Two Sunday Services in the Heart of New Baden
Zion United Church of Christ meets on North Railway Street in New Baden, Illinois, a small town in Clinton County just east of St. Louis. The congregation runs two Sunday worship services most of the year, at 8:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., alongside a wide network of community ministries run through its Giving Tree committee, including a food pantry, clothing pantry, monthly food distribution, and a free monthly community dinner called Everyone's Table.
Both Sunday services are streamed live on the church's YouTube channel, and recordings of recent sermons preached by Rev. Stephen Stark are posted for anyone who wants to listen back. Weekly bulletins are available online as PDFs, and an online giving page through Vanco accepts donations to the church, to specific groups, or to special offerings. From Memorial Day through Labor Day, the schedule shifts to one combined service at 9:00 a.m., and communion is served every Sunday during the summer months.
From an 1898 Cornerstone to a 2015 Building
Zion's roots in New Baden go back further than the church building itself. In 1895, on the first Sunday after Easter, a member of a Trenton church named Christ Trost started an Evangelical Sunday School in a room of the New Baden public school, gathering about fifty interested families. Early names in that Sunday School included the Hertensteins, the Butzows, the Muellers, and the Schumachers.
The Sunday School grew quickly enough that the group decided to organize a church. On September 25, 1898, the cornerstone was laid for the "German Evangelical Zion Church of New Baden," and the original building site was purchased for $85. The early decades of Zion included a dramatic event on March 2, 1950, when a fire that began near the chimney during a Women's Guild meeting spread up through the church and out the steeple. Fire departments from New Baden, Mascoutah, and Trenton responded, and while most furnishings, including art glass windows installed just the year before, were saved, the organ was destroyed by water. The following Sunday the congregation worshiped with the local Methodist church.
The current building is much newer than the original. A new church was built in 2015 just a few blocks from the historic site, and the congregation now gathers there for worship, Sunday School, and the wide range of community ministries that have grown up around it.
The Giving Tree: Food, Clothing, and a Backpack Project
A committee called The Giving Tree runs the practical outreach side of Zion's life. The Food Pantry is regularly stocked by the committee, by grants, by church members, and by donors from the community and beyond. Residents of New Baden and New Memphis can apply at the church office to use the pantry monthly. From June through August, the church also runs a summer food program for families with children who need extra help during the summer months. Non-residents may be able to use the pantry under special circumstances.
The Clothing Pantry is open to the general public every Tuesday from 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. and again from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. It offers clothing, shoes, jackets, and small household items. Zion accepts donations of most clothing and household items but does not take large electronics, bedding, mattresses, or large furniture.
On the first Friday of every month, the church hosts a drive-thru food distribution beginning at 10:00 a.m., open to anyone who needs extra help with groceries or wants to save on their grocery bill. Each August, the Giving Tree Committee holds its Backpack Project, providing school supplies for students and parents who need assistance. From November into December, the Angel Tree Project places profiles of children on angels set up in the Gathering Space, and anyone in the community can pick an angel and shop for the child on the list.
Everyone's Table Community Dinner
On the second Wednesday of every month, Zion opens its doors for Everyone's Table, a free community dinner open to families and individuals, neighbors and newcomers alike. The dinner is meant for everyone, those with family and those without, the young and the old. Each month features a different menu, and the gathering is a chance to share a meal and conversation. Volunteers, contributions, and meal sponsors are always welcome, with the church office phone number as the main contact for anyone wanting to help.
Sunday School and Vacation Bible School
Between the two morning services, from 9:15 to 10:05 a.m., Zion offers Sunday School for ages three through adult. Pastor Stephen teaches the adult class, and children and youth are taught by members of the congregation using a Bible-story-based curriculum with crafts, games, and activities. Any child is welcome, and parents do not need to be church members to enroll a child.
Each summer the church runs Vacation Bible School, with registration handled online through MyVBS. Zion also partners with the New Baden Civic Center to provide a free summer lunch program for New Baden and New Memphis students, with lunches handed out from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Fridays.
The Pastors
Rev. Stephen Stark has served as Pastor of Zion since June 2020. He came to the Illinois South Conference from the Missouri Mid South Conference, earned his Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary in 2017, and was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 2018. Before ministry, he spent ten years working for AT&T. The call to youth ministry came through volunteer work at his home church, and his mentors encouraged him to apply to Eden. He has served as Youth Pastor, Associate Pastor, and now as the congregation's Solo Pastor. He and his wife Molly have two young sons, Seth and Jonah.
Rev. Elmer Bowman is Pastor Emeritus. He accepted a call to pastor Zion-St. John's in June 1971 and served alongside Zion UCC and Summerfield UCC until 1981, then continued as a supply pastor. He also served twenty years as an administrative chaplain for the Department of Corrections in Centralia, Illinois. In 2020, after fifty-three years as an ordained minister and fifty-five years in the Illinois South Conference, he was named Pastor Emeritus of Zion.
Part of the United Church of Christ
Zion belongs to the Illinois South Conference of the United Church of Christ. The congregation's own mission is to be a community of God's people who care for one another, encourage people to think for themselves, remain open to new truth God may reveal, translate faith into action, respond to the social, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual needs of each individual, and understand worship as central to life together. The wider UCC statement that frames the congregation calls the church to love God with all heart, mind, soul, and strength and to seek, in Christ's love, a just world for all.