PBS mini-documentary

  Femme Osage Church was founded in 1833 by gentleman-farmer Hermann Garlichs. From 1831 through 1833, Garlichs preached in homes, barns, and bars, reaching out to the new German settlers in and around the Femme Osage Creek (French for “Creek of the Osage Woman”) [1] to establish his small congregation.  “Now and then [sic] a pious and devout German preacher would establish himself in a community, as did Hermann Garlichs at Femme Osage and St. Charles, Missouri.” [2] Originally called “Deutsche Evangelische Kirchengemeinde” (German Evangelical Parish), the congregation changed its name to “Femme Osage Deutsche Evangelische Kirche” (Femme Osage German Evangelical Church) once it was firmly established by Garlichs. The congregation would become instrumental in the organization of the “Der Deutsche Evangelische Kirchenverein des Westens” (German Evangelical Church Society of the West) in 1840, which shortly afterward organized into “The German Evangelical Synod of North America.” 

Garlichs’ congregation was part of the nineteenth-century Pietistic movement in Germany, which transplanted itself into the North American wilderness. As explained by an unnamed author for Christianity Today:  "Pietists were basically interested in the religious renewal of the individual, belief in the Bible as the unfailing guide to faith and life, a complete commitment to Christ which must be evident in the Christian’s life, the need for Christian nurture through the faithful use of appropriate devotional aids, including sermons and hymns, and finally a concern to apply the love of Christ so as to alleviate the social and cultural ills of the day." [3]

  As a Pietist, Garlichs believed in the authoritative Word of God, that God’s children are meant to have a personal relationship with the Creator, and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. These three points were rejected by the liberal, rationalistic German churches which surrounded the Femme Osage valley. As a result of theological differences, both the liberal Protestant Germans and the Catholic Germans in the Femme Osage region verbally assailed Garlichs and the young congregation. [4]  Yet, the church survived and thrived to proudly wear the moniker “The First German Evangelical Church West of the Mississippi.” [5]

  Within the first ten years of the Femme Osage congregation’s existence, Garlichs established six more evangelical congregations on the Missouri frontier: Friedens Church in St. Charles, 1834; Harmonie Church in Warrenton, 1842; St. Peter’s Church in Washington, 1844; Immanuel Church in Holstein, 1839; St. John’s Church in Cappeln, 1857; and Bethany Church in Schluersburg, 1844. [6]  

Many challenges came to the congregation from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. Garlichs moved to a congregation in New York, the pulpit continued to attract the attention of public theological debate, and the church grew from a log cabin (1833-1838) to a stone sanctuary (1838-1888) to a wooden sanctuary with stain-glass windows (1888 – present). 

  During World War I, the anti-German sentiment was high in the United States, so the congregation dropped the “German” in their name and became “Femme Osage Evangelical Church.” Despite the attacks on their Pietistic pulpit, the congregation remained faithful to the Scriptures and outlasted multiple attempts to have them close. In 1929, The German Evangelical Synod of North America, while negotiating a merger with The German Reformed Church in the United States, dropped the “German” from its name and became simply “The Evangelical Synod of North America.” Upon the successful merger with the German Reformed Church in 1934, the new denomination called itself “The Evangelical and Reformed Church (E&R Church).” [7] As a result of this merger, the congregation changed its name to “Femme Osage Evangelical and Reformed Church.” [8]

In 1957, The E&R Church merged with the Congregational Christians denomination to form the United Church of Christ (UCC). [9]  Thus, prompting once again the name change of the congregation to the “Femme Osage United Church of Christ.” [10]  In 2018, the congregation, while remaining in the UCC, joined the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congregation Christian Churches, which is not a denomination, but an affiliation including both current and former UCC congregations that are determined to uphold the biblical and traditional values of our Christian heritage.

SOURCES

[1]  Eugenia L. Harrison, “Place Names of Four River Counties in Eastern Missouri” (M.A. thesis, University of Missouri-Columbia, 1943), as quoted by St. Charles County, Ramsay Place Names File, 1928-1945; “St. Charles County,” The State Historical Society of Missouri, 2022, https://collections.shsmo.org/manuscripts/columbia/C2366/st-charles-county.

[2]  Carl E. Schneider, The German Church on the American Frontier: A Study in the Rise of Religion among the Germans of the West (St. Louis, MO: Eden Publishing House, 1939), 38.

[3]  “You’re Such a Pietist,” Christianity Today, 1986, https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/issues/issue-10/youre-such-pietist.html.

[4]  Hermann Garlich, “Article by Pastor Hermann Garlich,” Anzeiger Die Westens (Indicator of the West), May 27, 1843, 2.

[5]  “Femme Osage Church | Augusta (Femme Osage), Saint Charles County, Missouri,” St. Louis County Library, 2022, https://www.slcl.org/content/femme-osage-church-augusta-femme-osage-saint-charles-county-missouri.

[6]  “Immanuel Congregation in St. Charles Based on a Foundation by Hermann Garlichs,” Concordia Historical Institute Quarterly 77-78 (2004): 245; “Femme Osage Church.”

[7]  Schneider, The German Church on the American Frontier: A Study in the Rise of Religion among the Germans of the West; “The German Evangelical Synod,” The United Church of Christ, 2022, https://www.ucc.org/about-us_short-course_the-german-evangelical-synod.

[8]  “Congregational Meeting Minutes of 1935” (Femme Osage German Evangelical Church, 1935), January,1.

[9]  Amy Tikkanen, “United Church of Christ,” in Britannica (Britannica, 2022), https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Church-of-Christ.

[10]  “Congregational Meeting Minutes of 1958” (Femme Osage German Evangelical Church, January 1958).