St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church stands at the “top of the hill” on the main route through Dillsburg, at 201 South Baltimore Street. Founded in 1855, it is recognizable by three oversized stained-glass windows and the glow of two windows each evening. Its identity is equally shaped by Sunday full liturgy with music, a spoken-word service on second and fourth Saturdays, music ministries, Christian education, recovery meetings, and outreach rooted in “Being Renewed in Christ.”
At the Top of the Hill on Baltimore Street
The church building is both a landmark and a working sanctuary. Three larger-than-life stained-glass windows dominate the character of the exterior, while many single windows bring color and light to the interior. The church’s location makes it easy to approach from the main road, but its identity is not carried by architecture alone. The people who gather for worship, Christian education, outreach projects, and other ministries in the name of Jesus Christ give the congregation its personality.
After dark, two stained-glass windows are illuminated each evening. Their light is a visible sign of St. Paul’s presence in Dillsburg. Inside those walls, history, music, study, worship, and service continue side by side. The building is both a local landmark and an active place of ministry.
St. Paul’s building also serves the many parts of ministry gathered under one roof. The sanctuary hosts full and spoken-word worship, while the wider church life includes choir and handbell rehearsals, Christian education, quilting, baptisms, funerals, weddings, and installations. Fellowship Hall contains the quilt closet used by the Lutheran World Relief ministry. The stained glass makes the church visible from the main route; the worship and work inside give those windows an active meaning.
From the 1913 Fire to the Present Church
St. Paul’s was founded in 1855, and its first 36 years were marked by searches for a new pastor. On June 18, 1913, the most destructive fire in Dillsburg’s history consumed eight buildings, including St. Paul’s and the parsonage. The congregation met the disaster with determination and voted to build again. A lot had been purchased in April 1909, and construction on the present church followed the fire.
The present building was dedicated on Sunday, September 13, 1914, fifteen months after the fire. That history remains visible not only in the sanctuary but also in the congregation’s continued work on its facilities. For its 100th anniversary, the chancel and choir areas were renovated in February 2014, combining the memory of the century-old building with renewed spaces for worship and music.
A Moeller Pipe Organ’s Journey from New York
The pipe organ has its own remarkable journey into the church. Around 1941, during the early stages of World War II, the Moeller Organ Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, built a pipe organ for a small European church. The instrument was taken to New York City for shipment abroad, but wartime shipping arrangements involving England and France made the overseas journey uncertain. The organ remained on the New York docks.
G. Kenneth Cocklin, a Dillsburg merchant and undertaker, learned that the instrument was available and asked whether St. Paul’s congregation might be interested. The church was then being remodeled and redecorated. After the Church Council deliberated, the congregation purchased the organ, and it was shipped from New York City to Dillsburg. Its chestnut wood console matched the sanctuary’s wood trim, and Moeller installed it. It remains the church’s pipe organ, joining the building’s history to its continuing life of music.
Sunday Full Liturgy and Saturday Spoken Word
St. Paul’s has two regular worship rhythms. Sunday worship begins at 10:30 a.m. and is scheduled to conclude at 11:45 a.m. The service is described as full liturgy with music. On the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, spoken-word worship runs from 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. Both gather people at 201 South Baltimore Street, with the Sunday service also available beyond the building through Facebook livestream.
Sunday worship has a deliberately liturgical shape. The congregation is an integral part of worship, singing the liturgy and hymns connected to the liturgical season and the scripture lessons for the day. Choirs, organ, handbells, and chimes enrich that singing. The congregation’s broader worship life gathers to confess sins, receive grace in forgiveness, hear the Word of God, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and go out to share the good news of Christ and serve others.
Pastor Roy Stetler leads St. Paul’s and also serves Quickel Lutheran in Zions View, Conewago Township. He lives in Dillsburg. He says he tries to follow his grandfather’s district superintendent’s advice: “Roy, love your people, pray, and preach your heart out.” His ministry joins pastoral presence, prayer, and proclamation within a congregation that centers grace, mercy, justice, and service.
The Saturday gathering offers a spoken-word pattern centered on the proclaimed word. It shares the same address and Lutheran identity as the full Sunday liturgy while providing a distinct evening service. Together, the two rhythms give Sunday and Saturday visitors clear ways into the worship life of St. Paul’s.
Renewed in Christ: Mission in Dillsburg
St. Paul’s mission statement, “Being Renewed in Christ,” gives concrete shape to Christian education and outreach. It calls the congregation to teach about Christ and his mission on earth, to serve other people, to recognize the needs of hungry, poor, and homeless neighbors, and to work in unity toward all God’s children.
- Teach, preach, heal, and forgive: Release people from what keeps them from fully participating in community, whether through sickness, strife, or broken relationships.
- Serve: Act as the hands and feet of Christ in service directed toward others.
- See and hear: Recognize the needs of hungry, poor, and homeless people as the eyes and ears of Christ.
- Be one in mission: Join with other minds in Christ’s mission to all of God’s children.
St. Paul’s describes itself as an inclusive community of the faithful gathered in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. People of every age, race, and status are welcome. The congregation seeks to provide prayerful worship in a respectful, welcoming environment and to meet spiritual needs within both its own community and Dillsburg, with Christian values at the core of what it says and does.
The Gospel at the Center
The confession of faith begins with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. St. Paul’s understands the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ, as God’s power for salvation. It identifies Jesus as the Word of God incarnate: God took on human nature and lived on earth as God’s only Son. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God makes a new creation.
The congregation accepts the canonical Old and New Testaments as the inspired Word of God and the authoritative norm for proclamation, faith, and life. It professes the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and Athanasian Creed, receives the Unaltered Augsburg Confession as a true witness to the Gospel, and also accepts the other confessional writings in the Book of Concord. The church understands the Gospel confessed in Scripture, the ecumenical creeds, and Lutheran writings as God’s power to create and sustain the church for mission in the world.
