St. John's Lutheran Church
                           Mount Hope, Ohio
 
 
 The year 1842 brought considerable numbers of people to Holmes 
 county. Many of these early settlers were German Lutherans who 
 had recently immigrated from across the ocean. The land they 
 encountered was a vast and dangerous forestland and they often had 
 to carry guns to protect themselves from the wild bears and wolves.
 
 Some of these earliest pioneers, in a desire to be fed from God's 
 Holy Word, began meeting together in homes and barns and were 
 served by a traveling German Lutheran pastor, Rev. Henry 
 Colorado. He and other circulating ministers were known as circuit 
 riders. 
 
 Records indicate that 1842 services were held in a church building 
 at Good Hope, Ohio, later known as the town of Fryburg. The first 
 confirmation class had 12 members. The second year, 20 were 
 confirmed.  Eventually, they shared ownership of another building 
 with the Reformed Church. The latter held services in the morning 
 and the Lutherans worshipped in the afternoon. This sharing 
 arrangement did not last long and once again they began meeting in 
 homes and barns and were served by a series of pastors. The group 
 became affiliated with the Missouri synod in 1852, while being 
 served by F. Besel and was now known as St. John's. For a while, 
 they also became known as The Arnold Church, probably while 
 they were meeting in a building on the corner of member John 
 Arnold's farm. Eventually, they were able to purchase enough of 
 this land for their first real church building. The structure and its 
 pews were lovingly crafted by hand out of timber from the forest. 
 On the wall of this little church was inscribed the following 
 Scripture passage:
 
 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the 
 deeds of the law. Romans 3:28
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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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