History:

Although St. Paul’s United Church of Christ was organized on December 15, 1890, its roots may be traced from the German immigrants who settled in the area, to events which happened many years earlier in their mother country.  The Reformation had produced two predominant strains of Protestantism:  The Lutheran Church, which followed the teachings of Martin Luther (a German Priest), and the Reformed Church, which followed the teachings of Ulrich Zwingli (a Swiss priest).  The rivalry of these two branches, together with that of the remaining Roman Catholic Church, kept Germany a quarreling and divided country.  To remedy this situation, the German Emperor decreed that the two Protestant churches would be unified into one church.   As a result of this decree, the Evangelical Church of Germany was formed in 1817.  A freedom of conscience clause permitted different theological interpretations within a united church.