Beginning in Failure!
A strange way to spawn a church merger but that is exactly what happened.
During the spring of 1977, the Session of the Grant Street Church was conducting some soul-searching as to the viability of its future.
Although its sanctuary had been somewhat recently remodeled, the building was in need of a new boiler (the old one being a converted
coal-fired furnace over 50 years old) along with other areas of the building in need of major renovation. Also, the lack of
adequate on-street parking was a serious detriment. While the church had some financial resources, it questioned the wisdom
of using them to maintain an old building housing a declining congregation.
During this process
it learned that the Ashley Presbyterian Church was interested in talking to another Presbyterian church about the possibility of a
merger. In April, 1977, the Grant Street Session voted to approach the Ashley Session to discuss the possibility of a merger. Through
the efforts of the Rev. Charles A. Hooker, Jr., Moderator of the Grant Street congregation at the time, a meeting was arranged between
the Sessions of the two churches and the Ministerial Relations Committee of Lackawanna Presbytery.
The meeting was moderated by the Moderator of the Ministerial Relations committee who outlined the procedures involved in creating
a merger of the two churches. The meeting began with optimism but soon sank into despair when the group was informed of the
financial requirements involved in calling a new Pastor. Based upon the size of their congregation, the representatives of the
Ashley church stated they could not afford their fair share of the package, bringing any further discussion to a halt.
At a subsequent Session meeting following this let-down, Mr. Hooker informed the Grant Street Session that other Presbyterian churches
in the Wilkes-Barre area were very interested in the outcome of merger talks with the Ashley church. It was suggested that there
might be some grounds for common ministry with some of these churches. Elder Wesley Simmers offered to host a luncheon at the
Westmoreland Club in Wilkes-Barre if Mr. Hooker would arrange to contact the moderators of those churches and ask them to appoint
two members of their respective congregations to attend. They were the Rev. Earl Ferguson, Moderator of the Douglass Presbyterian
Church and the Second Welsh Presbyterian Church and the Rev. George B. Johnson, Moderator of the First Welsh Presbyterian Church.
Also invited to attend was Doris Stark, Clerk of Session of the Ashley church.
The luncheon was
held on November 23, 1977 at the Westmoreland club. Attending were the Reverends Charles Hooker, Jr., Earl Ferguson and George
B. Johnson. Elders attending were: Wesley Mullen, Sr. and Wesley Simmers of the Grant Street church; William Davis and
William Hughes of the First Welsh church; Ethelwyn Hontz and Robert Sliker of the Second Welsh church; Irvin Herriotts and Thomas
E. Norton of the Douglass church and Doris Stark and Daniel Koze of the Ashley church. Also attending was the Rev. Robert Smyrl,
Executive Presbyter of Lackawanna Presbytery. Wesley Simmers served as convener.
Several
possible areas for common ministry were suggested including; a joint worship service, a common newsletter, a combined church picnic
and a men’s communion breakfast. Although nothing concrete emerged from this meeting, the discussions were positive with everyone
enthusiastic about working together and developing some program(s) of common interest. It was agreed we would meet the following
month to continue planning. The Rev. Mr. Smyrl was so impressed with our meeting that he arranged for Presbytery to pick up
the tab for the next meeting. And thus was born a cluster of five Presbyterian churches working and fellowshipping together.
It was not long after its formation that it came to be called the “Five-for-One”, five churches united in one common ministry to serve
the one Christ in ways superior to what each could do on their own.
Over a period of the
next three years, the “Five-for-One” ministry
sponsored the following programs:
1. A bi-monthly newsletter
2. Summer picnics at the
Kirby House
3. Men’s communion breakfasts
4. Combined women’s association meetings
5. Combined
worship services and hymn sings
6. Leadership training program
(joint with Presbytery)
7. Joint communicant classes
8. Sunday School teacher training class
All of these activities provided an abundance of
fellowship with our fellow Presbyterians in the Wilkes-Barre area and helped everyone get to know each other’s congregations.
