History

184 Years of Christian Community

We celebrated our 187th year of Gospel ministry February 2023.

In 1836, St. Paul’s New English Evangelical Lutheran Church of York was formed by English speaking members of Die Deutsch Lutherische Kirche, the first Lutheran Congregation west of the Susquehanna River (est. 1733). Although for 100 years, early English settlers in York had worshiped in German with their German neighbors, by 1836, some English speakers no longer felt it necessary to worship in Martin Luther’s native tongue.

Wishing to hold services in English in their own church building, a group of members organized on February 18, 1836, purchased property at King & Beaver Streets, and conducted their first service December 12, 1836 in the partially finished basement.

Another 100 years passed. A second building replaced the first. Then after a fire destroyed the second building, St. Paul’s, St. Luke’s, and Augsburg congregations merged to form the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church of today. In 1942 a beautiful new church building was dedicated at Springettsbury Avenue & George Street where it continues to welcome and serve the community.

In 2019, we completed a massive renovation making the 1942 building safer and bringing the 1942 building into the 21st Century with new heating, cooling, wiring, gathering space, Narthex, food pantry area, preschool class rooms, additional restrooms, and overall improved flow for ministry.  The Nave, Narthex, and Gathering areas are beautiful.

In faith we embarked on this project, and with God’s abiding presence we persevered and the renovations are completed and we have a beautiful state of the art building in which to gather.  We removed barriers making it possible and easier for guests and members to fully participate in all aspects of our ministry.  Our future is bright and hopeful.  We  look forward to Faith for Future Generations and our mission is to teach the world that God is love.  We do this through worship, education, witness, fellowship, and service.  Through Christ and the Holy Spirit we are called to be faithful that the Word of God may become effective in our lives and in our community.