Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church Cemetery - Swiss, MO - Worldwide Cemeteries on Waymarking.com

County of church & cemetery: Gasconade County
Location of church & cemetery: MO-19 & Swiss Church Rd., Swiss
Phone: (636) 675-9400
Pastor: Rev. Leon Pannkuk
Built: 1888
Number of Graves: 320

The brief history of the church gives a good feel of the cemetery.

A Brief History of Swiss Church
"From its inception in 1867 until 2002, Swiss Church was known as St. John’s Evangelical Church. The first church services were held in a small log shed one mile north of Swiss, and have been at the current location in Swiss since 1888. The church was founded by German immigrants to Gasconade County, as part of the German Evangelical Church, in the Reformed tradition, and continues to hold to the historic Reformed faith today.

"In 1927, the parent denomination dropped the word “German” from its title, and became the Evangelical Synod of North America. Seven years later in 1934, they joined the Reformed Church in North America, another denomination of German background. Together they formed a new body, the Evangelical and Reformed Church. In 1957 another merger took place when the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined with the General Council of Congregational Christian Churches to form the United Church of Christ (UCC). Swiss remained part of the UCC for over 40 years.

"In 1998, the church voted to leave the UCC and become independent, in an effort to maintain the Bible-centered focus upon which it was founded. In 2002, the name of the church was changed to Swiss Evangelical Reformed Church, in order to reflect the historical roots of the church dating back to the Protestant Reformation. Consistent with that history, Swiss Church today subscribes to two well-known historically Reformed confessional statements: The Westminster Confession of Faith, written in England in 1646, and the Heidelberg Catechism, written in Germany in 1563." ~ Experience Hermann