Jerusalem Lutheran Church was organized in Augsburg, Germany, in 1733 with the Reverend John Martin Bolzius and the Reverend Israel Christian Gronau as the pastors. The members had been exiled from their homes in Salzburg, Austria, and were looking for a place to live and worship. In England the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge sponsored their passage to the new world. The first ship arrived in Savannah on March 12, 1734. The settlers founded the town of Ebenezer on Ebenezer Creek in what is now Effingham County.

Life was so hard and so many died the Salzburgers asked General Oglethorpe to let them move to the present site of New Ebenezer on the Savannah River in 1736.

The first Sunday School in Georgia was held in 1734 and the first orphanage was built in 1737. The church was built from bricks made of clay from the area from 1767 to 1769. The walls of the church are 21 inches thick and some of the original panes of glass are still in the windows. The bells were brought from Europe and are still rung before each service.

Jerusalem is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has both Sunday School and Worship Service each week. Sunday School is 9:45 and the Church Service is at 11:00 a.m. You are invited to come and worship with us at any time.

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