St. John's Lutheran Church Wapakoneta, Ohio The land was mostly forested; the narrow dirt roads were often rutted deeply. The form of transportation was horse and buggy. As early as 1833, there was a group of German settlers in the vicinity of Wapakoneta in Auglaize County. It was in September of 1838 that 28 year old German missionary, Friedrich Wyneken was traveling on horseback from Pennsylvania to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and came upon this group of pioneers. Because they had suffered a series of vagrant preachers and because he was moved by their spiritual hunger, he stayed with them for eight days, preaching and teaching the lifegiving Word and baptizing all ages. Having learned from Wyneken about the newly formed Lutheran Church of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, the group appealed to the Ft. Wayne Seminary for a pastor. In 1848, the Rev. Paulus Heid was installed. On June 12, 1848, they were chartered as a member of the synod. Until the calling of Pastor Heid, the congregation was strictly unitarian. There were some Lutherans who accepted Heid and another faction split off and followed a leader called Goekelin. Heid originally served both St. John's and another congregation in Auglaize county, but the latter withdrew when they discovered the true Lutheran doctine of Pastor Heid and left to follow unitarian and rationalistic preachers. The two remaining groups did, however, share the same log cabin and had their services at different times of the day on alternate Sundays. St. John's also lost some members when the purely Lutheran constitution was signed the following year. Pastor Heid served until 1852 and installed his successor, the Rev. J.H. Werfelmann. This worshipping community had been meeting in private homes until 1840 when they were able to construct their first house of worship which was a log cabin. The cabin was replaced in 1858 by a brick structure built St. John's Lutheran Church Wapakoneta, Ohio The land was mostly forested; the narrow dirt roads were often rutted deeply. The form of transportation was horse and buggy. As early as 1833, there was a group of German settlers in the vicinity of Wapakoneta in Auglaize County. It was in September of 1838 that 28 year old German missionary, Friedrich Wyneken was traveling on horseback from Pennsylvania to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and came upon this group of pioneers. Because they had suffered a series of vagrant preachers and because he was moved by their spiritual hunger, he stayed with them for eight days, preaching and teaching the lifegiving Word and baptizing all ages. Having learned from Wyneken about the newly formed Lutheran Church of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States, the group appealed to the Ft. Wayne Seminary for a pastor. In 1848, the Rev. Paulus Heid was installed. On June 12, 1848, they were chartered as a member of the synod. Until the calling of Pastor Heid, the congregation was strictly unitarian. There were some Lutherans who accepted Heid and another faction split off and followed a leader called Goekelin. Heid originally served both St. John's and another congregation in Auglaize county, but the latter withdrew when they discovered the true Lutheran doctine of Pastor Heid and left to follow unitarian and rationalistic preachers. The two remaining groups did, however, share the same log cabin and had their services at different times of the day on alternate Sundays. St. John's also lost some members when the purely Lutheran constitution was signed the following year. Pastor Heid served until 1852 and installed his successor, the Rev. J.H. Werfelmann. This worshipping community had been meeting in private homes until 1840 when they were able to construct their first house of worship which was a log cabin. The cabin was replaced in 1858 by a brick structure built to the east of the present parsonage. This building was the first brick church of the LCMS in Northwestern Ohio. It measured 26 by 38 feet and cost $1165. While exact statistics are difficult to obtain, it is known that in the earliest days, communion was celebrated four times a year and records for the first year indicated that 109 members communed. There were probably 15 charter members to sign the constitution. In 1856, 28 families pledged financial support for the brick church. The first class to be confirmed had 11 members. ______________________________________________________________ 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 ______________________________________________________________