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As Emmaus celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2001, the congregation had to deal with the unmistakable trend: like many Protestant churches, Emmaus' congregation was becoming older and smaller. No longer could the congregation rely on the waves of Danish immigration of the late 19th and early 20th Century and the Baby Boom of the mid-20th Century to swell the membership.
As a result, Emmaus could no longer afford two full time pastors. Rev. Paul Nuechterlein resigned in 2001 to offer his services as an interim pastor at other Racine congregations, leaving Rev. Mary Janz as Emmaus' sole full-time pastor. (Rev. Nuechterlein has since become the pastor of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Portage, Michigan.) Emmaus has shared Visitation Pastors with Lincoln Lutheran Homes: Rev. Sharon Georgi (2002-2005) and Rev. Walter Hermanns (2006-present).
Emmaus inaugurated a new outreach program, "Neighborhood Camp," in the summer of 2003. For five weeks each summer, structured recreational and educational activities are offered free to 50 to 75 children of the Emmaus neighborhood. The program quickly branched out to other ELCA congregations in Racine. In February, 2008, a young man from Colombia visited the Sunday worship service and offered to lead a new ministry to Spanish-speaking residents of the area. Jhon Freddy Correa began gathering a new flock on Pentecost Sunday, 2009, and this church which had for 90 years offered a place for Danish immigrants to worship God in their own language, began offering the same to immigrants from Latin America. Correa was ordained and installed as pastor on July 10, 2010. Within the first year, the Spanish-language worship service swelled to 200 persons. The Latino congregation has established its own advisory board as well as a young adults' group, a sacristy group (Altar Guild), a group to minister to members in need, and a "Good Samaritan" fund.
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