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With overturned spadefuls of dirt, St. Jacobs Lutheran Church marked its future home Sunday on a hilltop in Codorus Township.
It symbolized a beginning but also an ending -- the impending breakup of the 254-year-old relationship between St. Jacobs Lutheran and St. Jacob's (Stone) United Church of Christ.
Collectively, the congregations are known as St. Jacob's (Stone) Church -- one of the last union churches in York County. The other is St. Paul's "Dubs" Church in Manheim Township.
About 40 members gathered Sunday on a 9-acre property across from Friendship Elementary School to ask God's blessing. They plan to build a 10,000-square-foot church on Sticks Road by next summer.
"May this be a place where your glory dwells," prayed Bishop B. Penrose Hoover, leader of the regional synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The breakup isn't mutual. The Lutherans would like the UCC congregation to buy out their share of the property. Negotiations are ongoing, members said.
"Quite frankly, we don't have the money," said the Rev. Jason Leader, pastor of St. Jacob's (Stone) UCC. "With hard economic times, it's tough to handle."
Leader said he's sorry to see the Lutherans go. The congregations maintain a joint Sunday school and often worshipped together at holidays and other joint events, he said.
The Lutherans voted to leave in 2004. It took several years to find land with the visibility the congregation wanted and the features required by the township, said the Rev. Paula Murray, pastor of St. Jacobs Lutheran.
The congregation hopes a modern building and new location will attract younger families and allow them to launch new ministries. The $2.2 million project will be financed by a mortgage, bond program and more than $300,000 already pledged by members, she said.
While the union made sense generations ago, it's no longer a good fit, she said. The congregations have different visions for ministry and often lack the space or freedom to execute them, Murray said.
"We're hoping this move frees both congregations to rethink their ministries and more effectively work on God's behalf," she said.
Timeline
1756: St. Jacob's "Stone" Church begins as a German-speaking school and develops into a two-congregation church for Lutheran and Reformed (now United Church of Christ) with a shared Sunday school. The churches hold services on alternating Sundays -- Lutheran one week, Reformed the next.
1789: The log building is too small, so the congregations construct one of stone. The church becomes known as Stone Church, even after 1855 when a larger, brick church is built.
1889: Lightning strikes the church, and the damage is severe. The church rebuilds, using brick and brownstone.
1950: The church digs a basement to make room for Sunday school classrooms and bathrooms.
1954: The Lutheran congregation discusses dissolving the union, but shelves the idea when too few people support it.
1989: The churches decide to hold services each week, alternating worship times between 7:45 a.m. one week and 10:15 a.m. the next. Sunday school is still combined at 9 a.m.
June 2004: 79 percent of the Lutheran congregation votes to leave Stone Church because of declining attendance.
Sept. 19, 2004: 67 percent of the Lutheran congregation votes to leave, confirming the June vote and following the synod's recommended guidelines of two votes separated by 90 days.
2006: The congregations mark the 250th anniversary of St. Jacob's "Stone" Church.
2007-08: The Lutheran congregation purchases land off Sticks Road across from Friendship Elementary School in Codorus Township.
Oct. 25, 2009: The Lutherans break ground for the new church building.
Source: St. Jacob's "Stone" Church
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St. Jacob's (Stone) United Church of Christ
