A Christian Community Reflects on 150 Years of Fellowship and Service
The Seed:
"For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
Matthew 18: 20
By 1850, immigrants had come to this edge of the wilderness for decades, carving out farms, inns and homes, making lives for themselves in the crossroads community that would later become Delmont. Many of these immigrants brought their Lutheran faith with them when they came to the area in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
Their lives were hard. They were scattered and few, and ordained clergy were few. So, for many years the men and women of this community walked eight miles to Greensburg to confess their faith in Jesus Christ and celebrate the sacraments at the Lutheran church there.
Later, with the establishment of Denmark Manor Church in 1808, four miles away in Penn Township , these settlers had a closer option. Relationships were established with the Lutheran community in Penn Township that would continue on into the 2Oth century.
But the Lutheran community in Delmont still had no church of its own.
Local histories note that Pastor Michael J. Steck of Greensburg , who traveled throughout the region, held occasional services in Delmont in the 1840s. By 1847, Steck's assistant, the Rev. John Rugan, made arrangements to use the Methodist church in Delmont for occasional services for the growing Lutheran community.
By 1849, when Pastor Michael Eyster assumed duties in Greensburg , he began helping the men and women of Delmont make plans for a church they could call their own. Finally, in 1850 as their community reached a critical mass in faith and numbers these Lutheran families joined with Reformed church members in Delmont to build a church that would house both congregations. The arrangement, known as a "union church." was common in many communities where small parishes shared facilities.
The two parishes solicited "subscriptions" from their members to cover the cost of the project and broke ground for their new church in the spring of 1850. The 40x60 foot brick building, which was dedicated on September 11, 1850 , cost $1,250.
A little over two weeks later, on September 27, 1850 , Salem Lutheran Church was formally organized. Synod histories say there were 36 members when the parish organized. Parish records note only 12 names on the church charter, all male. Confirmation and baptismal records identify the charter members' wives and children.
Salem grew quickly. Within two years, the Lutheran church recorded 22 baptisms and 20 confirmations and boasted a membership of 95. The union church at Delmont endured throughout the Civil War. As that war drew to an end, the Lutheran and Reformed parishes began planning to operate independently. In 1865, Salem Lutheran bought the Reform parish's interest in the church building for a nominal sum. Members of the Reformed Church continued to worship at Salem until the completion of their new church in 1867.
In 1868, members of the Lutheran parish, faced with the prospect of excessive repairs to their old building, opted to build a new church. On June 24, 1868 , parishioners gathered at the top of the highest hill in Delmont, on Pittsburgh Street , to celebrate groundbreaking for the construction of the church that we worship in today, a facility that is included on the National Register of Historic Places.
Evidence of the remaining ethnic character of the parish in the late 1860s is found in passing mention that sermons were offered in both German and English at the special service for the laying of the cornerstone.
The new facility, a gothic brick church, 45 x 65 feet, including a basement lecture room and Sunday School facility was completed at a cost of $6,000 and dedicated on January 17, 1870 . Once again, the leaders of the Pittsburgh Synod gathered in Delmont to dedicate the work that had begun 18 months earlier.
Over the years, the church has been renovated and remodeled several times to meet the changing needs of the parish at Delmont. The parish house was added. A two-story education building was constructed. Gardens were planted and tended. And the seed planted 150 years ago continues to grow and flourish at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church .
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September 27, l850 - ln response to a previous appointment, people of Salem and vicinity met to consider the organization of a Lutheran Church . Gasper Klingensmith was called to chair and J.B. Ament was chosen as secretary. A motion was made and passed that those who desired to unite with the congregation be requested to hand in their names. The following names were received :
Gasper Klingensmith
Jonathan Row
George Klingensmith
John Lenhart
Joseph Sherbondy
Philip M Klingensmith
John Zimmerman
D. J. Poster
Peter Earnest
Andrew Klingensmith
And rew .I: Klingensmith
Jacob Earnest
John Klingensmith
Isaac Bush
J.B. Ament
Philip Klingensmith
The following brethren were elected to the council of the church:
Elders: John Lenhart and Gasper Klingensmith
Deacons: Isaac Bush and Joseph Sherbondy
Trustees: John Zimmerman
The Charge
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have taught you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." Matthew 28:19-.20
The members of Salem launched the 15Oth anniversary observation on All Saints Sunday, November 7, 1999. Pastors Heitzenroder, Patterson and Hanks joined in a special service, complete with gifts of music and colorful banners, marking the saints that went before us and recognizing those charged with our future.
Today, we reflect back on the faith of those 36 pioneers who formed Salem 150 years ago and the gifts that have flourished in their wake. Their memory was preserved for the future earlier this year in the restoration and publication of Salem 's original 1850-1876 church registry, courtesy of Pastor Paul Miller Ruff, synod historian.
Today, as we remember them, we give thanks for the gift of community that allows us to come together for the sacrament of Holy Communion every Sunday. This gift continues to give. It allows our community to mark our faith in Jesus Christ as we celebrate baptisms, confirmations and marriages. It continues as we give thanks together for the solace of God's never ending love as we face death and look forward to life never ending in the community of Christ.
For it is coming together as a community in Jesus Christ, that allows us to reach out to the world. An examination of church records shows that has always been the way at Salem , from the early Ladies Aid Society and its support for missions to India to a touching picture of a parish-wide food and clothing drive for victims of the Korean War in the early 1950s.
Those traditions continue today in holiday efforts that have seen parishioners send off hundreds of gifts for children around the world through the Samaritan's Purse program. They live on each fall when we join the churches of the community for the annual Crop Walk to raise funds for Church World Services. They shine through when our members clock countless hours of maintenance work on our facilities and when our gifted gardeners tend the gardens that reflect the beauty of God's love in our lives.
Further outreach efforts include the parish's work in the Meals on Wheels program, community recycling and the Annual Christmas Pilgrimage, an ecumenical effort that gives an entire community pause to consider the true gift of Christmas.
We give thanks for an education program that serves young and old through Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and various Bible Study programs. And we see ourselves richly blessed with music from adult and children's choirs as well as our bell choir.
Indeed, it is hard not to count our blessings. From that small start 150 years ago, Salem has grown to include 766 baptized members, including 570 confirmed, communing members.
But, we pray that we would not be content and that, as our community continues to grow and change, the members of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church be blessed to remember the faith of our forebears, the charge of our Lord and His assurances that indeed, He is with us always.
Note: historical information on Salem compiled from various church records: the "Pittsburgh Synod Congregations,” by Earnest G. Heissenbuttel, 1959; “History of the Southern Conference of the Pittsburgh Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church ,” Rev. Wm. F. Ulery, 1903; Salem 's 10Oth Anniversary, 1950; and Salem Lutheran Church 125th Anniversary, 1976.