Think about Christmas 100 years ago and about a time when people did not have a pastor for their Christmas service. Archival records are always interesting in aiding our thinking. What about when those records are in Swedish and in Alabama? Such is the case for Zion Lutheran Church, which now commences its 100th Year on December 18.

         Silverhill was first developed in 1896 and Swedes from Thorsby and Fruithurst were loosely linked with the Swedes in Baldwin County. The Augustana Synod had begun ministering to the spiritual needs of Swedish Lutherans in Alabama in 1896 or 1897. This was a time of many displaced Swedes, because one Swede in five no longer lived in the homeland. Silverhill had a population of Swedish Baptists and Swedish Covenanters and Swedish Lutherans from the very beginning, denominations under the Lutheran banner in Sweden, but denominations having separate identities in America. Yet, those denominations worshiped together in the land office established by Oscar Johnson in 1896 and were undifferentiated at first.

         In our case, Evangelical Swedish Lutheran Zion Church began officially one week before Christmas in 1905. Pastors J. E. Hedberg and E. J. Werner of Thorsby had been traveling down to Silverhill on an irregular schedule. All that changed on December 18, 1905, when Sam Jacobson, Hugo Valin, Herbert Jacobson, Jonas Hammarstrom, Lina Hammarstrom, Gilbert Jacobson, Benet Johnson, P. M. Johnson, Carl Johan Swenson, Emma Kristina Swenson, Mr. and Mrs. P. W. Paulson, Lars Peterson, Tilda Peterson, Erick Ulrickson, and Mrs. Otto Anderson formed the Evangelical Swedish Lutheran Zion Church under the auspices of the Augustana Synod, Pastor H. F. H. Hartelius preceding at that first formal meeting. Those 16 charter members arranged official pastoral services once every other month, the commitment continuing until about 1908 when Pastor Hartelius would receive a call outside of Alabama.

         The general history of Baldwin County reveals that times were difficult in the early part of the last century. The young Zion congregation struggled in those times until 1913 when Pastor Swanlund from the Augustana (Home) Mission Society aggressively began developing the work in Silverhill which culminated in the building of the current historic church structure in 1915, dedicated a year later and now commemorated by the Baldwin Historic Building Plaque on Zion's exterior.

         Little could Zion's first deacon, Carl Hugo Valin, or first trustees, Jonas Hammarstrom, Oskar Johnson, and P. W. Paulson have anticipated 100 years later. All early transactions were conducted in Swedish and "Herr" Vallentin was delegated responsibility to obtain an organ for Silverhill from Chicago at that first church meeting. The only thing those early parish officers might recognize might be Swedish hymns, oil lamps, or chalk boards in our museum.

         What a celebration for Swedish Lutherans that Christmas of 1905 must have been! Finally a Lutheran Church in Baldwin County! We know that education was important to the early Swedish settlers in the area. Sunday school for this new Lutheran church started two weeks later on the first Sunday in 1906, C. H. Valin and Lina Hammarstrom teaching. The new congregation recognized Pastor H. F. H. Hartelius as the formal Augustana mission pastor for Alabama who would travel from Thorsby every other month to conduct a worship service in the public school house where the church continued to meet until 1915. Secretary Bengt Johnson and Pastor H. F. H. Hartelius each signed the Swedish minutes for that first meeting.

         The notebook and archival records of Zion Lutheran Church are preserved in our Centennial Museum by Ernest Burnett, Curator. Mr. Burnett and wife Henri Etta have donated significant time in accumulating artifacts from the first hundred years of Zion's history into a quaint museum celebrating a piece of Silverhill's history. For example, did you know how people received announcements or hymn numbers before bulletins? You can see original chalkboards in the museum. Did you know that a local artisan produced a pottery chalice for this church? Or, did you know that World War II citizen soldier pictures grace the walls of Zion along with numbers of confirmation pictures? Did you know there is a picture of church members from the 1930s with faces long forgotten? Did you know that you could look at real Swedish Psalmboken, half in Swedish and half in English? This little museum is a treasurer in itself, and Zion is celebrating its completion with the beginning of its 100th year on December 18, 2004.

         Our friends and neighbors are invited to visit Zion's new museum. To arrange a special visit, please phone (251)945-5209. Zion continues its last year of its first 100 years just as it began that first year. Worship is at 10:00 AM, preceded by Sunday School at 9:00 AM. We will have a pastor for Christmas, unlike that first year, and Pastor Dave invites all people to join us for Zion's Candlelight Service, Christmas Eve at 7:00 PM on December 24.