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Zion Reformed Church |
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33rd ANNIVERSARY The Reformed Church of Greenville Passes the Thirty-third Milestone A BRIEF HISTORY Of One of Our Leading Churches, Together with Illustrations of Church and Pastors The
Reformed Church of this place passed its
thirty-third milestone, Saturday, and this event was duly celebrated on
last Sunday morning. Rev. A. M.
Keifer, the pastor, preached from St. John 12:12, “Father,
glorify thy name. Then came a voice from Heaven, saying, I have both
glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The sermon was attentively
listened to by a large audience. This congregation has grown to be an
important factor in our local church world, taking a prominent part in
“every good work.” The present pastor came here on May 16, 1890. His
ministry has been successful and he is highly esteemed both in and out
of the church. The history of the church up to his pastorate is given
below. For this and for the illustrations we are indebted to the
publishers of Our Herald, in which paper they will
also appear today. On the 27th of January, 1861, in the old
building that stood where the Lutheran Church now stands, under the
leadership of Rev. Henry F. Hartman,
thirty-one persons met and organized what is now known as Zion’s
Reformed Church, Greenville. That was a trying day. Some thought there was no use and others thought it wouldn’t pay. There was no church building and most of the members were not rich in this world’s goods. Among these thirty–one persons, however, there was faith. Most of them were either members of one of the neighboring Reformed churches or had learned to love the church of the Heideleberg catechism when children in old Lehigh. The love of Christ and the church of their fathers constrained this little band to put forth a faithful and honest effort to build for themselves and their children a spiritual home. Have they succeeded? By the goodness of God seven of the
thirty-one charter members have been spared to see the congregation
grow from a mere handful until it now |
 (Click
image to
enlarge)
Rev. Henry F. Hartman
organized
the congregation and served it as pastor in connection with his work as
pastor of the Shenango charge until April 1, 1865. The excitement of
war times made the growth of the congregation during this period slow,
but a church building was purchased from the Congregationalists and a
start was made. On the 1st of April, 1865, Rev.
C. R. Dieffenbacher became missionary pastor and served
the congregation until April 1, 1878, when he became pastor of the
First Reformed church of Greensburg. During this period the
congregation grew from about 20 members to about 175 and was given a
foothold in the community. On the 29th of June, 1878, Rev. F. B. Hahn became pastor and continued as such until September 15, 1884. During this pastorate the congregation continued to grow and initial steps were taken toward building our present church building. A considerable sum was pledged toward the new church, the lot was purchased and plans were adopted. Rev. S. H. Eisenberg became pastor December 1, 1884, and continued as such until December 19, 1889. This pastorate was a successful one and is marked by two important events. The corner stone of the present building was laid July 11, 1885, and the building was dedicated September 4, 1887. Advance Argus, Greenville, PA, Thursday, February 1, 1894 p 1 (submitted by Debbie Hoffman) |
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