Mission Of The Church :

To be a friendly congregation where all people can freely come and worship God, experience family fellowship, feel the presence of God's Love in a historical and recreational setting, and to be a beacon of God's Light to the world.

History :

The exact date of the founding of the first church at Shawnee-on-Delaware is unknown but in 1741 Johan Casper Freyenmoet, a young man whose theological studies had been carried on abroad was appointed the first regular pastor. Originally the church was Dutch Reformed, and probably had been maintained as house of worship, it was a crude log-framed affair and situated about two miles from the present site. The worshippers were no doubt made up of white settlers and Indians as the latter had been brought into the true faith by the evangelizing efforts of such missionaries as David Brainerd.

Perhaps because of the difficulty of obtaining qualified ministers of the Dutch Reformed faith, the church at Shawnee had become Presbyterian by 1752, when the stone edifice was built. The initials of the men responsible for the building of the church, together with the date, are still to be seen on the foundation of the present structure. They are N.D.P. (Nicholas DePuy), S.D.P. (Samuel DePuy) and A.V.K. (Abraham Van Kampen).

A pencil sketch of the old stone church drawn in 1851 by M.R. DePuy, is still preserved and hangs in the vestibule of the present church, perhaps the oldest relic, and the most valuable is a sounding board which at one time hung above the pulpit; today it rests among the rafters of the church and few people are aware of its existence.  Several years ago Henry Ford wanted to buy the board from the church but the deal was never consummated.  Eventually, it may be restored to its rightful position by some friend of the church; until then, it remains in the dark confines of the attic, gathering the dust of time.

In the course of a century the Old Stone Church became dilapidated and the members resolved to erect a new building.  Its corner stone was laid August 11, 1853.  The names of the men responsible for its construction are also to be seen in the foundation:   R.R. DePuy, J.D. LaBar, S. Dietrich, F. Bush and A. Bush. Forty years later the church was enlarged by the addition of the present vestibule and pulpit.  The area covered by the new pulpit extends over part of the old burial ground belonging to the DePuy family: consequently their stones were embedded in the rear foundation.

The burial ground around the church is also very old.  Some of the stones are almost undecipherable but among the first interments was that of Samuel DePuy who died June 15, 1766, and is one of those buried beneath the present pulpit.