175 Years on East Indiana Avenue
Zoar Lutheran Church has stood on the corner of East Indiana Avenue in Perrysburg, Ohio, since 1875, but its story in this northwest Ohio town reaches back further. The congregation was founded in 1850 by Rev. Cronenwett to serve the growing number of German Lutheran immigrants in the Perrysburg area, and takes its name from the city of refuge to which Lot flees in the Book of Genesis. A framed church building on the present site was purchased and renovated for worship in 1875; the current brick sanctuary replaced it in 1917. Since then the building has been modified and expanded several times, the most recent major project in 1998 adding the Family Life Center, commercial kitchen, additional classrooms, and administrative offices.
Through most of the late nineteenth century, services were conducted primarily in German. The 1920s brought a final switch to English-only worship. Zoar's pastor at that time, Rev. Peter Kluepfel, was instrumental in the formation of the American Lutheran Church (ALC) in 1930. In 1938, St. Paul's in Maumee called its own full-time pastor and joined the ALC as well. A second mission congregation, Lutheran Church of the Master, was launched from Zoar in 1957, and the 1951 addition of an educational unit gave the congregation room to grow alongside the city around it.
Three Words That Shape Everything: Gather, Grow, Give
Zoar organizes its whole life around a single sentence: Amazed by God, Energized by Jesus, a Grateful Zoar Gathers, Grows, and Gives. The words appear as section headings, in the youth ministry description, and frame Sunday morning at the church.
Gather is the easy one. The church meets for worship, for fellowship, and for the smaller circles that build friendship over time. Several fellowship groups meet throughout the week, and the weekly Z-blast email keeps members posted on what is coming up. A monthly newsletter carries the same information to families with children and youth.
Grow is where Zoar invests most heavily in the next generation. Sunday school runs every week at 9:45 AM for everyone from preschool through twelfth grade. The youth ministry, led by a full-time director, gathers young people to build friendships, lead with grace, and serve the wider community. Confirmation, high-school gatherings, and intergenerational events all fit under the same heading.
Give at Zoar means time, talent, and treasure. The congregation runs an online giving portal through Vanco, maintains a separate Zoar Foundation that awards grants for new ministry ideas, and invites members to volunteer across every area of church life. Online offerings are made through the church's secure giving page.
Worship on Saturday Evening and Sunday Morning
Zoar offers three weekly worship services, all in English. Saturday evening worship is held at 6:00 PM. On Sunday, services are held at 8:30 and 11:00 AM, with the 11:00 AM service also livestreamed on YouTube for those at home or out of town. The 9:45 AM hour between services is given over to Sunday school for every age.
Worship at Zoar follows the liturgical tradition of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the denomination to which the congregation belongs. Music is central: Jacob Henry serves as Director of Music, with a focus on congregational singing and deepening connections through music. The sanctuary's stained glass windows have their own study guides, and a recorded hymn festival, Windows and Story, is available on YouTube, weaving the building's artwork into the music program.
First-time guests can expect a warm welcome, a bulletin that walks them through the service, and an atmosphere where children are valued. Sunday school registration is open for the August to July program year, and a separate registration form handles volunteers.
The Building and Its Stained Glass
The 1917 sanctuary is the heart of the church. Its stained glass windows tell biblical and historical stories that members and study groups return to year after year. Zoar publishes study guides for the windows and hosts a hymn festival built around them, treating the artwork as a teaching tool that connects art and scripture. Resources for the stained glass windows, including an Advent series study guide, are available.
The 1998 expansion added the Family Life Center, a commercial kitchen, and new classrooms. Together these spaces host Sunday school, fellowship meals, blood drives, community events, and the church's many small-group gatherings.
Youth and Children at Zoar
Children's ministry is led by Corryn Short, Director of Youth Ministries, and reaches from preschool through high school. Sunday school meets at 9:45 AM every Sunday during the program year for PreK through twelfth grade. The youth program is built around the same Gather, Grow, Give framework as the rest of the church: students gather in fellowship, grow in their own personal faith, and give to the community and world around them.
