First Congregational Church of Etna

0 Birth of Jesus Christ
1517 October 31.  Martin Luther tacks 95 thesis on doors of Wittenberg Cathedral and then goes into hiding at Ludwig von Springer's Wartburg Castle in Eisenach ( A Mighty Fortress) to translate the bible into German.   (Four centuries earlier, Ludwig von Springer took the 13 year old Elizabeth as his wife.  After his death, his wife, St. Elizabeth, devoted her life to the creation of hospitals.)  
1534  Henry VIII becomes head of the Church of England through the "Act of Supremacy."
1592  Formation of the first Congregational Church in England.
1620 A group of Separatist Puritans lands at Plymouth in the Mayflower
1849 Etna Church founded as the Independent German United Evangelical Church.  Intended to allow the German Lutherans and the German Reformed to worship together in one congregation founded on toleration.
1880 Present Brick Church constructed at a cost of $8,032.58
1910 Church wired for electricity.  Cost: $2,378.00
1911 Christmas Eve and Christmas Day: Rev. Martin Leiseder conducts his first services at the Church.
1912 Reverend Martin Leiseder elected as Minister by a unanimous vote and begins his 55 years of service.
1916 Women given the right to serve as regular members of the Board of Elders, something never heard of before in any church government anywhere up to that time.  The first women elected were Catherine Beck and Cecelie Buehler Watson.
1923 May 20: The Church votes to associate with the Congregational Churches since they were nearly identical in organization and polity.
1924 The 75th Anniversary saw the installation of a new organ and the stained glass windows.  Additional property was acquired next to the Church.  
1925 Our church and others joined to establish the Evangelical Protestant Conference of Congregational Churches and associated with the  National Council of Congregational Churches.
1929 Church name changed to The First Congregational Church of Etna.
Mr. Charles Heusey paints and donates the two large pictures on either side of the organ pipes.
1930-31 Church devote itself to relief from the Great Depression and helps to establish the Etna Relief organization as one of the first community based organizations of its kind.
1936 The Great Flood requires the Church to transform itself into a shelter.  The following fire causes the Church to become a hospice for the seriously injured as no ambulance can reach the site.
1941-45 World War II saw Rev. Leiseder assume the post of local Civilian Defense Coordinator.
1967 March:  Rev. Martin Leiseder dies following giving his last Sunday sermon ending nearly 56 years of service as the Minister and leading the Congregation through two World Wars, The Great Depression, the Great Flood and Fire of 1936, The Korean War, and the Vietnam war.
Steeple Installed and dedicated to Reverend Martin Leiseder.

I. Resolved, that this church cannot unite with any synodical or ecclesiastical organization as long as eight members are opposed to such union.

II. Resolved, that in matters of faith and doctrine this church grants to every member the right of his own conviction.

Church Exterior in 1949

Church Exterior in 1959

Church Interior

Rev. Martin Leiseder in 1949

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