St. Jacobi Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1889 by German immigrants. On October 13, 1889, the fledgling society held its first service in a storefront at 63 - 39th Street, near the water and the Ferry Terminal. In the early years worship was conducted in the German language. In 1890, the society secured its first permanent church building near 4th Avenue and 46th Street. However, with continued growth from the flood of immigrants second generation births the congreation needed a larger home.

Property on Fourth Avenue between 54th & 55th Streets was purchased in 1908, and plans were made for a new edifice. The cornerstone for the present church was laid on Sunday, May 16, 1909. English language services were added In 1914, due in part to the hostilities in Europe. The English-speaking portion of the congregation grew in number as the original and second generation German-speaking members moved or died through the next several decades.

Following World War II, the demographic in the Sunset Park area changed as many white, middle class residents moved to the suburbs. New residents included Spanish-speaking people, mostly from Puerto Rico. Over the next decades the area became home to immigrants from other countries, primarily Central America and the Hispanic Carribean Islands. St. Jacobi and other neighborhood Lutheran churches tried a Spanish Language Mission outreach; St. Jacobi's program did not succeed as well as had been hoped.

Another wave of immigrants occurred in the 1990s when the neighborhood became home to natives of Russia, India and the Chinese areas of Hong Kong, the Island of Formosa and mainland China, mostly speaking Cantonese or Mandarin. St. Jacobi undertook a new Mission outreach to the Chinese community and called Pastor Ho Kum Lai who hailed from Hong Kong to lead it.

Today, St. Jacobi Church is a multi-cultural congregation speaking primarily Cantonese, Mandarin or English.