Ten acres at the corner of Versailles Avenue and Normandy Street will be the future home of a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, adding to what is quickly becoming "church row" - half a dozen churches and future-church properties clustered along North Washington Street north of Century Avenue.

On Sunday, the four existing congregations of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod in Bismarck-Mandan will celebrate the installation of the Rev. Matthew Thompson as missionary at large responsible for developing the core of a new LCMS church in north Bismarck. The installation is at Messiah Lutheran Church, 1020 Boundary Road in Mandan.

When constructed, the new church will join Messiah as well as Zion, Bethel and Shepherd of the Valley LCMS congregations in Bismarck.

Thompson arrived in Bismarck on Monday with his family to begin work as missionary at large, doing evangelism and outreach, attending community events and meeting local people. He and his wife, Pam, have four sons, ages 11, 8, 5 and 3, who will attend Martin Luther School in Bismarck.

Once a small core group is organized, they will become part of the mission start, he said. The North Dakota District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has bought the land for the future church, Thompson said.

The four current LCMS churches are excited to have a fifth, since the LCMS doesn't have a congregation in north Bismarck, said the Rev. James Baneck, pastor at Messiah Lutheran in Mandan. Eighteen months ago, the church did a demographic study that showed the population in Bismarck constantly moving north, Baneck said. .

The goal of this church is to keep growing as the city grows, Thompson said.

"People like to belong to neighborhood churches. It's important to have churches in all parts of town,"he said.

Pastoral care is important, Thompson said, which is why congregations don't like to get too large: "We like to plant mission churches," he said.

The district president, the Rev. Larry Harvala, will preach for Thompson's installation service at 7 p.m. Sunday.

All four of the current LCMS congregations and their clergy will participate in the service, which includes a joint choir and handbell choir.

Thompson said former Zion members at his current church in Park Rapids, Minn., were excited for him when he received a call to Bismarck.

"You'll never have a better call," they told him.

Thompson, a native of Michigan, majored in engineering physics at Hope College in Holland, Mich. After graduation, he moved to Atlanta to pursue a master's degree.

There he was confirmed as an adult in the LCMS.

After completing his degree at Georgia Tech, Thompson studied at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. He has served in Park Rapids, Minn., for more than six years.