Sedalia Missouri German Evangelical Church

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The German Evangelical Church of the West was formed on October 15, 1840, in Gravois, Missouri. It united the various German church denominations of Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. In 1866, the organization changed its name to the German Evangelical Synod of the West, and in 1877, it became the German Evangelical Synod of North America.

Sedalia, Missouri, had a large German community, who had migrated to the city after the Civil War. In 1875 Reverend Charles “Carl” Krafft from Warrensburg, Missouri, who represented the German Evangelical Synod of the West, visited Sedalia with the goal to establish a church for the German people living in the city. Rev. Krafft and nine other men from German families organized the Evangelical Congregation, a union of Lutheran and Reform churches on October 29, 1876. Rev. Krafft first preached in the homes located on East Main Street, then in the First Presbyterian Church. That same year, Krafft left his residence in Warrensburg to live in Sedalia. In the Spring of 1877 he opened a German Evangelical Sunday School located in the West Broadway school building.

The German Evangelical Church Congregation paid $500 to Colonel J. F. Philips to purchase a lot on the southwest corner of 320 East Main and S. Washington Streets to erect a house of worship. In 1878 members of the church, who were skilled craftsmen, constructed a 60 by 20 foot small-framed church, which included a 40 by 20 foot meeting space at a cost of $4,075. Rev. Krafft used the four rooms in the back of the church as his residence. About twenty families attended the services.

After four years, in July 1880, the Synod appointed Rev. Charles Krafft to a post as a missionary preacher to Kansas and Krafft resigned his position. In 1881, the Women’s Aid Society and A Widow’s and Orphans’ Aid were formed. The congregation grew and the congregation needed to expand. The church paid $500 to remove the walls of the parsonage in the back and enlarged the meeting space and added a front entrance hall. On May 14, 1882, the German Evangelical Church dedicated the new church. At this time, about 40 families joined the congregation and about 200 children attended Sunday school. In 1890, the Young People’s Society was organized.

Plans to relocate the church began in 1892 due to the noise of trains disrupting services and the increasingly commercialization on E. Main Street. On May 8, 1895, the church purchased a lot at the corner of 418 W. 4th and S. Vermont Streets. The next year, a $10,000-14,000 new brick and stone structure was built that included stained glass memorial windows set in Gothic arch frames. On September 27, 1896, the new Immanuel Evangelical church was dedicated with a procession led by Rev. William Meyer, prayers, and the architect T. W. Bast and contractor C. M. Woodward, who ceremoniously held the keys to the door.

In 1905, the first services in English services were held on Sunday evenings. By 1909, improvements were made to the new building, including the transition from gas to electric. In 1929, the $8,500 new brick church parsonage was completed. Between 1926-1935, the last German services were conducted for the older members of the congregation. During the Depression, the church began to lose support and debt was rising. In the 1940s, the Free-Will giving contributions policy was installed. By 1957, the name of the church was modified to Immanuel United Church of Christ. Complete remodeling was initiated in 1995. Today, the church congregation building is still in current use.