St. Stephen Lutheran Church
                         Defiance, Ohio

 
 St. Stephen has in their possession, an early history of their church, 
 penned by their first pastor, Adam Detzer. What follows is a 
 translation of his account:
 
 	"In 1853 several Lutherans of Southridge requested Pastor 
 Detzer of Defiance that he also serve the Lutheran congregation of the 
 Ridge which had shortly before separated itself from the Reformed 
 congregation. These Lutherans formerly belonging to the Reformed 
 congregation had been served by Pastor Knapp, who had been called 
 by the Reformed group within that congregation. Pastor Knapp, who 
 was a Reformed pastor, did not give these Lutherans a release. It soon 
 became evident, because of the unfriendly relation, that Pastor Knapp 
 would have to give way to a different pastor to make possible a truly 
 Lutheran congregation.
 	The congregation turned to Dr. Sihler of Fort Wayne, Vice-
 president of that Synod to which Pastor Detzer belonged, requesting 
 him to give his advice. 
 	Dr. Sihler came and a meeting was held in the home of 
 Troeger, June 27th. The decision of Dr. Sihler was to request that 
 Pastor Knapp resign, thus giving the congregation an opportunity to 
 call a different pastor. July 14th another meeting was held; this time in 
 the home of Sauermann. The following pastors were present at this 
 meeting: Bergt, Knape, and Detzer. Pastor Knapp voluntarily resigned 
 and Pastor Detzer was properly called. Pastor Detzer preached for the 
 first time in the church in which the Reformed and Lutheran shared 
 equal rights since both helped to build it, in the afternoon of July 17th. 
 The Lutherans were immediately forbidden to have their pastor preach 
 in the church.
 	Through Pastor Bergt, the Rev. Detzer was installed in the 
 congregation September 11, 1853, of course not in the church, but in 
 the barn of G. Nic. Troeger. The Lord's Supper was celebrated in the 
 same service. Divine services were mostly conducted in the old house 
 of Troeger but several times due to extreme cold, in the new home of 
 Troeger. Soon plans were  made to build a church. The church was 
 used for the first time July 2, 1854. The work on the inside of the 
 church as well as the altar were completed at a later date. The festive 
 dedicatory services were conducted on June 1, 1856.
 	The congregation having been properly incorporated December 
 26, 1856, was free of disturbance for a short time. All too soon it 
 became evident that a few individuals were not to be pleased. In a 
 meeting of October 4, 1857, the pastor presented the question whether 
 or not the congregation would join the Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and 
 other States. The vote was cast after a lengthy discussion and of 
 eighteen voters present, ten voted YES and eight NO. The majority 
 were in favor and they could have joined the Synod, but due to 
 altogether unexpected remarks by the opposition, the congregation 
 upon the advice of Pastor Detzer tabled the matter. Hereupon all kinds 
 of accusations as well as misgivings were uttered against Synod. 
 	Twenty-seven voters were present in a meeting held May 2, 
 1858, in which the congregation voted 20 to 7 in favor of joining 
 Synod."
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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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