Some sources indicate that a congregation formed as early as 1786 on land owned by Swiss immigrant and farmer Adam Barner. The first pastor, The Rev. George Geistweit, was called in 1794. Tradition holds that, on the site of the Adam Barner Memorial, a weather-boarding log building called "Dupes," later "Barner's," served as both church and school. In 1872, the present church, built of local bricks, was constructed across the road from the original location. Mennonite, Reformed, and Lutheran congregations, mainly made up of Barner and related families, financed the $3,500 house of worship. In 1927, the congregation became St. John (Barner's) Lutheran Church, with The Rev. Gilbert D. Strail as pastor. In 1888, the school district sold the log school building, one of the last in Perry County, for $20, then purchased land from Samuel Barner and built a new school of red bricks for $891 next to Barner's Church. The school closed in 1945 and the church bought the property in 1951 for $500. The congregation built a connector between the church and parish house in 1980, adding meeting rooms. An apple butter boil was initiated in 1952 to help pay for the school purchase, and since 1963 all proceeds from this annual event have been used for charitable purposes. In recognition of this unique activity, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., invited the congregation to make apple butter at the Festival of American Folk Life for the country's Bicentennial in 1976. The church evolved from a small frontier meeting house and school to a Reformed congregation, and finally a Lutheran congregation.