Saint John's Lutheran Church Celebrates Its 115th Year

It’s all still here.

The foundation walls of stone from 1860, memories of the original building that housed Grace Episcopal Church that stood at 216 Liberty Street and burned to the ground in 1892.

And so are the bases of the gas lamps, all posted along the pillars and never removed for fear of upsetting the structural integrity of the building. Even the piping that transported the gas to the flames are still there, albeit capped off now.  A renovation in 2010 removed years of oil and soot from the pillars.

Reverend David P. Rowold, Pastor of 115-year-old Saint John’s Lutheran Church, was born in Brooklyn but raised in Connecticut, and first arrived in the evening prior to Pentecost Sunday back in 2003. He had his first chance to visit the church personally the next morning. His reaction when opening the front doors and seeing the rich dark wood and lovely stained glass windows? “Wow!’ You wouldn’t know from the outside what it’s really like on the inside.”

“We have approximately 180 families,” says Rowold. “We host Divine Service every Sunday at 10:15 a.m., and Holy Communion is offered the second and last Sundays.”

“I love it here. The people are my family.”

Rowold, who still has family in Connecticut but now calls Bloomfield his home, is married to his once-high school sweetheart, Tricia, and the couple has a 6-year-old daughter named Sarah. “She always be ‘Daddy’s Little Girl',” he says with a smile.

Saint John’s Lutheran Church was founded back in 1896, with the first worship services being held in 1895 on the second floor of Bloomfield Avenue storefront. The congregation then moved operations to Liberty Street, and services then were held in a chapel built in what is now called Fellowship Hall. The arches and curve in the ceiling, as well as the photos of past pastors on the back was the room, are reminders of what was.

By 1901, the size of the congregation grew, and needed was a bigger structure to house the faithful. It was found roughly 50 yards down the road, at the opposite end of Austin Place, in a church building that was part of then Westminster Presbyterian Church. The building was raised on a platform, and moved (rather, pulled by horses) to its current location.

“Ironically enough," says Rowold, "the building itself predates the congregation by 26 years.”

And in an age where lack of church attendance is a challenge to pastors, Rowold puts his finger on what keeps Saint John’s Lutheran going. “It’s a family. People have moved but still come to church here. They pray for us regularly, support us financially.” He then looked around at the church. “This place – it makes its mark on the family.”

Saint John’s Lutheran Church has parishioners from Bloomfield, Belleville, Glen Ridge, Nutley, Little Falls, Bayonne and beyond. Saint John’s offers adult Bible study, as well as a Sunday school that runs from September through June.

Saint John's Lutheran Church, 216 Liberty Street, Bloomfield, (973) 429-8654, www.stjohnsbloomfield.com