Lutheran Church of the Open Bible
Our Beginning
In
1910, newly ordained E. Edgar Guenther was assigned to start a school
in the East Fork area of the Fort Apache reservation. Arriving in 1911,
he worked faithfully, but noticed that the center of reservation
activity was quickly moving away from Ft. Apache to the new community of
Whiteriver.
With permission he started holding services there.
In
1918, something happened that would change the course of his work.
During a flu epidemic, Missionary Guenther and his wife, Minnie, rode
to the camps to help. Taking rendered skunk oil, Epson salts, tar paper
and gallons of soup, they attempted to treat flu victims as best they
could. One
day they found Chief Alchesay in a remote camp, close to death. The
Lord spared his life, and Missionary Guenther kept returning to give him
the Words of life from the Bible.
It
was the beginning of a close friendship that led to Missionary Guenther
being adopted as a blood member of the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
In
1919 the Guenther's moved to Whiteriver permanently, eventually living
in a home they ordered from the Montgomery Ward catalog. In 1922 the
church they were building next door with their members was completed.
On the day of the dedication of the Church of the Open Bible, Alchesay
himself turned the key, marched to the front of the church and was
baptized together with 100 members of his Tribe.
The
church stands to this day, still filled with members of the White
Mountain Apache Tribe coming to hear the Bible opened and the Word
of God preached.
Whiteriver, Arizona
Travel on Hwy 73 straight into Whiteriver, about the middle of downtown, look for 18 W Oak St.
Mailing Address:
Lutheran Church of the Open Bible
Box 519
Whiteriver, AZ 85941-0519