Grace is located in the Borough of Hop Bottom, Lathrop Township, Susquehanna County.
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hop Bottom was organized in 1936 at the home of Mrs. Mary Zick in Kingsley, under the care of the Rev. Carl F. Wyppich of Scranton. The next year a church building and parsonage were purchased from the Universalist Church for $1500. There were initially over 30 members of the congregation. The family names that were instrumental in pioneering the fellowship include Borove, Erat, Klim, Kovalefsky, Kozlowski, Kropa, Micks, Mikolon, Steuber, and Zick.
The church facility has undergone changes over the years. The steeple was removed by 1940. In 1963, a bottom floor was added under the entire building. In 1974 there was a major renovation, including the lowering of the ceiling which necessitated the removal of the stained glass windows. The belfry was lowered, but the same bell rings from it today. In 1999 a handicapped ramp was installed making both levels of our building completely handicapped accessible. In 2012 another renovation to the bottom level included a new ceiling and lights, bathrooms, and kitchen; and with a new floor in 2015. The plan is by the end of 2023 that a two-story narthex addition with a room addition to the basement will be completed.
Along with all of Christendom, we hold to the three ecumenical creeds: Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian. Our congregation and pastor are subscribers of the Unaltered Augsburg Confession (UAC) of 1530 and the Book of Concord of 1580. If you would like to know more about what Lutherans believe, click here to go to the Belief and Practice page of www.lcms.org.
Grace is in Susquehanna Circuit 16 of the Eastern District of The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. Our Circuit (closest sister churches) includes St. Paul-Tunkhannok, Immanuel-Scranton, Peace-Scranton, St. John-Pittston, St. Peter-Wilkes-Barre, Our Savior-Mt. Pocono, Faith-Easton, Christ-Freemansburg, and Faith-Herndon. Our Circuit Visitor is Rev. Peter Richert of Our Savior-Mt. Pocono until the District Convention in June 2022. Our District President is Rev. Dr. Chris Wicher until the same Convention.
Grace’s ministers have been: Rev. Carl F. Wyppich, 1938-1941; Rev. Theodore Mikolon, 1942-1943; Rev. Edward C. Kolbe, 1944-1949; Rev. Andrew Maken, 1949-1951; Rev. Carl A. Schuette, 1952-1955; Rev. August A. Scholz, 1956-1959; Rev. Edward K. Jeschke, 1959-1969; Rev. John Junke, 1969-1971; Rev. Kenneth Gombert, 1972-1984; Rev. Mark E. Schulz, 1984-1986; Rev. Edward Brockwell, 1987-1989; Rev Kim E. Bode, 1989-2019; The 25th Anniversary of Rev Bode’s ministry was held November 9, 2014. Rev. Steven R. Geske September 2021-present.