Becker’s St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Richmond Township has been celebrating it’s 150th anniversary this year. Upcoming anniversary events include a PA German Service on Sept. 10 and a Rededication Service on Nov. 20.
“The church began meeting in a school house in Molltown,” said Glenn Fegely, chair of the anniversary events. “Then they got together with the German Reformed members from the church that’s right next to ours. Matter fact the Lutherans worshiped at the German Reformed Church up until 1863 and then there was a disagreement so they had to leave. So they left and began meeting in a school house in Molltown… In 1866 the two congregations, the Reformed and the Lutherans, got together and purchased land and they started a union church. They built the union church and laid the corner stone May 27, 1866.”
Beck’s St. Peter’s Lutheran Church was then dedicated on Nov. 25, 1866.
Fegely said Becker’s St. Peter’s is no longer a union church, which he believes dissolved in 1966.
“So it’s strictly Lutheran now but for 100 years we were a union church,” he said.
Celebrating the church’s 150th anniversary has been interesting for Fegely.
“I’ve been going back through old records and finding out history and getting pictures of people from the early part of the 20th century. For me it’s been enlightening,” said Fegely. “We had church service every other week, sometimes it was in the afternoon and sometimes it was in the morning. Because the pastor back then, he may have had three or four churches.”
Becker’s St. Peter’s first pastor Rev. Jacob Wicklein was also pastor in Alsace Township.
“That’s why you didn’t have service every week. Not only that, way back in the beginning they traveled by horse and carriage so it wasn’t like 15 minutes and I’m there. It was an hour, maybe an hour and a half. That was interesting.”
Becker’s St. Peter’s started weekly Sunday services in the 1960s, “100 years after we were a congregation,” he said.
The church congregation began celebrating the 150th anniversary with events beginning in January 2016, commemorating the purchase of the land. In April they commemorated the coming together of the two congregations, the German Reformed and the Lutheran. In May they celebrated the laying of the corner stone. More recently they held a homecoming service on Aug. 28 with about 80 attendees.
There will be a PA German Service on Sept. 10 at 2 p.m. followed by refreshments. There will be an interpreter for the service. The public is invited to attend.
“I think it’s going to be interesting for the older members, older than myself, to come and partake. Because a lot of the older services, when you go back to the 1860s and 70s, even up to probably 1920, they were done in Pennsylvania German or Pennsylvania Dutch,” said Fegely, who added that they do have members who speak the Dutch dialect.
Doug Madenford, a German teacher who grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch household, organized the PA German Service.
“His grandparents speak it. His parents speak it,” he said.
The Rev. Richard Miller, in association with the Grundsow Lodge, will conduct the service in PA German.
“It’s reminiscent of the way things were 100 years ago. What’s unique about it is the younger folks, it’ll be a first time for them. It’s the first time for me,” said Fegely. “That’s how we began. We began as a German speaking, Pennsylvania Dutch speaking congregation.”
The PA German Service takes people back to the church’s roots.
“The church was founded where it is because at the bottom of the hill there was an ore mine and they would mine the ore and send it up over the hill and down into Moselem where there was a furnace. So those people who worked at the ore mine and the farming community are what formed the congregation that we have,” said Fegely.
A Rededication Service will be held on Nov. 20 at 9 a.m. in honor of the Beck’s St. Peter’s Lutheran Church being dedicated on Nov. 25, 1866. Bishop of the Northeast Pennsylvania Senate Samuel Zeiser will be in attendance at the rededication.
“We’re dedicating ourselves to the church, to hopefully its future,” said Fegely. “Churches in general are suffering a downturn in attendance and commitment. It’s tough for a country church to maintain or sustain its membership.”
The anniversary events has encouraged new members to join the 150 member congregation which he said is like an extended family, he said.
“You care about what their lives entail… You get involved in their lives. It’s kind of nice. When you mention a name, you call them by their first name. You know who they are and what their history is.”
Fegely said both services are open to the public.
