A Brief History of Zion Lutheran Church

Zion Lutheran Church in Hiawatha began as a Mission of the Iowa District East in 1949, and was identified simply as “The Church of the Lutheran Hour.”  A one room school house was moved to the present location to serve the needs of this new mission.

The congregation was officially organized in 1954, and was served by several vicars.  In June of 1955, Rev. Ralph Underwager was called to serve both Zion in Hiawatha and St. Paul’s in Mt. Vernon as pastor.

On October 14, 1956, ground breaking took place for a new house of worship.

The first Sunday in October of 1958, Rev. Gilbert F. Meseke was installed as the first full time resident pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.  In February of 1959, the congregation began construction on a parsonage.  This building stood in the area of our current family life center and was torn down to make room for the building program of 2000-2002.

On January 12th, 1969, Zion completed a major renovation and addition.  The sanctuary literally reversed directions and a fellowship hall, office space, kitchen, and additional classroom space were added.  Building costs were approximately $160,000.  Pastor Meseke left Zion in August of 1969.

Rev. Karl W. Hanke served the congregation for the period from 1969 until June of 1973.   During the time from 1969 until 1972, we were fortunate also to have Bob Reed with us.  At the time he served part time with the District as Director of Christian Education and part time with Zion.  His role was to help us develop our Adult Education program.

On October 14, 1973, Rev. Larry E. Brelje was installed as pastor of Zion.  As our fourth pastor, Rev. Brelje would serve the longest at Zion, serving our congregation until May 22 of 1994.  During the ministry of Pastor Brelje an important new ministry at Zion would begin.  In 1981, Little Lambs Christian Preschool began its ministry.

Little Lambs has had several directors.  Coralee Williams (1981-1991), Mabel Schmidt (1992-1997), Marcie Jedlicka (1997- 1999), and our current director Mrs. Peggy Seeber (Staff 1990-1999, director 1999 – present).   Little Lambs enrolls children ages 3-5 and continues a tradition of Zion emphasizing ministry to children as a mission tool of the church.

In October of 1994, Rev. H. Allen Krueger was installed as the fifth pastor of Zion Lutheran Church.  During his ministry, Zion formed a long range planning committee to investigate facility expansion at its July 1997 voters’ meeting.  Pastor Krueger served the congregation until August of 1997, but the congregation continued planning.

Reverend Daniel Krueger

Reverend Daniel Johnson—Assistant to the Pastor

Rev. Daniel L. Krueger has served Zion from May of 1998, with his father-in-law, Rev. Daniel Q. Johnson assisting from July 1999 to April 2011.  In March of 2000, Zion broke ground for a 2.4 million dollar expansion that was dedicated in April of 2002.

Ben Venteicher, Director of Christian Education (DCE)

In April 2010, Benjamin Venteicher was installed as the first full-time Director of Christian Education at Zion.  His role has been to develop a Small Group ministry, primarily for young adults, as well as enhancing the educational programming at Zion for all youth and children.