Redeemer Lutheran in Denver provides gift to Dunklau Center's Excellence Endowment

While Redeemer Lutheran Church and School in Denver closes and completes the sale of its land and property, its legacy will live on through established endowments that will support Lutheran education and students.

Concordia University, Nebraska—one of the organizations selected to receive a portion of the funds from the church’s sales— will receive a $300,000 gift for the Dunklau Center’s Excellence Endowment on behalf of the congregation. The funds will support the endowment, which ensures the Dunklau Center will remain viable with the latest technology and resources for decades to come.

“Redeemer has always been a part of education,” Marvin Achterberg, Redeemer property chairman and a 1972 Concordia graduate, said. “At one point it was a thriving school with full classrooms, in addition to hosting four services on Sundays. We thought that this would be the best way for us to support and foster educators, teachers and pastors.”

Achterberg, who has been a member of the church since the early 80s, is utilizing his experience as a real estate broker to assist the church’s property sale and coordinating the distribution of funds to Concordia, in addition to Lutheran High School in Parker, Colorado, Renewal Church in Denver, the Concordia Seminary Fund and the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod Rocky Mountain District Fund.

“As a Lutheran teacher who has not taught since the mid-90s, I’ve always had a real interest in Concordia because of my activities there and the people,” Achterberg said. “This is a way for me to be able to provide something back to Concordia for the support they gave so many teachers and so many good friends of mine. As a congregation, we wanted to support Concordia because of all it means to us.”

In appreciation for the generous gift, Redeemer Lutheran Church and School’s name will be memorialized outside one of the Dunklau Center’s classrooms, Scott Seevers, Concordia senior director of development and engagement, said.

“A gift of this magnitude will make a significant impact on the quality of the Dunklau Center’s student spaces and equipment,” Seevers said. “Even as the on-site ministry at Redeemer ends, what a wonderful legacy the congregation is leaving to the future of Lutheran, Christian education.”