460 Bethania Rural Hall Rd., Rural Hall, NC 27045, US
The History of Nazareth Lutheran Church
Revision 1.3
Written by Mrs. Jack Anderson in 1976 for the Bicentennial /Rev 1.1
Update added by Jason Bodenhamer in 2007/Rev. 1.2
Update added by Jason Bodenhamer in 2017/Rev. 1.3
The history of Nazareth Lutheran Church, “Old Deutsche Meeting House”, had it’s beginnings in the land of Martin Luther. The early settlers who came to this area were not adventurers but God-fearing folk who were escaping from intolerable conditions in their homeland. They were not allowed religious freedom, and for this reason many came from the Palatinate (the Rhine country near Heidelberg) area of Germany in the mid 1770’s.
The first Lutherans from this same area came to North Carolina with Baron Christopher De Graffenreid leaving Europe in 1710 and arriving in the New Bern area in 1712. From there they moved up the Cape Fear River westward. A North Carolina historian R.D.W. Connors states that the first Lutheran Church in North Carolina was begun in 1745, which was a year after deeds began to be recorded to the emigrants by the Lord Granville heirs.
We know that the first Lutherans in the New World came as early as 1680, and some settled in Pennsylvania. They began to hear of cheaper land and fine climate in North Carolina. Many began following the old wagon road that began in Berks County, Pennsylvania, crossed into Maryland and into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, and extended across the Dan River to the afore mentioned land in North Carolina belonging to the Granville heirs. In the library of Congress at Washington is an old map by Fry and Jefferson, dated 1751, which is of this route.
By 1750 there are definite records, deed and cemetery stones of names of these early settlers in our church area. Some of the names are Styers, Stultz, Kiser, Keiger, Speas, Kapp, Bitting, Schorr, Bostic, Zimmerman and others still here today. We know, mainly from oral history and some few family records, that the first services for Lutherans were held in the homes of those of this faith. Later there are proven stories by those who attended of some of the first services at the site of the present church, being held in a brush arbor. These earliest services were held by dedicated laymen who brought with them their Bibles, Hymnals and catechisms.
By the year 1771 R.D.W. Connor, historian, estimates there were 10,000 Lutherans in North Carolina. In 1733, North Carolina had only eleven counties under George II, who had brought back the Carolina Province from the Lord’s Proprietors except for Lord Granville’s part. In 1770, our church area, which had been part of the large county of Rowan, became Surry County, in 1789 it became Stokes, and in 1849 it became Forsyth. By the year 1770 the Lutherans in this area saw the need for a permanent house of worship. They had also, at this time, been deeded a tract of land by Adam Geiger and Jacob Petree. Alex Martin was Governor of North Carolina. This land bordered on Beaver Dam Creek to Fessler’s line, says an old deed. Our church, in some old historical writings, is referred to as Beaver Dam Church or Fessler’s Church. The first house of worship built was a log structure and the early Lutherans worshipped and received school instruction. This building stood for 94 years before it was moved across the road at approximately the site of the present parsonage. Mrs. Addi Styers Anderson could tell of attending her first school session at this building. This group under the Reverend W.A. Lutz built a brick church, 35’ X 45’ in 1878. The first contribution given to buy the brick for this church was 5 cents by Emile Beck, according to our oldest, existing church record book.
It was very difficult to obtain Pastors for the scattered Lutheran church in piedmont North Carolina. In 1772 Christopher Rintlemann and Christopher Lyerly were sent from Old Organ Church near Salisbury back to Germany to secure a pastor and school teacher to help with these young churches. With the aid of Dr. John Casper Velthusen of the Julius Charles University at Helmstaedt, they came back with the Reverend Adolphus Nussmann and John Gottfried Arends. Arends, the teacher, was also ordained to preach. From the Saisbury area, then called Trading Ford, they rode horse back once a month to minister to this congregation.
Records of Adolphus Nussmann and his work were still in existence until being destroyed by the bombings of Germany in World War II. The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol VII, January and April, 1930, and Vol XX, 1943, contains a sketch of records from these North Carolina pastors to the Helmstaedt Society. The originals from which these sketches came are in the Harvard College Library. Besides Nussmann and Arends, who were our first pastors, there are complete records in the diary of Carl Augustus G Storch, who was one of our first five pastors.
