Celebrating 200 years
LANCASTER TWP — What started in 1806 as a small congregation in a township barn has evolved over the last two centuries.
From the barn to a cabin and eventually a stone church, St. John's Lutheran Stone Church, 396 Whitestown Road, is celebrating its bicentennial.
The church, which was founded in 1806 as a provisional organization, will mark its 200th anniversary with a vesper service at 7 p.m. Friday.
The service will be followed by a bonfire, food and fellowship.
Sunday, the church will have a service of Holy Eucharist at 10:30 a.m. The service will also feature a guest speaker, Bishop Donald McCoid of the Southwest Synod of Pennsylvania.
Following the service, the church is having a catered dinner.
St. John's pastor, the Rev. Bob Coval, said the bicentennial is a chance for the church to reflect on its history. Coval has pastored the church since 2005.
For the congregation of about 50, the bicentennial is a landmark event.
Claude Kniess, church council president and a member of the congregation for 60 years, said the church has been a meeting point for the community.
Generations of families, including his own, have attended the church, marrying their spouses and baptizing their children, Kniess said.
"It's just a place where families stick together from generation to generation," he said.
And since its founding 200 years ago, generations of members helped the church grow from a meeting place in a barn.
When first founded in 1806, the church held its first meetings in the barn of Conrad Beighley, who emigrated to the United States from Germany in 1754.
In 1818, the church built a log cabin for services and a school on the property off Whitestown Road.
The current structure was built in 1829 of native stone.
The 40-by-50-foot building was constructed entirely by the congregation, but its dedication was delayed by three years because of a fire that destroyed much of the church's interior.Four years later the Beighley family deeded about two acres of the property to the church. That property became the church's cemetery, where members of the Beighley family and veterans of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and the Civil War are buried.Kniess said the cemetery is an interesting part of the church — a place where members can get a sense of their ancestors and the church's history.The church also played a larger role in the area, helping with the foundation of Zion Lutheran Church in Middle Lancaster and Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Prospect, Coval said.From the church's annual strawberry festival to upcoming bicentennial celebration, Kniess said the church has been and continues to be the central point of everything in the area."It's just a thing that goes on from generation to generation,"he said.And with the growth in southwestern Butler County, Coval said the country church may soon find new congregants in the new residents, growth that would help the church continue into the future.
