Emmanuel Lutheran Church marks its 175th anniversary with a special service Sunday. The church serves the Prospect area. The church was renovated in 1901, and electricity was installed in 1930.

PROSPECT — Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 143 Church St., will celebrate its 175th anniversary as a congregation with a special service at 11 a.m. Sunday.

The Rev. Kurt F. Kusserow, Bishop of the Southwest Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, will be the guest minister along with Pastor Gary Brown.

The congregation still worships in the church it began building in 1847. At present, Emmanuel’s congregation consists of 276 baptized members and 235 confirmed members.

The Rev. Brown has served as the pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran since 2002. He also is the pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Connoquenessing.

He is the 27th in a line of ministers going back to 1843.

Emmanuel Lutheran was formed in 1843 as an offshoot of St. John (Old Stone) Lutheran Church. The Old Stone Church, also known as the Buechele Church, served an area from Unionville to Lancaster Township and the services were conducted in German.

A group of people saw the need for services to be conducted in English in a more convenient location.

At a meeting in the home of Benjamin Roth in Prospect it was decided to draft a constitution and form a congregation.

The first communion service was May 21, 1843, with 34 persons receiving the Holy Sacrament.

The congregation purchased a house and lot for $300 as a place of worship but soon outgrew the building.

The congregation resolved to build a new church in 1847. The church was built with bricks fired on site by James and Samuel McElhinney.

The new church had its first service March 4, 1849. On Friday March 9, 1849, the church was consecrated and named “Emmanuel Lutheran Church” which translates from Hebrew as “God is with us.”

According to David Luther Roth, writing in 1912, Emmanuel Lutheran furnished 65 soldiers to the Civil War.

Emmanuel continues to serve the Prospect area with regular support to the Prospect-Portersville Food Bank, Vacation Bible School at Lutherlyn, a charitable clothing sale every fall, and coffee and doughnuts at the Memorial weekend parade in Prospect.

“Emmanuel has been a place of peace, worship, and support for 175 years in the Prospect community. With God’s blessing, it will continue to be a place where all people can worship, find support, be comforted and be part of a church family,” said Alan Vagasky, president of the church council.

Emmanuel has changed as a congregation over the years. Women were granted the right to vote in congregational matters in the 1870s, long before suffrage in the United States.

The church building has been adapted as necessary. The church was renovated in 1901. In 1930, electricity was installed in the church.

In 1955, the narthex was added, a basement was dug out, and indoor plumbing was installed. There are still members of Emmanuel who remember trips to the outhouses as children.

A handicap ramp was constructed in the 1990s. Recently, a new organ was purchased and air conditioning was installed. A stairglide is planned as funds become available.

Worship continues to occur at 9 a.m. every Sunday.