Emanuel Lutheran Church
                         Lancaster, Ohio

 
 The history of Lutheranism in Fairfield county goes back to as early as 
 1812, when a missionary from Perry county, Rev. Foster, began 
 holding regular services in Lancaster. A group of these people formed 
 the first recorded congregation in 1812 and adapted the name of St. 
 Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. Their first regularly called 
 pastor was Rev. Michael Steck. In 1819, they constructed a log church 
 which was replaced in 1832 by a brick structure. The brick church was 
 completely destroyed by fire fourteen years later.
 For many years, a conflict had been growing within the congregation 
 over the issue of Unionism as it seems the congregation now included 
 many members of the Reformed church. Twelve members, along with 
 their pastor Ernest Leonhard, published an article in the newspaper to 
 explain their position on doctrine and to correct rumors that spread 
 throughout the town. They so desired to follow the Lutheran 
 confessions faithfully and decided shortly thereafter to split from St. 
 Peter's and formed Emanuel in 1847. When Rev. Leonhard accepted a 
 call to a distant area, the congregation called Rev. F.W. Richman. 
 Since Richman had served as a charter advisory member to the 
 Missouri synod, he strongly led them to be the confessional 
 congregation that they desired to be, and helped them to formally 
 reorganize and adopt their constitution in 1850. It is interesting to note 
 that Emanuel was spelled with an "I" in this document.
 
 The first confirmed class of 1849 included 7 members. A recorded 
 communion service in 1849 had 95 members present. The 
 communicant register at the beginning of 1850 listed 118 names.
 
 1852 brought great joy to the congregation as they were finally able to 
 dedicate their very first church building to the service of God. Because 
 the early years had brought so much conflict, struggle and difficulty,, 
 the dedication                      Emanuel Lutheran Church
                         Lancaster, Ohio

 
 The history of Lutheranism in Fairfield county goes back to as early as 
 1812, when a missionary from Perry county, Rev. Foster, began 
 holding regular services in Lancaster. A group of these people formed 
 the first recorded congregation in 1812 and adapted the name of St. 
 Peter's Evangelical Lutheran Church. Their first regularly called 
 pastor was Rev. Michael Steck. In 1819, they constructed a log church 
 which was replaced in 1832 by a brick structure. The brick church was 
 completely destroyed by fire fourteen years later.
 For many years, a conflict had been growing within the congregation 
 over the issue of Unionism as it seems the congregation now included 
 many members of the Reformed church. Twelve members, along with 
 their pastor Ernest Leonhard, published an article in the newspaper to 
 explain their position on doctrine and to correct rumors that spread 
 throughout the town. They so desired to follow the Lutheran 
 confessions faithfully and decided shortly thereafter to split from St. 
 Peter's and formed Emanuel in 1847. When Rev. Leonhard accepted a 
 call to a distant area, the congregation called Rev. F.W. Richman. 
 Since Richman had served as a charter advisory member to the 
 Missouri synod, he strongly led them to be the confessional 
 congregation that they desired to be, and helped them to formally 
 reorganize and adopt their constitution in 1850. It is interesting to note 
 that Emanuel was spelled with an "I" in this document.
 
 The first confirmed class of 1849 included 7 members. A recorded 
 communion service in 1849 had 95 members present. The 
 communicant register at the beginning of 1850 listed 118 names.
 
 1852 brought great joy to the congregation as they were finally able to 
 dedicate their very first church building to the service of God. Because 
 the early years had brought so much conflict, struggle and difficulty,, 
 the dedication was truly a celebration. So moved was Pastor Richman, 
 that he wrote of the pain and joy in an article published in Der 
 Lutheraner in March 1852. He based his article on the Holy Scripture 
 as follows:
 
 "My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. Yea, the sparrow 
 hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, . . .even thine 
 altars, O Lord of hosts."--Psalm 84:2-3
 
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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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