Evangelical United Methodist Church Opens Time Capsule

On Sept. 11, members and friends of the Evangelical United Methodist Church (EUMC), 276 E. Main St., New Holland, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the church during the Sunday service. On the same day, the cornerstone of the church, which had been removed, was opened.

"The time capsule had been placed on June 26, 1922, at the original placement of the cornerstone," explained Sarah Voran, a member of the EUM Futures team. "We were able to remove it and examine its contents."

When the top of the cornerstone was removed, church members were able to retrieve a number of items, including a 1922 silver dollar, a copy of the church's self-published newspaper, and a copy of the New Holland Clarion. "Some things fared better than other things," said Voran of the items in the metal box sealed inside the stone. "There was a Bible from the 1850s used by one of the first pastors of the church ... and that (was preserved) fairly well," noted Voran, who added that the Bible is written in German because members of the Evangelical United Brethren, which was the original denomination of the church, spoke mostly German in its early years.

Voran gave special credit for removing the cornerstone, which was located near the door of the church facing Main Street, to Jeff Shirk. "He was really instrumental in making that whole process happen," said Voran, who noted that heavy machinery was involved in the removal. "The cornerstone is solid granite, so it is extremely heavy. It was quite an undertaking," she said.

"We had an incredible celebration service," said Voran of the Sept. 11 worship gathering. "The Rev. Jennifer Freymoyer, UMC West District superintendent, spoke about blessings of God in the past and how we can trust Him in the future," Voran reported. "It was a wonderful way to celebrate everything (EUMC) has done in the past for the community over the last 100 years and everything we're going to do in the future."

Voran recalled that the committee, which includes Jim and Donna Blanshine, Ron Hall, Mary Kilka, Nel Maldonado, Chad Martin, Sarah Shirk, Lori Zimmerman, pastor Richard Connor, and church secretary Leigh Bellini, in addition to Voran, began meeting in 2020 shortly before COVID-19 restrictions were put into place. "We were still able to celebrate as we originally intended, (but) we had to put a pause on the planning process until about six months ago," said Voran. "We wanted to really celebrate the past of our church but also how that past will impact the future of our church and of the New Holland community."

With that thought in mind, Voran explained that the work of the committee is far from finished. "The team will meet and decide what types of things (to put into the cornerstone) to help people 100 years from now get a glimpse of what our church was like in 2022," said Voran. "We would like potential thoughts on what we should include."

More information about the church may be found by visiting https://newhollandeumc.com or http://www.facebook.com/EUMCNH.