The history of St. Paul Church is the history of New Bremen.  The German settlers arrived in Cincinnati with the intent to find a suitable site in Ohio to form a Protestant town.  They sent out scouts to search for land and chose the present site of New Bremen.  Land was set aside for a Lutheran church in the original plat of the town.

 

The initial congregation consisted of 16 members and met for church services in a large barn on the southeast corner of North Main and First Streets.  In those early years, the congregation was too poor to support a fulltime pastor but was able to hire a minister from Piqua to conduct monthly services.

 

 The first church was a log cabin and was built in 1834 on the site set aside for the church. The first fulltime pastor was hired in 1835 and the congregation built a parsonage and added 26 pews in the church.  Dissension arose in 1845 which resulted in a split among members with the departing members forming a new congregation in New Bremen. 

 

The congregation of St. Paul grew rapidly and a new frame building was constructed in 1849.  Tragedy also struck that year with an outbreak of Cholera that took the lives of 122 persons within the church. 

 

The Sunday School was established in 1874.  A brick church building was completed in 1891 complete with colored glass windows and new folding opera chairs to replace the frame building that the congregation had outgrown.  In 1897 a disastrous fire destroyed the 1891 brick church building.  The building was rebuilt and completed the same year and stands today. 

 

The congregation became part of the Evangelical Synod of North America in 1933 and through mergers is today the St. Paul United Church of Christ.  The congregation remains committed to Christian education of youth, mission work, fellowship groups and worship services and welcomes everyone to share in the life and ministries of St. Paul United Church of Christ.