Gemein Haus, Bethlehem's First House of Worship
Near Allentown, Pennsylvania
The building that once stood here, known as the Gemein Haus, was erected in seventeen forty-one, making it the first house of worship in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. It was built by the Moravian Brethren, a Protestant community whose leaders included the theologian Zinzendorf and the bishops Spangenberg, Nitschmann, Ettwein, and Seidel.
On July fifteenth, seventeen forty-nine, the structure became the setting for what the Moravians called the Great Wedding, a ceremonial event central to their faith. Perhaps most remarkably, the Gemein Haus also housed a school for teaching Native American languages, reflecting the Moravians' unusual commitment to mission work and linguistic study among indigenous peoples.
