Lukas Church Congregation of Elsoff- and Eder Valley

The Elsoff church is one of the oldest sacral buildings in the church district. Like some other Wittgenstein churches, its date of origin is estimated to be the middle of the 13th century. The dilapidated tower of the church was replaced by a new one in 1869. In 1982 the state of construction of the church was desolate. As a result, first the nave was thoroughly repaired and partly redesigned inside and outside until 1993, and then the tower was renovated in 2001 and 2002.

Schwarzenau had had an independent parish since 1876, but before that the village was divided between Arfeld and Elsoff. When today's Schwarzenau church building was consecrated in 1860, the village on the Eder had already experienced some eventful years in religious matters. In the 18th century the village was a stronghold of radical pietism. The religious refugee Alexander Mack had rebaptised eight people in the Eder in 1708. He later left Schwarzenau and went to America, where his Church of Brethren became one of the important religious groups. (For more information see: Alexander Mack Museum)

Wunderthausen and Diedenshausen only separated from the Girkhäuser mother parish in 1891. The Diedenshausen church probably dates back to the 13th century, but a fire in 1973 destroyed it so badly that it had to be thoroughly renovated. Wunderthausen was also mentioned as early as 1303 in a letter from the archbishop of Mainz. Today's church, however, was largely built in 1733.

There are also three chapels in the Lukas Church. The first to be mentioned in alphabetical order is the Alertshäuser Chapel, which was built in 1820 as a half-timbered building. The Beddelhäuser Chapel is considerably older. It was first documented in 1553. The church is probably much older than this date suggests. In 1906, during renovation work in the stone altar, objects were found that had been deposited here around 1300 or a little later. The Christianseck multi-purpose chapel was built by the town of Bad Berleburg in 1975. In order to save the church from decay or even demolition, the Christianseckers founded an "Verein zum Erhalt der Kapelle Christianseck e.V." in 2013. In a long and complex process, this association bought the chapel from the parish and now runs it on its own.

The new Lukas church congregation in Alertshausen, Beddelhausen, Christianseck, Diedenshausen, Elsoff, Schwarzenau and Wunderthausen has almost 2400 members over an area of about 80 square kilometres (as of 3/2018).