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 The Cornerstone Center, 178 Bennett Avenue, New York, NY 10040 Phone/Fax: 1-212-567-5948 |
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| A friendly household of faith, we are America's oldest Lutheran Church: 345 years of faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ through the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Chartered December 6, 1664. | |
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Lutheranism in America The settlement of Lutherans in the New World preceded the coming of the Puritans to America in 1620 on the Mayflower. French Lutherans landed on American soil as early as 1564 in Florida, followed by the Danes in 1619 in the Hudson Bay. The First hundred years. 1564 - The first Lutheran colony in America settled by the French near St. Augustine, Florida 1619 - Danish vessels with Lutherans arrive in Hudson Bay. 1638 - The first Lutheran church building in America (Old Swedes Church) is erected at Wilmington, Delaware. 1639 - Rev. Reorus Torkillus, the first Lutheran pastor, arrives in America 1642 - Rev. John Campanius, the first Lutheran missionary to the American Indians comes to America 1646 - Rev. Campanius translates Luther's Small Catechism in the language of the American Indians; the first book that was translated in an American dialect. 1648 - Lutherans banded together to form the Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession of Faith on the island of Manhattan, but were prevented from conducting public worship due to persecution from the Dutch colonizers, which led to underground meetings 1657 John Ernst Gutwasser, the first Lutheran pastor to Dutch Lutherans in Manhattan arrives in July; was deported back to Holland in 1659. 1664 - British Governor, Richard Nicolls, grants historic Charter to the Congregation of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession of Faith after the British conquest over the Dutch colonizers in June of that year. ...more to follow
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© 2007 Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew A congregation of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod |
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