OLD ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA
๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ฉ๐ฑ โจ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ ๐ท๐ฒ ๐๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฉ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐
๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ 1742
We are an Evangelical Lutheran Church that is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Conference & Ministerium (ELCM). We are "Evangelical" in that we adhere to the Holy Bible as the sole basis of our beliefs and we are "Lutheran" in that we subscribe to the Lutheran Confessions. We worship in English according to ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ & ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ (1958) and in German according to ๐๐๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ซ๐ค๐ข๐ฐ๐๐ซ๐ค๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฒฬ๐ฏ ๐
๐๐ถ๐ข๐ฏ๐ซ (1957). You will have to dig deep to find our roots. The beginnings of Old Zion are in the German immigration to the American colonies along the East Coast from as early as 1690. Many of those immigrants settled in the area of Philadelphia, and some of them formed a Lutheran congregation, which grew along with the city. It proved to be very difficult at first to find a German pastor who would stay to serve the congregation for any length of time. Therefore, these German Lutherans depended on the Swedish Lutheran pastors of the former New Sweden (Nya Sverige) colony to minister to them. Thus the still existing Swedish Gloria Dei Church (Old Swedesโ Church), built 1699-1700, served also as โourโ first church building. A dramatic change occurred in 1742, when at long last there was found a German pastor willing to serve the German Lutherans in Philadelphia on a permanent basis. He was Heinrich Melchior Muehlenberg, sent out from Halle/Saale, at that time a center for Lutheran outreach and missionary activity. Pastor Muehlenberg turned out to be the right man in the right place at the right time. Under his energetic and capable leadership, the congregation flourished. Michael's Church (1743) and Zion Church (1766), as well a schoolhouse (1761, still existing). The churches gave name to the congregation, โSt. Michael's & Zion,โ but in the course of time it became known popularly as the German Lutheran Zion Church or ๐๐ข๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข โจ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ซ๐ฐ ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข, and later still โOld Zion.โ That has been our official name since 1984. From the early 1800s on, a number of daughter congregations were established throughout the Philadelphia area, a reflection of the growth of the city and a proof of the on-going influence of Muehlenberg, whose guiding maxim was always ๐ฆ๐ค๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด๐ช๐ข ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ขโโthe Church must be planted.โ In addition, these younger congregations also reflected the gradual change from German to English as the language of worship.
โMotherโ Old Zion, however, did and does retain German as one of her official service languages, which, for a church founded in pre-Revolutionary times, is unique in American Lutheranism. Not even the anti-German sentiment during two World Wars was able to muzzle our preachers. And for all her history, Old Zion has never become a mere museum of the past. Rather, we remain a living link to those who came to these shores to confess and to practice their Lutheran faith because it is that faith that we continue to proclaim today and which we hope to carry forward into the future. We now worship in a beautiful sanctuary built 1891-92โoriginally St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church (an English-speaking congregation). This is our fifth church building, but the same joyful Gospel!
