
Zion Lutheran Church – A Brief History
The practice of the early church at Zion was very much like the “home churches” from which the founding members had emigrated. The men and boys were seated on one side and the women and girls and children were seated on the other side. This continued into the 1920s. Women were recognized in 1929 as voting members by dropping “male” before “member over 21” from the constitution.
In 1946 the council approved the building of the little white church on the property. A Sunday School addition was added in 1951, and a woman was elected as the first non-pastor chair of the congregation. In 1958 the church name was changed to Zion Lutheran Church of Kent, Washington. The population was starting to grow and farms were disappearing. Plans were made for a new building and construction was started in 1965. The new church building was dedicated in 1967. The Sunshine Mountain School Preschool and Kindergarten was founded in 1979 and is located in the old church which was kept intact. The new education building was completed in 1994.
Zion Lutheran has experienced many changes through the years and is a welcome home of worship to all. The Synods have changed as the “nationality groups” became a part of their new country. Zion has gone through these changes as a people formed by God’s word of promise.

Zion Lutheran Church
Kent, Washington
1953

Zion Lutheran Church
First Choir
c 1903