JERUSALEM LUTHERAN CHURCH
Story by Barbara Russell | Photos by Shelia Scott
The congregants of Effingham's Jerusalem Lutheran Church have continuously worshiped and glorified God for 250 years. In fact, this church is the oldest continuous worshiping Lutheran congregation in America, and their church building, which was built during 1767-1769, is the oldest public used building in Georgia. The statistics are admirable, and even more so because the 250-year journey has been one of great hardships which were overcome only by the steadfastness of the faith of the little church’s congregants. Theirs has been a long and difficult journey that began in the country of Salzburg, presently known as Austria, when the Salzburgers faced religious persecution when they refused to embrace certain religious beliefs and continued to follow the teachings of Martin Luther. Their need to freely practice their faith was so strong that they willingly left their homes and began their long journey to Georgia to build a church where they could worship freely. Augsburg, Germany where St. Anna’s Lutheran Church made arrangements for them to travel by ship to Georgia. After two months at sea, the group, led by their pastor John Martin Boltzius, arrived at the port of Savannah. The Salzburgers must have thought that the most difficult part of their journey was behind them, but the joy they must have felt when General Oglethorpe led them to the site of their new home was short lived, as they soon suffered great hardships. After two years of disease, sickness, death and trying to grow crops in infertile soil, they requested to relocate their settlement. On March 3, 1736 they were allowed to move to their present site on the banks of the Savannah River. Each family was given a town lot for their home, a two-acre garden plot on the edge of the town, and a 50-acre farm further out. New Ebenezer thrived as the Christian community worked together to build a new life, a new town, and a new church. The town of New Ebenezer flourished. It was laid out similar to Savannah, and by 1741 the town’s population was twelve hundred. In Old Ebenezer the Salzburgers crops failed, but New Ebenezer was a settlement with many blessings. They were successful in agriculture, lumbering, silk culturing and raising cattle. They built the first orphanage, the first rice grist mill in Georgia, organized the first Sunday school, constructed the first church of any denomination, and the first governor of Georgia, John Adam Treutlen, was from New Ebenezer. The Jerusalem Lutheran Church was built on a high shady bluff on the Savannah River, and building it was a group effort. It was built of bricks, bricks that were made by hand from clay near the Savannah River. Women and children helped, and imprints of their fingertips can still be seen on some of the bricks that make up the walls of the church building. They carried the bricks to the building site, and women could carry several at a time, using their aprons to hold them. The church’s walls, made from the local clay, were made to endure - they are twenty-one inches thick. Some of the original panes of glass have also endured and can be seen in some of the church windows. Timber was cut from the surrounding area to use in building other parts of the church, and although the wooden floors have been covered with terrazzo, some members have pleasant memories as they recall hearing the wooden floors squeaking as they walked on them. Bells in the belfry were given by George Whitefield, the English minister who founded the Bethesda Orphanage for Boys in Savannah, and atop the belfry sits a metal swan which is a symbol of purity. New Ebenezer is a beautiful location, shady and serene with a soft river breeze. Looking at it today, one would not believe damaged beyond repair that the families did not rebuild them; instead, they built homes on their outlying farms. By 1850 there was only one house in Ebenezer. The church had also been damaged. The British had used it as a storage place, as a hospital, and finally, as a stable for the British cavalry horses. The brick floor of hand made bricks was severely damaged. The town of Ebenezer never recovered, but the Jerusalem Lutheran Church continued to stand, and it would continue to thrive although it would again face devastation during the Civil War when General Sherman, on his march to the sea, took over the church and burned the church pews and all the fences. Today the Jerusalem Lutheran Church is the oldest public building in Georgia still used for worship by the descendants of the settlers. The church has been restored beautifully, and its setting is quiet, tranquil and lovely, with shade trees and natural landscaping. It’s a perfect setting for worship and reflection. While walking the grounds, one can get a semblance of what worship in this church was like in an earlier time. John Martin Boltzius was their pastor until he died, and his statue stands in front of the church to welcome congregants and guests. Members love to talk about the ‘old timey days’ when there were hitching posts for the horses and buggies, and they got water from the artisan well that sits in front of the church. “This was the only water they had,” states a women giving a tour of the property. She pumped the long handle of the pump, and quickly fresh water was pouring out, “and they’d pump it and catch some in the palm of their hand, like this, to drink,” she said, “and they’d fill buckets for the horses.” The inside of the church looks pretty much like many other churches. It has a center aisle with pews on either side of the aisle and an altar in the front, but there is one main difference. In the middle of the church the floor there is some patchwork where there used to be a wood stove. This stove was the church’s only heat and getting the church ready for services on a cold Sunday morning took some determination and dedication. As the story goes, early on Sunday mornings a boy would make sure the church was warmed for the Sunday service. He lived several miles away, but he would get up on Sunday morning while it was still dark, mount his horse and gallop through the woods to the church where he would light the stove pipes to begin warming the building. Then he would gallop back home, get cleaned up, eat breakfast and then go back to church for the service. His efforts were greatly appreciated on those cold days! This necessary chore must have been passed on to younger boys, because they would say, “I can’t wait to feed the fire!” In those ‘old timey days’, the women and children sat on the left side of the church, and the men sat on the right side of the church, and the men had their own door on that side of the building. The men wore hats, and when inside the church, they took them off and set them on the bench beside them. If the church was crowded, they put their hats on the floor. The choir sat in two different sections in the front of the church. The adult choir sat on the left section, and the youth choir sat on the right. The youth choir section was called ‘Amen Corner’. “We had Kool-aid and cookies in Bible school,” I was told, and before the adjacent Sunday school building was built, Sunday school classes were held in different areas inside the church building. One class met under the belfry. Once a year, when the weather was nice, congregants would pack baskets of food to be shared after the church service. “We had a long, very long table that we would eat at,” I was told. “When I was a child it seemed like it was a mile long, but it was probably about 50 feet long. I miss that table. The adults ate first while the children played, and they’d tell the children, ‘Do not run! Do not run in the church!’ The children would eat after the adults were finished, and there would be another church service.” “There was a long row of outhouses over there,” I was told. “There were four, or six, but they were just for the women.” “Where were the outhouses for the men?” I asked.
“Oh, they just went across the street in the bushes!” Electricity was added to the church in the 1940’s, as were other modern conveniences, but great care has been taken to restore the building with authenticity. One can walk through the grounds, visit the church and step back in time.
There is no doubt that the members of Jerusalem Lutheran Church will continue to stand firm in their faith in the place that God has chosen for them to worship. They are a very welcoming church, and they invite everyone to celebrate their 250th anniversary with them.
This church stood…. even when it was occupied by soldiers. This church stood…. even when the congregants were forced to worship in other places. This church stood…. even when its town was destroyed.
Come Celebrate the 250TH ANNIVERSARY of the oldest public use building in Georgia
Jerusalem Lutheran Church was completed in 1769 and has been in continuous use as a Lutheran congregation. REFORMATION SUNDAY October 27, 2019 Worship Service at 11:00 a.m. with Lutheran Bishop Kevin Strickland preaching.
AUTHENTIC GERMAN MEAL Following the service $15 Ticket Required
