Standing tall at Queen and James streets in Lancaster, Grace Lutheran Church is a testament to the architectural brilliance of C. Emlen Urban, with its stunning Gothic facade and stained-glass windows.

“Today we are blessed to have this beautiful building as our church,” says the Rev. Stephen Verkouw, who has served as the church’s pastor since May 1995.

But the building is more than just a beautiful part of Lancaster’s architectural history — it also houses a congregation that values community, history and music.

That will all be reflected in special events planned in celebration of the church’s 150th anniversary. The church, originally founded in 1874, worships in that Urban creation at 517 N. Queen St., which was constructed and dedicated in 1908.

The community is invited to join Grace Lutheran Church for its 150th anniversary homecoming, which will be highlighted by an organ concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, April 21, by Daniel Aune of Christ Lutheran Church at Inner Harbor, Baltimore. There is no admission charge.

“Dr. Aune is nationally renowned and will present a joyous organ recital with something for everyone, from gigantic organ works and a number of short, hymn-based pieces,” says Karl Moyer, a Grace Church member, choir member and former organist/director of music.

Moyer is a retired professor of music history and organ at Millersville University, who is well known as an accomplished organist and music educator. Moyer is writing a book on the history of Grace Lutheran Church.

“Equal to the task, the three-manual Schlicker pipe organ at Grace Church provides arguably the finest place in Lancaster County to perform Bach’s famous Fantasy and Fuge in G minor,” says Moyer, adding that the recital will also feature “Humoresque: A Toccatina for Flute” by Pietro Yon and “Finale” from the Sixth Organ Symphony by Charles Marie Widor.

 

History and architecture

Moyer’s book on the history of Grace Lutheran Church details the origins of the church. Like many other Lancaster churches founded in the 19th century, the congregation that began as a mission Sunday school sponsored by Lancaster’s long-established “mother church” of Lutheranism, the Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity.

Lutheran church leaders believed it was important to offer opportunities for prayer, Bible study and faith development in the growing neighborhoods north of the square, which was then an unserved part of the city. Over the years, the steadily increasing worshipers made it necessary to move to larger quarters three times until 1872 when Trinity Church Council voted to build a church on the corner of North Queen and East James streets, which they named Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Grace Church was chartered on April 22, 1874, and served by a former assistant at Holy Trinity, the Rev. David Geissinger. The new congregation continued to expand, and in 1880, a new pastor, the Rev. C. Elvin Haupt, was called to serve Grace Church. In 1806, a larger and more beautiful church was designed by C. Emlen Urban, Lancaster’s most prolific architect, to replace “old Grace” while the congregation worshiped nearby in the neighboring Jewish synagogue, Congregation Shaarai Shomayim.

On Dec. 6, 1908, the dedication service for the stunning “new” Grace Lutheran Church was held, with baptisms and confirmation at later services that day.

Earlier this spring, Grace Lutheran Church held a special program by architect Gregory J. Scott, LNP | LancasterOnline’s Design Intervention columnist and partner emeritus of RLPS Architects. Scott explored Urban’s work in his book, “Urban Legend,” released in 2023.

Grace Lutheran is an example of Gothic architecture, constructed of deep brown sandstone. It features a prominent square tower at the corner of East James Street, with a broad gabled facade facing North Queen Street and large stained-glass windows at the entry.

Urban’s Gothic masterpiece was built on the site of an earlier brick church that dated from 1874.

When the cornerstone was laid in 1906, the Lancaster New Era described the planned building, saying, “The new Grace Church will be an imposing structure, 80 feet in width and 132 feet in depth. It is being built of Hummelstown brownstone, along exceptionally beautiful architectural lines. The church auditorium will seat 850 and the Sunday school 900. The original contract price of the edifice was $60,947, but alterations in the plans have already increased this figure. When completed and furnished, the entire structure, it is estimated, will cost $70,000 or more.”

Serving the neighborhood

Today, a congregation of some 450 members meet and worship inside Urban’s creation. Verkouw says the church is dedicated to serving not just its members, but the northern Lancaster city community at large.

The community service programs held at Grace Lutheran Church include a weekly community meal held each Wednesday for about 150 neighbors who gather at Grace for a free supper and fellowship. Grace coordinates with other congregations including Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Covenant Methodist Church, St. Peter Lutheran Church, Zion Lutheran Church and Congregation Shaarai Shomayim to provide meals each day of the week.

The church also operates Lancaster Housing and Neighborhood Development Services. In 1998, Grace Lutheran Church formed the nonprofit corporation that acquires and maintains properties near the church to implement fair and reasonable rental agreements with tenants who need low-cost housing.

“We manage and maintain apartments across the street and in a building next to the church office,” Verkouw says.

Grace Lutheran Church also provides space and maintenance at no charge for a Community Action Partnership affordable child care program. They also have an English Language Learners program that helps newcomers from all over the world learn English as they transition from their homelands to Lancaster.

‘Wholly serving’

Through its many chapters, Grace Lutheran Church has focused on four words: “Holy Worship, Wholly Serving.”

These words are the most essential, Biblical description of our ministry,” Verkouw says. “They are based in Deuteronomy 6 — ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might’ — to which Jesus adds citing Leviticus 19, ‘And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.’

“Our congregation gathers for holy worship, offering our hearts, souls, and might, and God sends us to love and serve our neighbors wholly,” Verkouw says. “This is who we are at Grace Lutheran Church. This is who God calls us to be.”

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