Our History

St Paul’s is approaching it’s 95th Anniversary!

In the late 1920s, Lutheran residents of Amityville proposed starting a church closer to home in the village. A canvass of the neighborhood revealed thirty households who expressed interest in having a Lutheran church in their community. The pastor of St. Paul’s/Central Park, The Rev. Theodore Brunn Pastor Brunn held initial service at First National Bank and Trust, at the corner of Greene and Broadway, on October 26, 1930 (Reformation Sunday) for 43 people. A week later, on November 2, Sunday school lessons begun, and a few days later the Ladies’ Aid was founded.  Pastor Brunn was now serving as the shepherd of two congregations!

A parcel of land on Park Avenue was donated to the fledgling church in 1931. The church building was dedicated on November 22, 1931. In 1932, St. Paul’s/Amityville called Pastor Brunn to be their full-time pastor and he served until 1940 and he eventually became president of the Eastern District.

In 1952, St. Paul’s officially joined The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. It thus became fully a part of the church body that has nurtured such luminaries as Dr. Seuss and Lyle Lovett. In the late 1950s, the church building underwent numerous renovations and was significantly expanded. The narthex window (“Christ in Gethsemane”) and the altar window (“Christ Knocking on the Door of the Heart”) were added.

St. Paul’s conducted its first Vacation Bible School in 1990, one of its most popular programs. The church also hosted an annual weekend retreat sponsored by the Evangelism Commission; this later evolved into the Day with God.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and nearby areas in 2005, St. Paul’s began a series of mission trips to help rebuild the area.  In a total of six missionary journeys, St. Paul’s people cleaned out and refurbished homes in the Crescent City, and built new homes in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The congregation was able to employ hurricane recovery skills learned on the Gulf of Mexico to help in our own backyard when Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012.  50 households in the congregation were affected by the floods.  Volunteers assisted with clean-up and St. Paul’s amassed a large amount of money that was distributed to help with storm recovery.

In December 2014, the church presented its first Living Nativity program, enacting the story of Christ’s birth using live animals. This has become one of the congregation’s most beloved programs.

Over the years, St. Paul’s worship life has branched out beyond Sunday morning and created regular Saturday and weekday evening services. Following a quarantine period due to COVID, this has been paused. Additionally, we hold a midnight service on Christmas Eve and a sunrise service on Easter Sunday. 

St. Paul’s continues the original vision of almost 90 years ago—of a Christian community where God’s people gather to worship Him, and to share His love in Christ with everyone! We invite YOU to be part of that community!

St. Paul’s is grateful to all who were called to shepherd and serve our congregation. We honor:

• Pastor The Rev. Theodore Brunn (1932-1940)

• Pastor The Rev. Theodore Bushman (1940-1943)

• Pastor The Rev. Edmund Bohm (1943-1971)

• Pastor The Rev. Arthur Lesslie (1971-1992)

• Pastor The Rev. William Carney (1992-1995)

• Pastor The Rev. David Anglin (1997-2020)

• Interim Pastor The Rev. Kenneth Schnepp (2020-2023)

• Pastor The Rev. Thomas Cusanelli (2023-current)

We remember Pastor Herbert Kern. Upon retiring from the ministry after many years at Calvary Lutheran Church in East Meadow, was called to St. Paul’s to serve as assisting pastor.  Pastor Kern was called to glory on August 24, 2019; St. Paul’s cherishes him as a great man of God who reminded us continually that we are “blessed to be a blessing”.

Mostly recently, we had the privilege of The Rev. David Anglin’s pastorate. He was heavily involved in our children’s ministry and enjoyed puppetry in story-telling. He played guitar with the Young at Heart Choir and organized relief support in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. He retired in July 2020.