used a keyboard for the first two years, now we have a piano which was donated to us. It is old and needs repairs, but it sounds good to us, and we enjoy it.

On June 17, 2000 Living Waters held its first worship service since Pastor Mary Louise Frenchman's arrival. By October of 2000, we had outgrown the downstairs worship center and moved upstairs for worship. We are now using the downstairs for Sunday School. To make room for this, our Pastor moved out of the parsonage.

Since that time, our church continues to grow in people and ministries.

The Path Ahead

We continue to strive to fulfill the ministry needs of our community. We look forward to time when we will have a new church building and can expand ministries like the ones we are doing with our youth.