St. John Lutheran Church
                         Defiance, Ohio

 
 Lutheran services were held in Defiance as early as 1845 by Rev. A.F. 
 Knape, who also preached in the surrounding areas until 1850. In 
 1851, the group of Lutherans was visited by Rev. Adam Detzer who 
 preached his first sermon to them in an old public school building. 
 Rev. Detzer had come to America along with a group of colonists who 
 eventually settled the Frankenmuth area. He was a traveling minister 
 who worked tirelessly at preaching and ministering to thirteen other 
 stations. People would travel long distances on foot or by oxcart, to 
 attend the services. Detzer himself had to travel by horseback 
 throughout the harsh area and there were times he was unable to 
 preach regularly because of this.
 
 On May 1851, Rev. Detzer held the first communion service in 
 Defiance. 29 persons communed and the service lasted from 9am to 
 2pm. This was because there was only one hymnal. The pastor would 
 recite one line of the hymn or verse and the congregation would sing 
 what had been recited.
 
 On May 29, 1851,  the congregation called for Detzer to be their 
 pastor. He accepted and was installed. They bought a piece of land in 
 1852 and began building a church. It is interesting to note that the land 
 was purchased for $65. $20 of this was paid in cash and the remaining 
 $45 was financed at a rate of 16% interest. By April of 1853, they 
 were able to hold regular services there. The women sat on rough 
 planks and the men would stand for the long services. By May 1856, 
 the congregation adopted a constitution and also became members of 
 the new Missouri Synod at about the same time.
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     This text was converted to ascii format for Project Wittenberg
     by Debbie Harris and is in the public domain by permission 
     of Rev. Manfred K. Rembold. You may freely distribute, copy or
     print this text. Please direct any comments or suggestions to: 
                      Rev. Robert E. Smith of the 
           Walther Library at Concordia Theological Seminary.
                                       
                       E-mail: bob_smith@ctsfw.edu
                                       
       Surface Mail: 6600 N. Clinton St., Ft. Wayne, IN 46825 USA
          Phone: (219) 452-2148             Fax: (219) 452-2126
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