These first five men all served our church while covering the area from what is now Rowan and Cabarrus Counties to Stokes and Forsyth. Their names are Adolphus Nussmann, 1774-1787; John Gottfried Arends, 1787-1788; Arnold Roschen, 1788-1789; Christian Eberhard Bernhardt, 1788-1789; and Carl Augustus G. Storch, 1789-1781.
Our church was served in these early days by the first Lutheran pastor born in America, the Reverend Paul Henkle. He was the great grandson of the Reverend Gerhard Henkel, who was one of the pioneers of our faith arriving in 1718. Nazareth, according to Bernheim’s History and the Moravian Record in North Carolina, Vol VIII, 1823-1837, had one or the first, if not very first, Sunday Church Schools in North Carolina. According to the first minutes of Synod in North Carolina, which was held in the year 1803, our congregation, called Nazareth at that time, had two delegates at this organization of the North Carolina Synod. Their names were Noll and Vogler. Another early mention of this congregation being referred to as Nazareth is in Vol VIII of the Moravian Record of North Carolina, 1823-1837. This church has served under English, Confederate States, as well as United States Government.
As you enter the double red doors, a Lutheran symbol from Europe, and look up, you can see the indentation of a cross. This cross was placed in the bricks at the time of erection because these early Lutherans believed God had surely been their help in this venture. Our cemetery is a silent tribute to the debt this community owes to these early pioneers. To those who served so faithfully and to all who have followed we owe a sincere “Thank You” for over 200 years of preserving our precious heritage.
The first addition to our present building was erected in 1934 when Reverend Walter N Yount was pastor. This addition contained Sunday school rooms. Improved lighting and pews and colored glass windows were added later in his ministry. The new education building was erected under the guidance of Dr. B.E. Petrea, who served our church from 1949-1955. In 1951, the Young Adult Class sponsored a memorial fund to buy an organ as a memorial tribute to Mrs. Irma Fulk Griffin. In 1959, while the Reverend E.K. Bodie was pastor, the interior of our sanctuary was remodeled. The North Carolina church architect supervised the project. These improvements consisted of new carpet, new lighting fixtures, enclosing the choir, and a new ceiling. Our first red dossal was installed at this time. This dossal was used until it was replaced in 1975 by a memorial gift of another very beautiful dossal which was given by the Brewer Family. Also in 1959, the advisory committee for the Historical Markers approved the following inscription for a historical marker for the church:
Nazareth Church
Lutheran. Organized about 1778
by German settlers. Formerly
called “Old Dutch Meeting House.”
Present Building, 1878.
In 1967, Mr. Charles Gentry, a member of Nazareth, designed and built the beautiful stained glass window depicting the life of Christ. In the early 1980s, a beautiful 5 rank pipe organ was made possible by memorial gifts and generous gifts of Nazareth’s members and built by Mr. Norman Ryan.
In 1984, while on vacation in Pennsylvania, our pastor died saddened with a massive heart attack. Pastor Musser White was with his family and decided to retire to bed early that night because he wasn’t feeling good. Later his daughter found him on the floor in his bedroom. The news shocked the entire congregation but everyone held tight to each other during this time of grief.
A new education wing and fellowship hall was added onto the church which contained 6 new Sunday school rooms, including a nursery, both a men’s and a women’s bathroom, pastor’s office, and a full kitchen. This addition was finished right before the fire.
In 1985 lightning struck a metal power pole on the back side of the church and started a fire in the Sunday school/choir section of the church. Lena Bodenhamer remembered seeing flames shooting out from behind the sanctuary from her driveway down hwy 65. It was another tragic event in the life of the church but again the congregation held tight to each other and their faith. The fire occurred on a Saturday night but worship was still held the next day in the Hayworth-Miller Funeral Home. The back section that contained the choir room and two Sunday school classes was completely burned but the thick walls of the Sanctuary saved it from fire damage. The wooden alter was a pile of ashes on the slate plated alter step. The new pipe organ had heat damage but did not burn up. Norman Ryan would take the organ in for repairs. The Christ figure in the back of the church had his right arm turned in the down position from the heat. The stained glass windows survived. The other Sunday school area only suffered smoke and heat damage. The fire detector’s plastic casings had melting into a pile of plastic on the floor. The basement also suffered the same damage. The local fire departments heroic acts saved our church from being completely destroyed. The church later had “soot cleaning” days. These days were set up to clean chairs, pews, hymnbooks, dishes, floors, walls, tables, and anything else soot settled on.