That confession has a defined place at the table of the Lord’s Supper, also called the Eucharist. All baptized persons are welcome to receive the gifts of Christ’s body and blood in bread and wine. St. Paul’s believes Christ is present in, under, and through the blessed elements. Those who are not baptized are encouraged to come forward for a blessing and to explore Holy Baptism with the pastor.
The Lutheran identity is tied to Martin Luther, whose questions and arguments about Roman Catholic teachings led to a separation from the Roman Catholic Church at the time. Within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, St. Paul’s joins a body that welcomes people regardless of age, race, or status in life.
Music for Liturgy, Scripture, and Song
Music is integral to St. Paul’s worship. Minister of Music Joyce Gerstenlauer earned a bachelor’s degree in K-12 music education and a master’s degree in music with an organ minor. She has served as an organist and choir director in Lutheran churches, taught choral and general music, and directed community choral groups. At St. Paul’s, she plays the organ, helps plan hymns and liturgy, and directs the Adult Choir and Children’s Choir.
The Adult Choir includes adults and teens and rehearses Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m. from September through May. The Children’s Choir meets at the beginning of Sunday Church School, where it sings, plays rhythm instruments, and takes part in worship every few weeks. Those who love to sing have a place in a vocal choir, while the liturgical calendar and scripture lessons guide the music selected for worship.
Handbells and chimes have an equally important role. Bell Choir Director Viki Wonders leads a youth-through-adult ensemble that rehearses Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. The group practices bell technique and prepares special music and hymn accompaniments, choosing handbells or chimes to suit the selection. Viki helped establish St. Paul’s first handbell and chimes choirs after joining the congregation in 1982 and later returned to direct the handbell choir. Around the historic Moeller organ are the voices of adults, teens, and children, along with a multigenerational ensemble of bells and chimes.
Learning from Baptism Through Bible Study
Christian education is tied to baptism. Promises made at baptism by parents and sponsors, or by the newly baptized person, call people to discipleship through the love and grace of God. Scripture, the confessional statements of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and faith practices are central to that learning. The primary opportunities are Sunday Church School, Confirmation Ministry, and Bible Study Groups.
A recurring Tuesday Bible study meets at 1 p.m. through the end of May. Its discussions consider how the church has related and can relate to other faith traditions, approaching the subject with humor and humility. No preparation or prior Bible knowledge is needed to participate fully, and those who do not want to read aloud are welcome to listen and participate without pressure.
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Recovery Meetings
Recovery meetings are a regular part of St. Paul’s life. Alcoholics Anonymous meets there every Monday and Wednesday at 7:01 p.m. and every Friday at 8:01 p.m. People who believe they have a problem with alcohol, or who want help stopping drinking, are welcome to attend.
The local AA hotline, 717-234-5390, offers general information about alcoholism and local meetings and is staffed by AA volunteers. The meetings take place within St. Paul’s broader ministry of welcome and service to neighbors.
Quilts for Lutheran World Relief
On Thursday mornings from 9:00 to 10:30 between September and May, the quilting ministry meets to make tie-knot quilts for Lutheran World Relief. The group produces just over 200 quilts each year. LWR distributes them to people displaced by natural disaster, political and civil unrest, and famine. The quilts are blessed on Harvest Home Sunday, celebrated on the second weekend of November, when the ministry also gives thanks for the year’s work.
The quilting effort makes productive use of donated textiles. Old sheets, large or full bedspreads, mattress pads, and electric blankets are transformed into new quilts. Donated items are placed outside the quilt closet in Fellowship Hall. Regular Thursday work, harvest worship, and practical support for displaced people are joined in one recurring ministry.
Altar Guild, Property Care, and Neighborhood Outreach
St. Paul’s Altar Guild prepares and cares for the physical setting of worship. Its baptized, worshiping, communing members tend the worship space, furnishings, linens, vestments, paraments, appointments, sacramental elements, and vessels. The Guild prepares the church for weekly worship and for baptisms, funerals, weddings, and installations. Membership is open to both men and women, making this a ministry of careful preparation for the congregation’s sacramental and corporate life.
The Property Ministry Team handles practical needs around the buildings. Volunteers with talents in areas such as electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, and related upkeep can contribute as needed. This hands-on ministry complements the Altar Guild’s care of worship furnishings and the Outreach Committee’s outward-facing work.
The Outreach Committee plans both “in-reach” and “out-reach.” In-reach keeps members connected through activities and events, while out-reach seeks to make St. Paul’s a friendly, positive presence among neighbors. The committee’s tasks reflect the mission’s call to see and hear the needs of hungry, poor, and homeless people. Recovery meetings, quilting for LWR, and congregational fellowship give practical form to that shared commitment.
Parking, Access, and the Life of the Parish
St. Paul’s stands at 201 South Baltimore Street in Dillsburg. The church shares a parking lot with Ace’s Hardware and has additional parking around the back. A wheelchair ramp along the side facing the Ace’s Hardware lot provides a direct entrance into the church.
The parish office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. The office phone is 717-432-3202, and parishadmin@stpaulsdillsburg.com reaches the parish administrator. The pastor and parish administrator can meet by appointment arranged through the office or by drop-in during regular hours. The church’s Facebook account carries the Sunday livestream, and online giving is also available.
The recurring rhythm is clear: Sunday full liturgy with music at 10:30 a.m., or Saturday spoken word at 6:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Saturdays. Around those services gather choirs and handbells, Sunday Church School and Bible study, recovery meetings, quilting, and outreach. At the top of Baltimore Street, St. Paul’s keeps those strands joined in a long-established Lutheran community centered on worship, learning, music, service, and its mission of being renewed in Christ.