Zion Lutheran Church - Egg Harbor City, NJ - This Old Church on Waymarking.com

According to the cornerstone, out front and obscured by overgrown shrubs, this church was built in 1867. There is German writing written on this huge datestone. It reads Evangelisch-Lutherische Zions Kirche Erbaut 1867. The original settlers of this town were from Germany so this is not entirely surprising.

There is another, smaller, white, rectangular stone beneath this large one. The second one is completely hidden from view. It reads Rebuilt 1966. From their website: It is the mission of Zion Lutheran Church to reach out and share the spirit of Jesus Christ so that all people can be in a saving relationship with Him and become responsible members of His church.

It began with a small group of people who gathered together at a place called "Excursion Hall". Seven years later they built a modest sized sanctuary as the first permanent structure for regular worship service and fellowship. The structure has been added to and altered over the past 150 years to form the church structure used today. The two sides of that first church building are still standing and still cradling those that gather to worship our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We are celebrating our long history with a special event during each month of the year in 2009, our Sesquicentennial Anniversary! (Source listed below in address field)

I also found this on a web page about the history of Egg harbor City
"In Excursion Hall there are many mansions," one could paraphrase the scripture. True to its supradenominational spirit it also sheltered the first worship of the Lutherans. The Rev. C. A. Fritze from Carlisle, Pa. preached there for the first time on November 20, 1859, and on the same day the Lutherans constituted themselves as a regular congregation, called Evangelisch-Lutherische Zionsgemeinde. A few months later they elected the Rev. Fritze as their regular pastor; a church was built in 1867. The first thirty years of the congregation were a history of schisms, factions, stormy meetings and resignations, of a tug of war between those who wanted to affiliate with the Pennsylvania Synod and those who found the Missouri Synod more inspiring. There were numerous changes in the pastorate and long shepherdless intervals in which some educated layman on Sunday morning read chapters from the Bible. 31 A period of greater stability began in the year 1889 when Zion Church eventually joined the Pennsylvania Synod. In the next decade the pastorate of the Rev. Georg von Bosse contributed much to the reorganization and consolidation of this sorely tried flock. 32 SOURCE
Address
312 Philadelphia Ave
Egg Harbor City, NJ 08215-1444
(609) 965-1813

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