First Lutheran Church is a Lutheran congregation in Albany, New York. Founded in 1649 as Ebenezer Lutheran Church, First Lutheran is the oldest congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America,[1] the only congregation in the ELCA to be founded while New York was under control of the Dutch,[2] and the oldest Lutheran congregation in the United States. When the congregation was founded, it was a part of the Dutch settlement of New Netherland; it later adopted German and then English in 1808 for use during worship.[2] The congregation began to use the name First Lutheran Church in 1871.
The congregation has worshipped in five different buildings; the current building has been in use since 1929.[3] In 1926, another Lutheran congregation, the Church of the Redeemer, was consolidated with First Lutheran Church. First Lutheran is currently a part of the Upstate New York Synod of the ELCA. The current pastor is the Reverend D. Lowell Chilton.
References
edit- ^ "Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Congregation Trend Report". Archived from the original on 2007-06-18. Retrieved 2007-07-17.
- ^ a b "History of First Lutheran - First Lutheran Church of Albany, New York". firstlutheranalbany.org. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
- ^ http://www.firstlutheranalbany.org/flc94hist.htm Archived October 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
External links
edit- "Lutheran Church - Albany". exhibitions.nysm.nysed.gov. Retrieved July 15, 2016.[dead link]
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