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 BRIEF HISTORY AND STORY OF EMANUEL UCC 

Emanuel United Church of Christ was founded in 1861 by German Reformed immigrants who settled in  the highly-industrialized neighborhood of Bridesburg. Perhaps Emanuel Church’s most visible contribution to both our denomination and the southeastern Pennsylvania region came early in the  church’s history, when, in 1863, the Rev. Emanuel Boehringer founded a children’s home for children  orphaned by the Civil War. That orphanage, originally founded in Bridesburg under the name “Orphans Home of the Shepherd of the Lambs”, moved to Womeldorf in 1867, and continues to serve at-risk  youth under the name of Bethany Children’s Home (bethanyhome.org). Emanuel Church continues to  maintain a friendly relationship with Bethany Children’s Home today, including occasional speakers from  Bethany on Emanuel’s Anniversary Sunday. 

Since then, Emanuel Church has continued to serve the residents of Bridesburg and the surrounding  region. Services were held exclusively in German until the early 1920’s, when the first English services  were introduced alongside the continuing German services. German services were discontinued in the  1940’s. The Bridesburg Council of Churches, a neighborhood ecumenical ministerium, was founded in  the 1950’s, and Emanuel Church was a founding member. Emanuel continues to partner with two  United Methodist congregations – the remaining congregations of the Bridesburg Council - to support a  food and clothing cupboard that serves roughly 120 families each week. The Bridesburg Council also  sponsors midweek Lenten services and an annual Concert for Hunger. Our congregation is also a  member of POWER, a multiracial, multifaith coalition advocating for social justice in the greater  Philadelphia region. For several years between 2018 – 2022, Emanuel Church reached out to the  homeless in neighborhoods near our church, including the encampment at Kensington & Allegheny) with sandwiches, water, and refreshments.

Emanuel Church continues to preach the Gospel in the midst of changing circumstances. We publish a  monthly newsletter that goes out not only to our own members, but to a diaspora of families across the  country who have family connections to our cemetery. In March, 2020, in response to the COVID  pandemic, Emanuel began to offer our first virtual worship services on Facebook Live, with the services  being cross-posted to YouTube. Since the height of the pandemic, we have continued to offer hybrid  services with both on-site and livestreamed worship. These livestreamed services have been a lifeline  for our homebound members and families, and also reach a number of non-member families in  Bridesburg and surrounding neighborhoods . In addition, and entirely by accident (or providence), the  Facebook livestreams opened up a modest mission field that has included viewers in Haiti, several  African countries, a Palestinian refugee in Norway, and a congregation in the Andhra Pradesh state in  India. We pray for God’s continued blessing and guidance in our ministry at Emanuel Church