Nast as Pictured in his commentated Bible Kritisch-praktischer Kommentar über das Evangelium nach Johannes : Erster Theil, Kap. I-XI., Nebst einem Anhang mit mehreren Excursen. Courtesy of Unviersity of Cincinnati Libraries, Archives and Rare Books

Nast Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church

The congregation of Nast Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church was organized in 1842 and originally named First German Methodist Episcopal Church. It was truly one of a kind—the first church of this denomination in the world. William(Wilhelm) Nast, who was the founder of both this congregation and of German Methodism as a denomination, came to Cincinnati to preach to local Germans in their native language for the first time in 1835, but was soon sent to Columbus, Ohio after converting only three worshipers. When he returned in 1838, he organized the German Methodist Society and managed to bring twenty-six members into the group. The first church was dedicated in 1842 on Vine Street near 4th Street and the current building was completed in 1880.

Nast and other members of the German Methodist Church saw the need for a German Language periodical similar to the English “Western Christian Advocate,” and Nast was assigned the task of creating and editing the resulting paper which he dubbed “Der Christliche Apologete” or “The Christian Apologist.” Using the paper as a sounding board, Nast got his message to Germans all over the United States every week for fifty years. In his later years, Nast’s son Albert took over the paper while Nast focused on spreading German Methodism to Germans all over Europe. Today Nast is remembered as the father of German Methodism and his legacy lives on wherever Germans have settled, both in the United States and around the globe.

Bibliographical Sources:

The Bicentennial Guide to Greater Cincinnati: A Portrait of Two Hundred Years, by Geoffrey J. Giglierano, Deborah A. Overmeyer, with Frederic L. Propas, The Cincinnati Historical Society, 1988, page 98

German Heritage Guide to the Greater Cincinnati Area, by Don Heinrich Tolzmann, Little Miami Publishing Company, Milford, Ohio, 2003, page 77

German American Churches and Religious Institutions in the Greater Cincinnati Area, edited by Don Heinrich Tolzmann, German American Studies Program University of Cincinnati, 1999, pages 332-339