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 The St. John's congregation dates its origins to the 1742 arrival of Dr. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, the father of the Lutheran Church in America. He stopped for two days in Charleston on his way to visit the Salzburger colony at Ebenezer, Georgia. He returned a month later and spent three weeks waiting for a ship to Philadelphia during which time he held services, taught catechism to the children of the German residents, and held services with communion on Sundays.
Rev. Dr. John Bachman (1790-1874) brought a golden era to St. John's in the nineteenth century, but it ended abruptly when Charleston and St. John's were devastated by the War Between the States.
A brief period of racial enlightenment largely disappeared after the Civil War, but had made an important mark in American Christian history while it lasted. Three of the nation's most important early African-American leaders came from St. John's, and the first group of Lutherans to send an American missionary to Africa also took place within the congregation.
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Figures in St. John's History
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Christian Streit (1778 - 1780) |
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 Reverend Christian Streit was the Pastor of St. John's Lutheran Church from 1772 through 1781.
Rev. Streit was America's first military chaplain and was arrested in 1780 by the British because of his unwavering devotion to the patriot cause.
It was
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History Corner
The Old Trappe Church, also called Augustus Lutheran Church, is located in Trappe, Pennsylvania.
What is the connection between the Old Trappe Church and St. John’s Lutheran Church in Charleston, SC? In 1742, a ship carrying Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, “father of American Lutheranism,” arrived in Charles Town from Europe. He was on a mission to the Salzburgers in Georgia. Upon his return |
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