A new choir room was built in place of the destroyed Sunday school room section. Also added to the church grounds in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a paved parking lot and a brand new picnic shelter.
Our church shared a full-time pastor with Shiloh Lutheran church for a few years while each church was unable to afford a full-time pastor independently. Pastor Michael Weaver (1999) and Pastor Bill Andrews (2001-2004) served in this position. After Pastor Andrews left, both churches agreed to seek new pastors independently.
In 2002, local bluegrass musicians moved a weekly music session to our church while their current building was under renovation. They enjoyed our church so much they ended up keeping the event at our church. Huge crowds of more than 100 people visited our church every week for this. Due to time issues for the musicians, the event was changed to be monthly instead of weekly so attendance decreased but the fun did not. Our church was known for the picking and grinning on the first Thursday night of each month throughout the community. The night was changed to the first Tuesday night in 2009.
In 2015 one of the centuries old oak trees in the front of the church was struck by lightning and eventually had to be taken down due to large chucks of bark falling off of the trunk. More than 80% of the tree was dead and most experts thought the remaining living sections of the tree would die as well. Ideas of what to do with the stump are in the works but most have some form of “displaying a cross” involved with them. A cross was made of cedar posts from Jason Bodenhamer’s farm and erected right before Palm Sunday 2017.
Due to changes within the ELCA and the lack of pastors looking for a call from a small church, a movement to disaffiliate from the ELCA began in 2016. Alternative church bodies were sought out and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC) was considered. In keeping up with Roger Hull, a former pastoral intern of the church, and his professional advances, we found out he was encouraged by the ELCA to inquire about being ordained by this alternative Lutheran church body. He found out that he could, in fact, enter the process to be ordained by the NALC. We (the church council) told him we were interested in what, if anything, they could do for us. After being invited by Roger to visit Grace Lutheran Church one Sunday afternoon for an outdoor service, where the district leadership of the NALC would be in attendance, several council members decided to attend. We got to meet the Dean of the Carolinas district, Rev. Nathan Yoder, and other area pastors and briefly explain the issues and concerns we had with the ELCA and our long-term vision for Nazareth. We setup a meeting with them for council to discuss what options they could offer us moving forward. We also wondered what changes would take place IF we decided to leave the ELCA and join the NALC. After learning there would be no major changes with the switch, council decided to pray about this and research this option further.
After praying about this and weighing all other options, the council of Nazareth Lutheran church voted unanimously to hold an informative meeting for the congregation to see what the whole church wanted to do. We held the meeting on August 14, 2016 and had 37 for worship and 33 stayed for the meeting. The council showed the progression over the last several months and invited numerous questions and suggestions from the congregation. Issues came up that were not expected and people began to build a community of faith as views were expressed. Feelings were shared and a new hope developed during the meeting. Everyone who was in attendance that day can attest to the spirit that developed in that room, so much in fact, the entire church went out to eat together. What a memorable day for the church. Council also presented its recommendation that we seek to start the official process to leave the ELCA and join the NALC. There was a motion to start the process from the floor, and a second. The vote, by show of hands, was unanimous.
On September 18, 2016 Nazareth Lutheran church voted on two resolutions: one to disaffiliate from the ELCA and the other to join the NALC. Both passed. On December 18, 2016 Nazareth Lutheran church, in the presence of the ELCA Bishop, Tim Smith, voted on a second resolution to disaffiliate from the ELCA. This was the second vote (proper disaffiliation requires two votes no less than 90 days apart) to pass. The ELCA chapter in Nazareth’s long history was over and a new, brighter, future was about to start.
When the first vote occurred in September council decided to start getting supply pastors from the NALC instead of the ELCA. The first was Rev. Mark Ryman, which had been helping another newly formed NALC church, Grace Lutheran Church, in Advance, NC. Roger Hull also joined us to helped us during our time in transition. During this time Rev. Ryman was called to be the pastor at Grace Lutheran. This would affect how much he could help us out and so he called the council president to offer another name of a pastor that might be able to help us. The Rev. Kevin Powers was new to the area and might be interested in helping Nazareth out. His first Sunday with us was October 9, 2016. God’s fire and passion coming through Kevin was an instant hit with the congregation. He led worship 5 out of the next 8 Sundays and made a big impact on our church. A call was considered and prayed about on both sides and on January 22, 2017 Nazareth extended a call to Kevin Powers to be our pastor, which he enthusiastically accepted.
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