A Controversial Minister

Moses Andrew Stewart was the sixth pastor to serve Resurrection Reformed Church in Burkittsville. His pastorate lasted for eleven years, the third longest tenure of any minister to serve the congregation. Rev. Stewart led the congregation through two significant events in its history: the renovation of the church building in 1860 and the Battle of South Mountain after which the church was utilized as a field hospital. Only a few documentary fragments exist to illuminate Rev. Stewart and the momentous events he oversaw as pastor of the Reformed Church, but they tell an intriguing and important story of a significant figure in the history of the congregation and of Burkittsville.

According to U.S. Census Data, Moses Stewart was born around 1830 in Ohio. Virtually nothing is known about his childhood until 1849 when he was admitted to the German Reformed Seminary at Marshall College in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. While Moses was attending Marshall College, this institution was at the center of a debate in the German Reformed Church and the birthplace of theological movement which later had a significant impact on the Burkittsville Reformed Church.

Marshall College in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania

Rev. John Nevin

Rev. Philip Schaff

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