This photo shows the Zion Lutheran Church in Ashley, North Dakota, a large brick church with a steep, modern A-frame sanctuary roof. To the right, a tall bell tower with an open arch and a cross at the top rises prominently above the entrance. The church’s side structure includes rectangular windows with diamond-patterned glass, adding a traditional touch. Snow covers the ground around the building, highlighting its presence as a central place of worship in the community.

The beginning of the Zion Lutheran Church seems to have been a slow process, as most beginnings are, and Zion is no exception. Around the year 1885 Reverend Friedrich Preu of Aberdeen South Dakota made an extensive trip in McIntosh County. On that trip he found a group of Lutherans who were lowering the remains of a child into the grave. One can imagine how thankful they felt when a Lutheran minister stopped and conducted the service and comforted the grieving family. They could not have been more grateful if an angel had appeared from the heavens. Later in the Fall of 1885 Reverend Gessendoerfer arrived and spent the winter looking up Lutheran people in McIntosh county and laid the foundation for quite a number of congregations. In the spring of 1886 a meeting was conducted under the open sky of the southeast corner of section 9, township 129, range 68. A large number of people had attended and decided to build a parsonage that spring of 1886. That was the first Lutheran parsonage and today it sits on a farm. Years later, in 1892, Reverend Brunn started preaching in Ashley. First in private homes, then in the schoolhouse, and finally when they needed more room, in the courthouse. Organization for the group took place on September 25th 1903. At that meeting, it was decided to build a church, and by the next spring a building was completed at a cost of $2,200.

Nearly two decades later, the growth of the congregation made it imperative to provide more room in the house of worship, and after several meetings it was finally decided to construct a brick building. Work on the new church was started in the Fall of 1921 and finished in the spring of 1922.

In 1953, the church was completely renovated inside. In 1988, a merger of three Lutheran churches formed the ELCA. Those churches were The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches, and the Lutheran Church in America. The ELCA is a church that continues to share a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.

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