A brief history of and some world peace initiatives from Friedens United Church of Christ, Hegins, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, as it appeared in an article in the Citizens-Standard, Valley View, Schuylkill County, on 15 December 1982:
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Friedens United Church of Christ in Hegins began in 1801 as the German Reformed Congregation of Friedens Reformed Church. At that time, the congregation met in a log building named after Michael Kessler, was instrumental in the building’s construction.
In 1817, a log church was built near the site of the present church, and it served both the Lutheran and reformed congregations of Hegins for 57 years.
A charter was granted to the German reformed Congregation of Friedens Church on June 6, 1864, and the charter was recorded one year later. A brick church, known as Friedens Reformed and Lutheran Church, was dedicated on Christmas Day, 1874.
In 1877, then Pastor B. S. Meltzer made church history by preaching an occasional sermon in English. Until this time, all services of the church were conducted in German.
Friedens Reformed and Lutheran Churches decided to separate in 1934, and a year later the Friedens Reformed congregation received two plots of land, upon which the present church was built.
The corner stone for the new church was laid on June 21, 1936, by A. F. Geist, one of the land donors, and Harry Dosch, the mason in charge. The present church was first occupied on Easter Sunday the following year.
The Friedens U. C. C. congregation in Hegins currently has about 430 members….
The church… sponsors a youth fellowship in conjunction with Christ’s U. C. C. Church in Fountain, and is also a part of a fellowship with other area churches.
The Youth Fellowship recently took part in a “World Awareness” Thanksgiving dinner in which the dining area was separated to represent different areas of the world, and the amount of people, food, and utensils corresponded to actual conditions in different regions of the world. The fellowship is also planning a “Walk-A-Thon” next Spring, with proceeds going to C.R.O.P, a world-wide anti-hunger organization.
The church also has several choirs, including the Adult Fellowship Choir, the Melody Choir, composed of church youngsters, and the Bell-Ringer Choir, which has also performed at other area churches.
The church also has a Sunday School program with classed from nursery to adult levels, and a Confirmation Program with 13 persons enrolled.
The church is very interested in bringing the issue of world peace to the congregation and community, and Rev. Stewart said, “the issue of world peace is one we will be concentrating on in the near future.”
Rev. Stewart believes that solving world problems of peace and hunger must begin at the local level, and he lists heightening local awareness to such problems along with spiritual improvement of his congregation as goals for the church’s future.
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The photograph of the church appeared with the news article.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.