LUCAS — The oldest active church in Richland County turns 200 this year.
To celebrate, Mt. Zion Lutheran Church in Lucas will have a bicentennial worship service led by the Rev. John F. Bradosky, Bishop of the North American Lutheran Church, on May 20 at 10:30 a.m. All current and previous pastors, members and friends of Mt. Zion are invited to join the celebration in the church’s recently renovated sanctuary.
Later this summer the celebration continues with a community event on Saturday, July 14, featuring an ice cream social from 2 to 7 p.m. and followed by a historical-themed outside worship service from 7 to 8 p.m. During the day there will be inflatables and games for children, volleyball, guided tours of the cemetery by historical caricatures, and a performance by the Fun Center Chordsmen at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
“It’s a big community celebration of 200 years since we are the oldest continually worshiping church in Richland County,” said Eric Steward, Lay Pastor of Mt Zion Lutheran Church.
As part of the celebrations, a portion of the sidewalk just outside the church building will be devoted to a history walk, which will include a large granite square inscribed with Psalm 78:4, “We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done.”
“It’s about looking forward while we’re looking back at the past,” Steward said.
In researching the church’s history, member Sheri Culler found that Mt. Zion Lutheran Church started in a home.
“There were families that had settled here and they wanted to have a church so they met in the home of Michael Shanibarger,” she said. “He opened up his house to have people come for worship, a circuit riding preacher could stop by …
“We don’t have any notes from that time, so we don’t know if they met every Sunday, but they may have.”
The church moved to a log cabin located about 120 feet south of the current church building in 1818. A large rock marks the location of this building, which is no longer standing.
Mt. Zion’s second building was constructed 90 feet south of the present-day site in 1832, with Rev. Francis Ruth as the pastor. At that time, Mt. Zion transitioned from a German Lutheran Church to an English Lutheran Church. Services originally were done in German.
A third structure was built in 1866, which was destroyed by a fire Feb. 10, 1948. On that same site, the cornerstone for the present church edifice was laid in 1948, and the church was dedicated in 1950.
The Wittenberg Synod convened at Mt. Zion in 1904, drawing hundreds of representatives of Lutheran Churches in Ohio, Steward said.
The church lost a lot of its history in 1948 because of the fire, Culler said.
One item that was saved was a communion table.
“That had been taken out of the church for some reason and stored in a building over at the cemetery while they were doing renovations,” Culler said. “That’s one of the only things that survived the fire.”
In 1936, Aaron Culler — a great uncle of Sheri’s husband — compiled a journal full of historical documents that tell some of the church’s early history, as well as the neighboring cemetery.
He included information on the Sons of Mt. Zion (men raised in the church).
Steward is a Son of Mt. Zion, and the only one who went onto become a pastor of Mt. Zion Lutheran Church. April 1, 2018 marked his one-year anniversary as pastor of the church.
