25th Anniversary commemorative plate

Zion Lutheran church was formed under the guidance of Rev. E.J. Roleder of Lodi in 1943. The original church building was located at the corner of Monroe and Willow streets north of downtown Stockton. It was a thriving congregation and eventually bought property in the newly developing Lincoln Village of North Stockton.

A mission congregation called Grace was formed on this property in 1954 under Rev. C.H.S. Hunziker. In 1961, as more of Stockton’s population moved to Lincoln Village, the downtown congregation of Zion and the young congregation of Grace decided to merge. The original Zion church building was sold in 1962 to the young Stockton Civic Theater, encouraging the relationship of Zion and the Stockton arts community that exists to this day.

The Worship Center on Zion’s current campus was dedicated in 1966. The former worship center is known as Grace Hall and serves as a gathering center for the needs of Zion, Iglesia Bautista del Norte and the community at large.