Our History

God began to make His plan of building Morning Star Lutheran Church & School evident back in the years of 1990‑1994. Washington County, which is just northwest of Milwaukee County, experienced and is still experiencing tremendous growth. it is the fastest growing area in Wisconsin. The village of Jackson is one of the fastest growing communities in Washington County. There are many people moving into the area and a large percentage of them are young families. One reason these families are interested in moving to the area is that they feel their children will have the opportunity to receive a fine Christian education at both the grade school and high school levels.

With this population growth, came the growth of the congregation at David's Star Ev. Lutheran Church and School. David's Star is the second oldest Lutheran congregation in Wisconsin. It was founded by a group of Prussian Lutherans who came to America in 1843. They named their settlement Kirchhayn which means "the church in the wildwoods." in the 1990's, new homes and businesses mushroomed all over the area. People flocked to hear God's Word being taught in its truth and purity at David's Star. The church grew by at least 100 members a year. The school also grew by 15 ‑ 20 children per year over the past five years. With this awesome growth at both the church and school, the members of David's Star were becoming concerned. Where were they going to put all the people? How could they continue to serve all the precious souls coming to David's Star if everything was full?

Surveys were handed out for the congregation to suggest names. There were 50 names submitted by the students and 20 by adults. The committee had a meeting on December 5, 1994, to narrow the list of names. Since parents choose their child's name, and in a sense all the members at David's Star would be parents to this congregation, they were asked to make the final decision. The Lord led the parents to overwhelmingly choose Morning Star to be the name of their soon‑to‑be‑born daughter.

January 15, 1995, saw 160 worshipers join hearts and voices for the first time at Morning Star Evangelical Lutheran Church held in the Jackson Fire Hall. Pastor Richard Gurgel conducted the first service. David's Star's new associate pastor, Pastor Schulz, helped lead services. As the months followed, Pastor Gurgel would lead David's Star's service and then travel to Morning Star in time to give the sermon. Morning Star was blessed to have these dedicated men in those beginning months to lead them. It was evident that Morning Star would be more than temporary. A full‑time pastor was needed.

March 1, 1994

Special joint meeting of David's Star Church Council and Building Committee to discuss options to handle the rapid growth in the church and school

March 29, 1994

Special joint meeting of David's Star Church Council and Building Committee to discuss how to recommend to the voters the plan to start a new daughter congregation with a school in Jackson

May 7, 1994

First meeting of the Daughter Congregation Study Committee

October 13, 1994

Study Committee recommends to the congregation to hold worship services in Jackson for a trial period of three months to determine what interest there would be in establishing a daughter congregation there

November 8, 1994

Study Committee meets to try to find solutions to some important needs: a place to rent, search for land; exact, date for beginning worship, time of worship, pastor, Bible class/ Sunday school, organists, and name for the congregation. Decision is made to begin holding worship services on January 15, 1995, at 10:30 am