Sacral but also some secular items that Slovenian expats kept at their Protestant church in Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, the US, have been put on display in Murska Sobota after being transferred to Slovenia as the community was forced to sell their church last year.

Crosses, candle holders, church books, photos and some other items, such as plates and pots, are on show at the Evangelical Lutheran Centre in Murska Sobota in Prekmurje, Slovenia's northeastern-most region.

Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Leon Novak, head of the Slovenian Protestant community, said around 7,000 people left the region and moved to Bethlehem between 1893 and 1924 in search of a better life. Most of them found work at the Bethlehem steel plant.

"Early on they found church communities that took them under their wing, even though they were of a different nationality. They built their own church in the shortest possible time, where they used their native Prekmurje language in worship," Novak said at the opening of the display on 9 September.

But their St. John's Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church started facing big problems in recent years due to ageing and declining numbers of church-goers, so they were forced to sell it in April 2023.

Most of the items from there are now on display at the Evangelical Lutheran Centre, while the baptismal stone was placed in the foyer of the Evangelical Lutheran Church next door.

The centre will keep all the items and written documents after the exhibition. They would like to open a special room with a permanent exhibition dedicated to the expats.

"The wish is to have an emigrant room and open it to the public as part of cultural-religious tourism," said Klaudija Sedar, the head of the Primož Trubar Institute, who curated the display.

The initiative to bring the items to Slovenia was given by Bishop Novak. They were transferred in a collaboration of the Government Office for Slovenians Abroad, the Slovenian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the National Archives and the Slovenian consulate in Cleveland.

Murska Sobota and Bethlehem became twin towns in 1996 and have been engaged in youth exchange programmes since 2012.