County of church: Lincoln County
Location of church: US-61 & W. Outer Hwy 61, at cemetery, near Moscow Mills
Church built: 1873
Cemetery is vary active, owned and operated by the Friedens UCC Church in Moscow Mills. The cemetery was originally named "EVANGELICAL CEMETERY", and that sign is still standing.
Today the cemetery is called FRIEDENS UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST CEMETERY, and a newer sign spells that out.
The chapel here has not had regular scheduled services since 1893. It is used on rare occasions for funerals services. Mainly a monument to the past.
Marker at church site:
FRIEDENS EVANGELISCHE
KIRSCHE
This church was erected in 1873 by a congregation of German settlers who organized in 1871 on land donated by James & Mary A. Anderson. This building served as their house of worship until 1893.
Friedens United Church of Christ of Moscow Mills rededicated this chapel in 1973 as a memorial to its founders
FRIEDENS - PEACE
"Evangelischer Kirchenverein des West ens
(Evangelical Church Society of the West)
"The rise and development of religion on the Western
frontier during the early part of the nineteenth century
is invested with peculiar religious and sociological interest.
If the Christian religion was to function effectively in its
new habitat, it must meet the challenge of its unique environment in a vital and creative way. The story of the
adaptation of American denominations of the East to the
rigors of the new environment, and the rise of new religions
on the Western frontier, is filled with romantic lore and
has frequently been told.
"The story of the religious origins among the Germans in
the West, however, is not so well known. Historical interest has mainly centered about the German Churches in the
East. Many of these originated in the Colonial Period and
effected their accommodations to the life and mores of the
New World, while participating at the same time in the rise
of the new republic on American soil. The story of the German settlement in the East, therefore, belongs intrinsically
to the history of the American people. It should become
increasingly apparent, however, that the German immigration of the nineteenth century was in many respects
as significant for the later development of the West as the
pre-Revolutionary immigration was important for the East.
"The varied socio-historical aspects of the Western development should be sufficiently attractive to invite serious
study. Conditions prevailing in both Germany and America
at the time favored the rise of a Germanism which in the
isolation of the Western frontier frequently sought to further its cause independent not only of American influences
but also of contacts with the older German culture of the
East. We are here dealing with the rise of a unique Ger-
man civilization which, sometimes divided against itself,
did not begin to integrate with American culture until the
hf national crisis of the Civil War.
"In the course of this presentation two interests have been
threaded together in such a way, we hope, that each may
be served without being obtruded upon by the other. In the
first place, the attempt is made to tell the story of the rise
of the particular religious body known as the Deutscher
Evangelische Kirchenverein des Westens. This organization, which arose in the state of Missouri in 1840, later
(1866) assumed the name German Evangelical Synod of
the West and in 1877 was renamed German Evangelical
Synod of North America, by which name it was known
until 1925, when the word "German" was dropped. Finally,
in 1934, steps were taken to merge the Evangelical Synod
and the Reformed Church in the United States into the
Evangelical and Reformed Church. Thus a very definite
perspective is given to the main narrative which addresses
itself to the description of the origin and development of
the Kirchenverein. A particular interest invests its history
as we approach the centennial celebration of its origin.
Much of the fruitage of the century's growth and development cannot be comprehended without an understanding of
the traditions established in the days of the fathers. The
story of that development has already been told in the German language. Indeed, it will remain the distinction of
this work to have been preceded by the pioneer history of
Albert Muecke and the more interpretative work of Hugo
Kamphausen. Both were written, however, before a wealth
of hitherto unknown source material in both American and
European archives was discovered." ~ Full Text of: The German Church on the American Froniter: