What we believe, teach, and confess is based solely on God's Word; that there is salvation in Jesus Christ alone, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. We believe that our salvation in Christ is by Grace alone, through Faith alone, on the basis of Scripture alone.
For more detailed information on our beliefs and practices, please click on the below links:
If you have more questions about our beliefs and practices, please feel free to contact Pastor Mike at 501-316-1100.
HISTORY of ZION LUTHERAN, AVILLA
The first German immigrants came to the Avilla area in 1881 drawn by considerably exaggerated tales of the ease and plenty which was said in Germany marked life in faraway Arkansas. Homestead land was free for the asking in Arkansas. The timber and good farmland enticed some of the first settlers all the way from Dresden, Germany Henry Hoffmann read an advertisement about the virgin timberlands and railroad and decided to immigrate to Arkansas.In 1881 a group of five people (Henry Hoffmann, a woman and three other men) arrived in Avilla. When they arrived in Saline County, they found that their land, instead of being the virtual Garden of Eden which they had pictured, was instead rocky hillsides covered with impenetrable virgin forests and isolated by scarcely passable roads from all civilization. Dismayed, but not discouraged, the Germans built a communal log house, calling it the Colony House. The new community was named Kilonie Hoffung or Hope Colony, now called Avilla. Later that year eighty more people came here from Dresden and the country surrounding it. As they arrived, they fanned out in the area, homesteading farms. A number of the immigrants were unsuited for the rugged pioneer life and many of them soon gave up their farms. The hardier souls stayed on in the Avilla area and found that if it wasn't a Garden of Eden, it could still become a Promised Land of milk and honey by hard work, thrift, courage, and faith. The Avilla immigrants were not lacking in these virture and Avilla prospered.Zion Lutheran Church was organized in 1883 and the members built the church and the pews soon after. On October 25, 1917 was the date of the first Mission Festival held at Zion Lutheran. By 1919 the English language was beginning to come into use. By 1942, because of the world crisis, all services were held in English. Zion expanded in 1946 by selling timber off of the church property. The first Vacation Bible School was held in June of 1950, with thirty nine children enrolled. A new church was built in 1986. We also have the Alma Thornton Fellowship/Gym and the Prange Educational Building . 