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Pilgrim Lutheran Church traces its beginnings to 1941, when Lutheran families who had moved from Bay City to the growing community of Essexville sought a Sunday School closer to home. Immanuel and Zion Lutheran Churches of Bay City formed a Joint Mission Committee, and Candidate Hillis F. Hall began mission work in Essexville in September 1941. Twenty-one children attended the first Sunday School in a vacant Michigan Sugar Company office on First Street, and the first worship service followed on October 26.

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When that temporary location was no longer available, the mission purchased a portable chapel from Redeemer Lutheran Church in Flint and property at Pine and Nebobish Streets. Volunteers from Immanuel and Zion helped dismantle, move, rebuild, and improve the chapel. It was dedicated on October 11, 1942. Less than a month later, on November 9, 1942, the mission was formally organized as Pilgrim Lutheran Church of Essexville. Sixty-five communicant members came from Immanuel and seven from Zion to form the new congregation.

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The Rev. Donald Dohrman became Pilgrim's first pastor and was ordained and installed on November 29, 1942. The young congregation grew rapidly. By the end of 1943, Pilgrim numbered 116 communicant and 203 baptized members. By early 1945, the congregation had become self-supporting, built a parsonage, installed an organ, improved its grounds, and eliminated its original debt.

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A Growing Congregation

Continued growth eventually made a larger church necessary. Pilgrim's present house of worship was dedicated on August 10, 1958. The congregation continued developing its property and ministry under the long pastorate of the Rev. John E. Baumgaertner. In 1959, additional land brought the church property to approximately five acres.

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One of the sanctuary's most distinctive features was added in 1970. On April 19 of that year, Pilgrim dedicated 58 stained-glass memorial panels designed by Alfred Timler of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The windows use colorful Christian symbols to portray the life and miracles of Jesus Christ.

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By the time Pastor Baumgaertner retired in 1975 after 28 years of service, Pilgrim had grown to 370 communicant and 506 baptized members. The Rev. Edward L. Krauss succeeded him and served from 1975 until 1987. During these years Pilgrim also demonstrated its concern for the wider community, including joining other Essexville churches in sponsoring Cambodian refugee families in 1979.

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Another major expansion came in 1980. A 3,200-square-foot addition provided new space for Christian education, fellowship, and administration. A preschool program followed in 1981, and the congregation expanded its ministry through parish assistants serving in youth ministry.

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The Rev. Carl F. Trosien became Pilgrim's fourth pastor in 1987. By the end of that year, the congregation had reached 566 communicant and 766 baptized members. In November 1990, Pilgrim celebrated the retirement of the mortgage on its addition. As the congregation approached its fiftieth anniversary in 1992, it numbered 591 communicant and 817 baptized members.

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During Pilgrim's first fifty years, its pastors administered 683 Baptisms and 697 Confirmations, while the congregation witnessed 228 marriages and conducted 166 funerals. These numbers represent far more than statistics. They tell the story of generations gathered around God's Word and Sacraments—from children brought to the baptismal font to Christian families joined in marriage and saints laid to rest in the hope of the resurrection.

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Pastor Trosien retired in 2014, and Rev. Theodore Voll served as the Intentional Interim Minister preparing the congregation for its new pastor, Rev. Erwin M. Hutter, who was installed on February 28, 2016.

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In 2017, the congregation celebrated its 75th Anniversary with pastors Krauss, Trosien, and Eichinger (who had served as a Pastoral Assistant) preaching at various services.

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The history of Pilgrim indicates that our heritage with a fitting expression of faith: remembering God's blessings of the past while looking confidently toward the future, trusting that the Lord who had been with Pilgrim in the past would continue to be with and bless His people in the years ahead.