Two Dixon Lutheran churches form experimental partnership, young couple serving as co-pastors

DIXON — As church attendance declines across the United States, St. Paul and Immanuel Lutheran churches in Dixon are taking an experimental approach by joining together in a partnership led by a married couple as co-pastors who started Nov. 1 in their new roles.

“It’s different and as a young person it’s really cool to be in the position to try out this new thing,” co-pastor Riley Reed-Windau said.

About two years ago, both churches were in need of a new pastor. The story goes that Immanuel Council President Scott Johnson and John Strom, who at the time was council president of St. Paul, were having dinner together and asked themselves: “What if the two churches came together,” co-pastor Anthony Windau said.

For Anthony and Riley, fresh out of school, the opportunity was too exciting to pass up.

Anthony, originally from Milwaukee, started seminary – a graduate school that prepares students for ministry – in 2019. A year later, Riley, originally from a rural community in Montana, started at that same school, which is how the couple met.

In 2021, Anthony interned at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Mendota and then served as interim minister until 2023. The two were married in November of that year.

After that, Anthony served as interim minister at Faith Lutheran in Andover, Iowa, while Riley finished seminary school. Then, along came the opportunity at St. Paul and Immanuel Lutheran Church. The two were selected unanimously, “which doesn’t always happen,” as co-pastors of the new chapter, Anthony said.

Both St. Paul and Immanuel have existed in the community for over 100 years and the church is able to support each building financially, so the church didn’t want to completely close one and move to the other. Instead, St. Paul and Immanuel will share two pastors and work together while maintaining each congregation’s separate identity, Anthony said.

The couple didn’t plan on working together, “but it’s been great how it’s worked out,” Riley said.

Riley’s office is at Immanuel, 1013 Franklin Grove Road, which has a total membership of about 250 people and sees about 60 people attending the Sunday service. Anthony is over at St. Paul, 421 Peoria Ave., which has a slightly smaller congregation, with 184 members in total and about 40 people attending its Sunday service.

Since they started, the couple has been busy leading worship on the weekends while figuring out what this partnership will look like on a day-to-day basis and getting to know the congregations, the community of Dixon and their new home.

A member of Immanuel’s congregation recently died, so Riley has “been wrapped up in planning funeral services” while Anthony has been working on making each of the worship services similar to each other, Anthony said.

Each week there’s one Saturday service at 5:30 p.m., which switches locations between Immanuel and St. Paul. Both churches hold a Sunday morning service. At Immanuel that service starts at 9 a.m. and at St. Paul it starts at 10:45 a.m.

Right now, some services are a lot more traditional while others are more contemporary. Anthony is looking to find some middle ground between the two, he said.

In partnering together, Anthony said they are looking to the churches’ youth programs for some guidance. While the two churches have separate programs with two different directors, they hold confirmation and host events together, he said.

Moving forward, they are looking toward growing the church and its involvement with the community, Anthony said.

For more information, visit St. Paul and Immanuel Lutheran churches’ websites online at ilcdixon.org and stpauldixon.org.

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