When the light hits right on a sunny morning, Canton Lutheran Church glows. Circles of multicolored light dance across rich wooden pews, and one can’t help but appreciate the beauty of a place that fully embodies the history of the community it occupies.
That’s because of the dozens of intricate, vibrant stained glass windows that decorate its century-old sanctuary. And just before one of its holiest days of the year – Easter Sunday – the rural church got some very good news about those pieces of art.
The South Dakota State Historical Society and city of Deadwood are granting the Canton Lutheran Church a total of $22,500 from gaming proceeds for the church’s Restoring Radiance project, which aims to completely restore the windows.
That funding will wrap up the church’s campaign for the project, which had a target of more than $500,000.
Canton Lutheran also recently received a grant from the National Trust for Sacred Places, which is a collaborative program between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and Partners for Sacred Places. More than $185,000 was awarded to the church’s project, which requires a dollar-for-dollar match from other community fundraising. It’s the first South Dakotan organization to ever receive an award from the program.
Landmark building in Canton
The church, which was established in 1868 and built its current space in 1908, is a fixture of the 3,000-person town’s historic core. The Gothic Revival building, constructed mostly with the area’s signature pinkish Sioux Quartzite rock, stands tall among other landmarks like the Lincoln County Courthouse and Kennedy Mansion, built in 1889, and 1917, respectively.
Melinda Larson is a congregation member who has been working on the project since conversations about restoration began years ago.
The church started collecting donations in earnest about a year and a half ago, she told News Watch. Since then, the massive south-facing window has been removed and transferred to Windom, Minnesota, where it is being restored by Willet Stained Glass Studios. The congregation hopes the project will be finished in its entirety by the summer of 2027.
Larson, who was involved in multiple grant applications, said that some of the church’s success in accessing that grant funding comes from how engaged the community has been in the project.
″(The National Trust for Sacred Places) application focused a lot on community involvement and community service, and Canton Lutheran is very community involved,” Larson said. “But also, the community of Canton is a collaborative community in terms of working together to meet community needs. The churches work together.”
Historical value of churches comes to forefront
The church’s recent award from the SDSHS was one of three given to rural churches in this grant cycle. Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perkins County received $5,000 for steeple repair and Saint Wenceslaus Church in Tabor received $10,000 for porch repair. All three churches are over a century old.
Garry Guan, South Dakota’s historic preservation officer, said that historic churches are a key part of South Dakota’s cultural fabric, especially in rural areas.
“Historic churches are evaluated using the same criteria as other buildings, such as age, architectural integrity and historical associations. But they often carry additional layers of meaning. In many rural communities, churches historically served multiple roles,” he told News Watch in a statement.
“They were not only places of worship but also spaces for schools, meetings and social gatherings. In some cases, they were among the first or most enduring buildings in a town. Because of their central role, churches are often among the most intact historic structures we encounter.”
Jon Splichal-Larson, pastor of Canton Lutheran, said the community in Canton has embraced the church’s history – even those outside of the congregation – and that the decision to pursue the project came from encouragement that the community would step up.
“As people of faith, you simply take the next faithful step. And I’ve really clung to that in the midst of all of these things. And you’re trying to take faithful steps that honor the heritage and the people that have come before us,” Splichal-Larson said.
And the people that came before them were rugged builders of their own. Most of the woodwork seen in the sanctuary was done by members of the congregation in the beginning of the 20th century.
“It was the pioneers, Norwegian pioneers, that established this church,” Splichal-Larson said. “We’re not all Norwegians anymore, and we don’t emphasize that heavily, but I think it ties right into that. It’s this resiliency of ‘You just do it.’”
How rural churches can avoid decline in religious affiliation
When Canton Lutheran’s current building was constructed in 1908 after the town’s two Norwegian congregations blended, it was done without building a center aisle through the sanctuary. That was intentional, to illustrate how the two communities would come together as one in the space.
The church takes the same approach to unity today: Every Wednesday, congregation members gather together for a meal before splitting into groups for age-related programming. The meal, which allows congregation members to gather outside of services, also reflects Canton Lutheran’s hope to meet community members where they’re at, Splichal-Larson said.
“Our world is a busy world. Sometimes people think cities are busier than rural places, and that’s not always the case,” he said. “In Canton, you have a number of people who work in Sioux Falls. That adds another layer of being busy. And this church has a really wide variety of professions in it, and some of those are very time-consuming. And so you have a family, whether it’s one or two parents, to feed them on a Wednesday night makes a huge difference.”
Part of meeting the community where it’s at is about accepting changing faith behaviors.
A recent Gallup poll found that fewer than half of American adults said religion is “very important” in their lives, which is down from 58% in 2012 and, in the past, has been as high as 75%. Splichal-Larson said that he now considers “regular” attendance to be bimonthly, rather than weekly.
Julie Verley, a past president of the congregation, told News Watch that Splichal-Larson’s approach to youth ministry has not only increased engagement among that demographic but given the older members of the congregation hope for the future of the church.
“What I have appreciated is what (Splichal-Larson) does to engage young people. He really has them be part of the worship service itself,” Verley said. “That’s so important for them, but it’s also important for us as adults that we see young people in those roles.”
It is especially important as, nationally, fewer and fewer younger people identify with religion. In that same Gallup poll, just 33% of Americans ages 18-29 said religion is very important in their life, compared to 47% in 2005.
Numerous churches have closed in the past few years, as the COVID-19 pandemic decimated congregations and more and more people move away from religion. Lifeway Research, an evangelical research firm that advises churches, found that Protestant church closures eclipsed openings in 2024 through an analysis of U.S. Religion Census data.
Canton congregation still thriving
But, at least in this sanctuary, those issues are not yet fully manifesting.
Canton Lutheran claimed a total of 886 baptized members in its 2025 annual report. Some of those people come from areas outside of Canton – including Sioux Falls, where there are at least 21 Lutheran churches, according to the South Dakota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The church runs summer Bible camps, middle and high school weekly programming and sees quite a few young families, according to Verley.
So why are they choosing Canton Lutheran, and what is the key to the church’s continued success? There may not be one answer that solves problems churches may be facing, Splichal-Larson said. But the stained glass project has been a reminder of what still works.
“God calls us to be a part of beauty and to create beauty with God. And that is these stained glass windows. These are the images of the story of Jesus, and that’s what people are coming to churches to hear and see,” Splichal-Larson said.
Splichal-Larson also said that thinking of younger demographics as a monolith or a problem to be solved can often take away from what is the most successful method to bringing people to church – connection.
“When you’re talking about young adults, it’s not, like, a code to crack. It’s just personal,” Splichal-Larson said.
The rural and historic nature of the church means that some families – like Verley’s – have been attending for as many as four generations. That means something to the community, Larson said, especially when they have the opportunity to give back to what has become their gathering place and foundation.
“One of the advantages of a small congregation is that you have the opportunity to be seen,” Larson said. “The other thing I think most people want is they want to be needed and to think that there’s a place for them to serve. And, frankly, in a small church, we can’t keep going unless people are serving.”
And while the church’s historic nature will always be a crucial part of how its congregation worships, they have been working to blend in modern elements as well. Splichal-Larson occasionally brings up an acoustic guitar to the chancel, and a full drum kit sits to the left side of the sanctuary, next to hundred-year-old pews. That contrast is maybe one of the most prescient examples of how the face of faith is changing, even as historic preservation efforts continue.
“You realize all that these people left for us, and we’re stewards of that. It’s that beauty, and it’s what was left before us, and we’re called to retain that. These folks have been here for generations,” Larson said.
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This story was originally published by South Dakota News Watch and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
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