Parents register children online through a Google form each program year, which runs August 1 to July 31. A separate volunteer form invites adults into the ministry. A monthly youth newsletter keeps families posted on what is ahead, and a winter newsletter offers a longer snapshot of recent activity. Youth ministry at Zoar is intentionally intergenerational: the Kurfis Fund for Youth Ministry, administered by the Zoar Foundation, supplements the annual budget for youth programming and stimulates new ideas for Christ-centered ministry with young people.
Abundant Life: A Ministry That Grew From an Anniversary
In 1976, to mark its 125th anniversary, Zoar Lutheran launched Abundant Life, a facility that provides low-cost independent housing for senior citizens. A second apartment building was added in 2000 for the 150th anniversary. Abundant Life is part of the church's identity in Perrysburg: a long-running expression of the conviction that the congregation's ministry extends well beyond Sunday morning and into the daily lives of its older neighbors.
The Zoar Foundation
The Zoar Lutheran Church Foundation was established in 1987 and became a separate 501(c)3 non-profit in 2007. The Foundation oversees endowed funds that support and promote the charitable, educational, and religious ministries of Zoar Lutheran Church. Two general endowment funds, the Grant Endowment Fund and the Operating Endowment Fund, work alongside two restricted funds: the Kurfis Fund for Youth Ministry (established by lifelong Zoar member Philip Kurfis) and the Kazmaier Fund for Theological Education, a gift from the Robert Kazmaier estate that supports confirmed members of Zoar preparing for ordained ministry in the ELCA.
Grant applications are accepted twice a year, on March 31 and September 30. The Foundation funds outreach to the community and beyond, the development of new ministries and innovative approaches to existing ones, lay and pastoral leadership development, the bringing of Christian music and other arts to Zoar and its community, and flexible responses to congregational needs and opportunities.
Better Together: A Welcome Without Exception
Zoar is a member of Better Together: Faith Communities United for Pride, a multi-faith collaborative that supports and values the LGBTQAI+ community and shares a message of love and acceptance. The church is listed on Equality Toledo's resource guide of welcoming places of worship. The statement is plain: all people are beloved children of God, and all means all. A land acknowledgment statement recognizes the Indigenous peoples of the land that the congregation now occupies.
This welcome shapes the church's ministry as much as its theology. Staff bios name partners and chosen family alongside spouses and children, and the church participates in local Pride events with a gallery of photographs to prove it.
The Staff
Zoar is led by two pastors. Pastor Paul Reichert has served at Zoar since May 2021. He graduated from the University of Toledo and Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He and his wife Beth have three children, and the family enjoys time at Devils Lake in Michigan. Pastor Melanie Forrey joined the staff in December 2023 and celebrated her ordination at Zoar Lutheran Church in January 2024. A graduate of Luther Seminary, she moved to Perrysburg from Montana in 2022 to complete her candidacy process and serve a chaplain residency at Mercy Health St. Vincent Hospital. She and her husband Daniel have four children.
Jacob Henry is the Director of Music, leading and encouraging congregational singing and deepening connections through music. Corryn Short, a graduate of Valparaiso University, directs the youth ministry after a decade of teaching high school English. Patty Slupecki directs marketing and communications, drawing on a career that has spanned Fortune 100 companies, nonprofits, and her own marketing consulting business. Office staff include an administrative manager and a church secretary.
Reaching Out: Kitchen of Hope and the Red Cross
Beyond its walls, Zoar hosts and supports several community-facing ministries. The Kitchen of Hope serves meals on a roughly monthly schedule and welcomes volunteers. Zoar also hosts Red Cross blood drives in the Family Life Center. A Blessing of the Pets gathering is held each fall in the parking lot, with leashes and carriers requested for animal safety. Yoga for Every Body, open to members and non-members, meets periodically in the afternoon, with no sign-up required.
Getting Connected
The weekly Z-blast email and a separate monthly youth newsletter are the simplest ways to keep up with what is happening. Online giving, the livestream, a photo-sharing page, and many resources are available: a funeral planning guide, the church constitution, a new-member resource guide, the annual report, stained glass study guides, and the Better Together page. Zoar Lutheran Church, after 175 years, still gathers, grows, and gives on the same corner where the first framed church went up in 1875.