Zion Lutheran Church was founded in 1745. Some say it may be the oldest Lutheran congregation in Lexington County, and it is certainly one of the oldest in South Carolina. The settlement of this area began with a plan proposed by Royal Governor Robert Johnson to establish eleven townships along the South Carolina frontier. These townships were designed to create a defensive perimeter against Native American tribes and Spanish forces threatening the Lowcountry. One of these townships was Saxe Gotha, located between Sandy Run on the Congaree River and Twelve Mile Creek to the north. Most of the settlers who came to Saxe Gotha were from Germany, with others arriving from Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Although no written record documents the exact founding of Zion Lutheran Church, evidence suggests that the first church building in 1745 stood near the banks of the Saluda River. An early frontier fort was built nearby by Godfrey Dreher on land he received in the 1740s. During the Cherokee War of 1760, the fort sheltered 121 men, women, and children seeking protection. Close to this fort on Twelve Mile Creek stood the earliest known location of Zion Church.

Zion is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), formed through the union of three North American Lutheran church bodies. Today, the ELCA includes more than 10,000 congregations and nearly five million baptized members.