175 Years
The origin of First English Lutheran Church is right there in its name.
In 1843 the church's founders split from St. Mark's Lutheran Church when they wanted to have church services conducted in English not German.
On Oct. 28, the heirs of those founders will mark the church's 175th anniversary with a special service, music and guest at its 241 N Main St. location.
Pastor Kimberly Van Driel said, “There will be a 10 a.m. festival service. There will be trumpet players and a pianist coming to provide music.”
“Bishop Kurt Kusserow, the bishop of the Southwest Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, will be presiding at the liturgy and he also will be offering remarks at the luncheon to follow in the church social hall. I will be preaching at the worship,” she said.
Van Driel said, “It's going to be a pretty low-key celebration. We put a lot of effort into the 500th anniversary of the Reformation last year.”
Still, the church will raise a 175-year banner to replace its 150-year banner before the Oct. 28 service.
Congregation member Marj Rogner was one of six people who worked on creating the 6-foot-by-8-foot, 8-inch banner.
Rogner said each worker created one panel of the banner illustrating the church's strategic plans such as “building up the Body of Christ” or “hospitality to strangers.”
Rogner said, “Each panel will be done separately by a person. Each person will interpret the message the way they want.”
She said the plan is to unveil the banner on the 28th, before the service.
Longtime member and organist Signe Mitchell said of the church's start, “As I understand it, people at St. Mark's wanted to have the service in English, not German. So, the 22 men and 23 women formed First English Lutheran Church on Jan. 16, 1843.”
Mitchell said, “They met in various places before settling in a building at the corner of Church and North streets in 1848.”
Mitchell said, “The church bought this property in 1874 and renovated it in 1877. It was the former Witherspoon Institute on the corner of Main and Brady streets.”
Fire destroyed the building in 1919, but the present First English Lutheran Church was built and dedicated in 1920.
Mitchell said, “The church expanded and built the building facing McKean Street. It later sold it and it became the Butler Library around 1986.”
Today, Van Driel said, the First English congregation has nearly 200 active members and “many more in the larger church family.”
“We're involved in the Butler Area Lutheran Ministries (BALM), and I would say our community dinner remains the heartbeat of the congregation,” said Van Driel
First English offers a free community meal every Monday night in its social hall from 5 to 6 p.m. Food is served free to anyone who wants to eat. Meals are prepared and served by teams from First English, from Christ Community United Methodist Church and from other nonprofit groups.
“And the church is engaging in the topic of nonviolent communication,” she said. “We want to equip people to be ambassadors for Christ in an age of increasingly hostile rhetoric.”
