A union church is made up of two congregations, who jointly own the
property, buildings, and land. In the case of Ziegels Union
Church, these two congregations are part of the United Church
of Christ (UCC) and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Basically each congregation functions as an individual unit.
Each have their own pastor and elected officers but we share
the church facilities. We both have worship services every Sunday
and alternate early (8:30 a.m.) and late (11:05 a.m.) times.
Sunday School begins at 10:00 a.m. and is for members of both
congregations. The service times switch every year on the first
Sunday in September. Union churches date back to the 1700's
when people came over from Germany. In these rural settings,
people could not afford to build churches for individual congregations,
so they decided to share a building. At one time there were
about 400 union churches. Today there are only about 40.
At Ziegels we are blessed that we not only share a building,
but we also share a collegial relationship and work together
in many areas of ministry to be as effective as possible in
being responsive to God's call.
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