MAHANOY CITY - Christ Lutheran Church in Mahanoy City will celebrate its 150th anniversary on Sunday as it continues its Christian mission in this northern Schuylkill County borough.
One of the oldest faith communities in the borough, the church's founding goes back to Civil War times and the time of the incorporation of Mahanoy City as a borough.
Church members will mark the anniversary at 2 p.m. Sunday at a worship service celebrated by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Zeiser, bishop of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evanglical Lutheran Church in America. The bishop will also deliver the homily. After the service, there will be a reception in the hall. The church is located at Main and Mahanoy streets.
According to the Rev. Fred T. Crawford, pastor, there were several years available that the parish could have considered as its sesquicentennial.
"We could have chosen a number of dates to designate as our parish founding. It could have been celebrated in 2013 or 2014 or 2015 using various occasions as the 'founding event,' " he said.
Crawford explained that a handful of German Lutheran Christians in Mahanoy City began meeting in 1863 with a visiting pastor from the Tamaqua area.
The 100th anniversary book states in its history, "Immigrants, who had come to this country from Europe, were also drawn here (Mahanoy City) by the availability of work in mining the veins of anthracite coal. Among those new settlers were folk who had been accustomed to worshiping God in the form and manner of the Lutheran Church, and they were drawn together by a desire to make their new home a better place in which to live by the friendships and sociability to be gained by living and worshiping together as organized Christians."
"They met in various venues, including the Presbyterian Church," Crawford said. "When it was time to discuss building a church, the initial thought was to build a Union Church in which the German Lutheran and the German Reformed Christians would build and share a single building, but those plans fell through. Eventually, the Lutherans did build at its present location and held its first Eucharist in the partially finished building in March 1864. The building was formally dedicated in May of 1864. In May of 1865 the congregation was formally incorporated and received a charter of incorporation from the county court in July of 1865.
"However, because of differing opinions between German and English factions, the congregation struggled financially to the point that the building was put up for sheriff's sale," he said. "Fortunately, several members provided the funds to keep the building in the hands of the congregation."
Crawford has been pastor of the Mahanoy City church twice. The first time he served as pastor was from 1973 to 1992, when he became pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Tamaqua. He served there for 14 years until his "official" retirement in 2006.
"The bishop sent me back here 'part-time,' " Crawford said. "I've been here ever since. It works for me and for them. When I came back, I told the congregation that it was good news and bad news. The good news is that I know everybody. The bad news is that I know everybody."
Crawford said there are 175 families registered as members, and on a regular Sunday, there are about 45 in attendance at the worship service.
Crawford said Mahanoy City at three Lutheran churches in the past, with the current parish the only one remaining.
"As it was so often true in the 1860s when the immigrants came, there was a struggle from the get-go," he said. "There were those who were German-speaking and wanted to maintain German traditions and the high-German liturgy, and then those who wanted their kids taught in English and were more involved with the revival movement. Lutheran Christians got divided between high-church and low-church Lutheran. We're the German church. At one time there were three Lutheran churches. We had the church here, St. John English Lutheran Church, which broke off from here, and then we had Holy Emmanuel Slovak Lutheran Church. After the Reformation, there was a substantial Lutheran population in Slovakia. It was at Spruce and Catawissa streets and is now a private home."
When asked about how he would describe the people of the church, he said "faithful" would be a good word.
"This is a faithful congregation," he said. "We have a faithful core who have been part of the congregation for most of their lives. A lot of people have been lifelong members."
Clyde "Champ" Holman, 62, of Barnesville, is one of those lifelong members.
"I was baptized and raised here," Holman said after the service. "The anniversary is a milestone in our area. In the northern anthracite region, we have the loss of people who have passed on and young people not sticking around. Mahanoy City had 7,000 people and now has about 4,800. As those numbers dwindle, so did the church numbers."
Holman said that as he was growing up, the church was an important part.
"The church sponsored the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts when I was younger. There was the church school and catechism and other things revolved around the church," Holman said. "I lector now and help with communion. I'm also president of council now. I've served on and off on council for 30-some years."
"From what I've seen, and if you talk to anyone, Pastor Crawford is truly a pillar in watching over his flock and being one of those people who believe in really aiding people under God's care," Holman said. "He's been respected through the entire synod in the Lutheran Church, and also has been friends with many of the Catholic priests here. They sometime refer to him as 'Father Crawford.' He's well respected."
Holman said he hopes that Christ Lutheran Church will have many more anniversaries.
"In just at my time here, I've seen so many churches closed," he said. "There were so many Catholic churches in Mahanoy City combined into one. I remember all the Catholic schools. We have a number of Protestant churches that are down to just a handful of people, and a number of them have closed. We see this throughout the country. Where is religion going and where are we going with our faith and Sunday worship. Christ Lutheran Church has been a pillar in our community and we hope that it remains so in future years."