We Believe in God the Father, who is eternal, self-existing, omnipotent and omnipresent; and in Jesus Christ His Son, our Lord and Saviour, who is both God and man, and who became incarnate, suffered and died for the sins of the human family; and in the Holy Spirit, who is equal in being with the Father and the Son; that these three constitute the one Triune God, who created the heaven and the earth and all that is in them, visible and invisible, and who sustains, governs, protects and supports the same.

We Believe that the Holy Bible, the Old and New Testament, is the Word of God, and that the fall of man in Adam, and the redemption through Christ, are plainly taught therein, and that faith in our Saviour, and repentance, the forgiveness of sins and obedience to Christ and His commandments, is the only true way by which we may become and remain Christians.

We Believe in a Holy Church, the communion of the Saints, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting. We believe that the ordinances, namely: Baptism by triune immersion, washing the saints’ feet and the communion or partaking of the emblems of the broken body and the shed blood of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are enjoined and should be practiced by all Christian believers.

“Ephrata United Zion Church exists to reflect the light of Jesus Christ to the people of the Ephrata area through worship, instruction, fellowship, ministry and evangelism, in order to illuminate the path of a life transformed by Christ.”

First Church Building on Cherry Street (1925)

Joseph Martin, First Minister 1911-1922

In the year 1911, Cottage Prayer Meetings were started in Ephrata followed by Worship Services and Prayer Meeting alternating each Saturday night.

From 1913 until the church was built, the services were held in the Salvation Army Hall on Church Avenue in Ephrata. In 1919 and 1920 the District Conferences were held in the Salvation Army Hall. In 1919 the General Conferences were held in Ephrata at the salvation Army hall.

It was at the District Conference in 1923 that permission worse asked to build a church in Ephrata. The 1924 District Conference then appointed a committee to look into the matter of building a church in Ephrata. The committee was composed of the following brethren: Samuel Fasnacht, Wayne Wenger, William Showalter, Amos Mull, and John Gehr. The church was then built in 1925 located on Cherry Street in the borough of Ephrata.

The church here continued to grow with many wonderful revival meetings were both young and old got saved and many other services were held here, such as the Love Feast, District and General Conferences, Bible conferences, and general worship services where the presence of the Lord was realized.

The first Sunday School had its beginning here in 1949. In 1967, the congregation gave some thought to further expansion and the result was that a plot of ground was purchased from the Ephrata radio station, WGSA along East Fulton Street, where a new church was built and dedicated on May 21, 1967. Then in 1973, some additional Sunday School classrooms were added a new foyer. In 1977 the new educational wing was added to provide more space for educational purposes.

The ministers who served the Ephrata Church are as follows: Joseph Martin, 1911-1922; Wayne Wegner, 1922-1930; Samuel Fasnacht, 1930-1936; Peter Gress, 1936-1956; Luke Showalter, 1953- ; Kenneth Espenshade, 1963-1970; Warren Slaymaker, 1970-1976; Homer Martin, 1970-1976; Donald Martzall, 1979-1990; Mel Horst, 1990-1996; Jay Showalter, 1996- 2017; Mel Horst, 2017-.