[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 110 (Monday, September 18, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




CONGRATULATORY REMARKS IN RECOGNITION OF THE 135TH ANNIVERSARY OF ZION 
                            LUTHERAN CHURCH

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                          HON. JO ANN EMERSON

                              of missouri

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 18, 2000

  Mrs. EMERSON. Mr. Speaker, today I salute Zion Lutheran Church in 
their 135th year of service to the community of Gordonville, Missouri.
  Zion Lutheran Church was organized in 1865 by a group of local 
farmers who were German immigrants. They secured their first pastor, 
Reverend Polack, who led the church through the early years. Their 
first church building was erected soon after the official organization 
of the church on August 13th. The earliest recorded minutes date back 
to 1870 where the evidence of the congregation's German heritage was 
strong. The founders often kept the church records in German or a mix 
between German and English. And why not, since the services were in 
German through the first 50 years, and the congregation was filled with 
mostly German immigrants.
  However, even a church is affected by war, and the pressure to speak 
English during World War I caused the church to adapt. Until 1920, Zion 
maintained its strong ties to the German homeland, but the congregation 
knew times were changing when its first English confirmation service 
was held. Today, services are held in English, but the church seal and 
an inscription on the church bell, still in German, remind them of 
their long and storied past. In the neighboring cemetery, many of 
Gordonville's German immigrants were buried, and their descendants 
remain members of the church to this day.
  I commend Zion Lutheran Church for its strength and longevity, and 
expect this church may be recognized sometime again in this body many 
years from now.

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