St. John's Reformed Church (1844) and Grace Reformed Church (1883) — Grace St. John's United Church of Christ

German Reformed, then Evangelical and Reformed, then United Church of Christ · merged 1983 · the building sold and now Living Stream Karen Baptist Church

The St. John's line: St. John's Reformed Church, the German Reformed congregation, was organized in 1844 — the senior of the city's two Reformed churches. Its pastors include the Rev. Carl M. Schaaf and, at the Sentinel's 1904 roster, the Rev. J. H. Bosch. It became St. John's Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1934, when the Reformed Church in the United States and the Evangelical Synod merged, and St. John's United Church of Christ in 1957, when the Evangelical and Reformed Church joined the Congregational Christian Churches in the UCC.

The Grace line: Grace was the English-language offshoot. Reformed members who wanted worship in English rather than German were surveyed by Schaaf himself for the Synod; the Ohio Synod's Board of Home Missions sent the Rev. T. J. Bacher in January 1883, and the little company held its first service on 1 April 1883 in a former Jewish synagogue on Harrison Street. On Pentecost Sunday, 13 May 1883, it organized as Grace Reformed Church — its two anniversary histories count the charter company differently, forty-eight members in the history of 1958 and fifty in that of 1973, and the difference is printed rather than settled. Its church at 316 East Washington Street was dedicated in April 1895; the congregation later built at 302 West Lexington Avenue at Webster Street. Grace followed the same denominational road as its mother: Grace Evangelical and Reformed in 1934, Grace United Church of Christ in 1957.

Merger and the building: In 1983 the two congregations merged as Grace St. John's United Church of Christ, the library's directory placing the merged congregation on Webster Street. The combined congregation kept the older line's anniversaries: after its 175th — St. John's count, 1844 to 2019 — the church building was sold to the Fort Wayne Karen Baptist Church, and the building is today Living Stream Karen Baptist Church, as the religion record notes. The UCC congregation's own course after the sale is not documented in the sources this gazetteer could reach.

Sources:

1. Grace Evangelical and Reformed Church, 75th anniversary history, 1883–1958, and Grace United Church of Christ, 90th anniversary history, 1883–1973 (congregation's published histories, Internet Archive), read first-hand.
2. Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana, church list: St. John's Reformed 1844–1983; Grace Reformed 1883–1983; Grace St. John's UCC 1983, with the name changes of 1934 and 1957 for both lines.
3. Allen County Public Library, Congregational Records directory (Grace-St. John's UCC, Webster St.; the merger note).
4. Fort Wayne Sentinel, 15 October 1904 (St. John's Reformed, Rev. J. H. Bosch; Grace Reformed, Rev. A. K. Zartman).