1870 to 1900

The Congregation and its Programs

St. Paul’s began in the Findlay community as a mission effort of the Ohio Conference of the Evangelical Association of North America.  The Annual Conference of this group, held in May of 1870, had sent a pastor, Rev. E. B. Crouse to oversee four “classes” or groups of Christians in the area.  These classes were organized as the English Mission and consisted of Findlay, Fellar’s, Porter’s and Union Chapel.

The Evangelical Association of North America was a religious group that had its roots in Pennsylvania during the colonial period and after American independence in 1776.  It was a part of a larger religious movement, sometimes called the Great Awakening.  This widespread religious revival featured dynamic preaching and emphasized individual religious experience.  The gatherings of this movement were often held in camp meeting settings.

The founder of the Evangelical Association had been Jacob Albright (1759-1808) who was from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

He was a second generation American of German ancestry who operated a tile and brick kiln.  Records show that he and his family had been part of the Lutheran Church.  Albright was known as the “honest tiler” and had a thriving tile making business.  There was a spiritual longing in his heart, however, which was unsatisfied.  One day a tragic illness struck his home and before the day was over three of his children had died.  The young father was understandably crushed with grief.  The funeral sermon for the three, preached by a converted lay preacher, stirred Albright’s heart and sent him into a time of religious struggle to find forgiveness of his sins and peace and joy in his heart. 

The struggle in Albright’s heart and life resulted in a mystical and emotional experience after which he felt a thorough change of heart.  Almost immediately he felt called to minister to the spiritual needs of his fellow German Americans in eastern Pennsylvania.  Many, like himself before his conversion, had drifted far from the practice of Christian life.  He saw hard drinking, gambling, fighting, and swearing all around him.  There were no schools for the children, no books, and no religious training for most of these people.

Albright had been expelled from the Lutheran Church probably because of the wide reporting he made of his mystical religious conversion which the Lutheran authorities were not comfortable with.  He was befriended by the English speaking Methodists.  Their plain living and joyful, shouting prayer meetings appealed to Albright.  He learned English, studied Methodist doctrine and discipline and became a licensed exhorter.  But Albright felt compelled to minister to his own German speaking brothers and sisters.  The Methodists seemed to be working mainly with English speaking people.

From 1796 to 1800 Albright preached wherever people would listen to him—in schoolhouses, market places, barns, meadows and woods.  He preached salvation to the sinner and a holy, happy life to the converted.  In 1800 Albright divided his followers into classes or small groups of Christians, as the Methodists had been doing.  This organization marked the beginning of the Evangelical Church as a denomination.  A few years later, leaders of “Albright’s people,” as they were sometimes called, adapted and translated the Methodist Book of Discipline into German and adopted it as the guiding rules for their church.

In 1870 the class in Findlay that was one of the four groups overseen by Rev. E. B. Crouse must have felt strong and hopeful because they voted in early July to build a house of worship!

Between 1870 and 1900, the St. Paul’s congregation was led by 15 different pastors.  Each pastor stayed for 2 or 3 years before being assigned to another congregation.  Early records show that some of these pastors at St. Paul’s found the work slow and discouraging.  One early pastor wrote in an annual report that he received all of his annual salary except forty dollars but would not complain because “the brethren and good sisters gave us many presents.”  Gifts of food to the pastor and family were common during those years.

This was the era of revival meetings in Protestant churches in America.  At St. Paul’s many such revival meetings were held and were often called “protracted” meetings because they were drawn out or prolonged until the Holy Spirit had completed his work of converting sinners in the area.  One protracted meeting during the pastorate of Rev. G. F. Spreng, who served from 1894-1897, lasted for 12 weeks!  So many people wanted to get inside the church during those exciting services that tickets had to be given to those entering.  The fire department would only permit 125 people to be inside the sanctuary at one time because they feared that if more were inside, they could not safely exit in case a fire broke out!  As a result, the church had to give people tickets as they entered until 125 were inside.  Others could stand outside and wait to enter when some people had exited and left their tickets with an usher.

Early membership records were carefully kept at the church.  Some notations record that members were expelled.  We don’t know all the reasons for being expelled but one notation indicated “expelled for non attendance.”

By 1900, St. Paul’s Evangelical Church was on a stable financial foundation and gaining members.  The town of Findlay had recently experienced an influx of many new folks because of the Gas Boom of the late 1800’s.  St. Paul’s became known as a church characterized by spiritual fervor.  The congregation had come a long way from its start as a mission church in 1870.  In 1900, membership totaled 230.

The Building

The first church building erected by the hopeful congregation at St. Paul’s in Findlay was located on Lot No. 137 on East Sandusky Street.  The lot had been purchased for $1,000 and a brick building was “at once erected.”  The dimensions of the brick church were 62 feet long by 38 feet wide by 20 feet high.  The building was completed and dedicated in October, 1870, at a total cost of $6,000.  In 1887 some remodeling of the building took place.  Additional remodeling happened during the conference year of 1897-98.  At that time the main entrance to the building was changed from the center to the southwest corner.  We have a picture of that early church building as it looked after the 1898 changes.

Interesting Anecdotes and Stories

We have a fascinating account of the 1895 Great Revival at St. Paul’s that has come down to us from Professor E. F. George who was a boy of 12 during that protracted meeting.  He was the youngest child of Edwin and Savilla George.  He and his family were regular attenders at St. Paul’s.

Eddie George would later become a seminary professor at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Naperville, Illinois.  As a 12 years old boy in 1895 hewas deeply moved spiritually during the Great Revival.  He wrote of his memories in an account he prepared for the 100^th Anniversary of the church in 1970.  These memories of an eye witness capture something of the spiritual power of the protracted evangelistic meetings at St. Paul’s during its early years.  Here is an excerpt from his written account:

“As the winter came on and the conventional ‘revival season’ approached, Rev. Spreng announced that our revival would start on the Sunday night after Christmas, and he strongly urged everyone to have thoroughly examined his soul, as to whether he was within the will of God.  I listened with heavy heart, for somehow my conscience told me that all was not well with me.  That night when the pastor made his altar call, I think I surprised even him by being the first one to slip out of my pew and kneel at the altar.

My experience, in the following nights—I returned to the altar each night for two weeks—would be a profound subject for research in the psychology of religious experience.  But we had no psychological analysts in those days.  My child’s soul was subjected to the treatment of devout and zealous adult counselors.  When my mother and my highly concerned sister, Rose, asked me for what I was seeking, I could only respond, ‘I want to be soundly converted.’  Well, there came to me an impressive emotional experience which temporarily convinced me that I was saved. 

The revival begun, that evening, when I first ‘went forward’ must be recognized as one of the most remarkable in our denominational history.  Seekers came to the altar every night.  The meeting extended for ten weeks.  Pastor and people were worn out and the series was discontinued for a week.  The following Sunday when our Presiding Elder was the preacher, the meeting ‘broke out’ again and continued another two weeks.  My memory of that meeting is that over 200 ‘came forward.’”

Another element of life at St. Paul’s during this period involved summer trips to Camp Linwood on Lake Erie for weeklong camps and shorter special events.  Linwood was situated along a beautiful wide white beach along Lake Erie near Huron, Ohio.  Going there made for a pleasant get-away destination for people from St. Paul’s and other Evangelical churches in the conference.  We have a picture from 1890 showing a group enjoying themselves at Linwood.