With the “Five-for-One” off on a fairly solid footing, the Session of the Grant Street church again started to reexamine the viability
of its future. In January, 1979 It appointed a special committee chaired by Wesley Simmers to examine all of the options that might
be available to the congregation including the option of continuing on its own. Over the ensuing months the committee explored
several options including the seeking of a possible merger partner from within and without our denomination. After serious consideration
of the pros and cons of each option, it was the committee’s recommendation that Grant Street approach the Douglass Presbyterian Church
to explore their receptivity to the idea of a potential merger. The Session unanimously approved this recommendation and issued
a call for a special meeting of the congregation at which the committee would present its findings, analysis and recommendation.
This meeting was held on April 29, 1979 for the sole purpose of receiving and acting on the committee’s report. At the conclusion
of its report, the congregation unanimously approved the committee’s recommendation and appointed Wesley Simmers, Wesley Mullen, Sr.
and Robert Schwall to meet with the Douglass Session.
On May 9, 1979, the Clerk of Session of
Grant Street sent a letter to the Douglass church informing them of Grant Street’s position. That same day representatives met
with the Moderator of the Church Relations committee of Presbytery to determine the procedures to be followed in forming a new congregation.
He explained that each church would have to elect representatives to a Merger Committee who would then work together to draft Articles
of Merger to be presented to each congregation for approval. The plan would then be presented to Presbytery for final approval
after which, if approved, the two congregations could be merged into one new church.
A meeting
of the Session of the Douglass church was held on May 11, 1979 and its response was most enthusiastic. It issued a call for
a special meeting of the congregation to elect delegates to serve on the merger committee. Elders Irvin Herriotts, Mary Jones,
Thomas E. Norton and Laura Lewis were elected to serve on this important committee.
At a separate
congregational meeting of the Grant Street Church held on the same day, Elders James Marshall, Jr., Wesley Mullen, Sr., Robert Schwall
and Wesley Simmers were elected to serve.
The committee held its first meeting on June 11, 1979,
at which time The Rev. George B. Johnson was elected to serve as moderator. It worked through the summer months and by early
September had a draft of the Plan of Union ready to present to each Session. One of the issues that had to be addressed was
the name of the new church. Over the course of the next two or three meetings, thirty-eight names were suggested.
On the night on which it was agreed to vote on the name change, one name that stood high on everybody’s list was “Christ United”,
and that was the name to be proposed by the committee.
During the entire course of events preceding the completion of the committee’s
work, everyone felt the power of the Holy Spirit guiding it every step of the way. The selection of a name, the organization
of the church school, the structure of the official bodies, the disposition of physical and financial resources, were all addressed
with a great deal of discussion but decided upon with unanimity. None of the committee’s decisions met with any degree of negativism.
Ending
in triumph!
On September 9, 1979, the committee presented the Articles of Merger to their separate
congregations. The vote to approve the plan was overwhelming. The Douglass church cast 65 votes with only 2 nays.
Grant Street cast 33 votes with 2 nays. The committee then presented the Articles to the Presbytery’s Church Relations committee
on September 10th. It voted to place it on the docket of the September 26th meeting of Presbytery.
In order to cause the least possible disruption to the Christian education program, it was suggested by the church school sub-committee
to unite the congregations before the formal approval by Presbytery. Thus September 9th was the last worship service held in
the Grant Street Church. The two congregations united for worship and study the following Sunday. At the Presbytery meeting
held on September 26th, 1979, the Articles of Merger were unanimously approved, becoming the official birth date of our Church.
Articles of Incorporation were approved by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 1, 1980.
The next step was to call a pastor. A Pastor Nominating Committee was formed in January, 1980 and began the tedious work of
seeking a candidate. After a year of searching, the Rev. Christopher Belden was presented to the congregation in November, 1980.
He was installed on January 25, 1981 as the first pastor of Christ United.
While Christ United
was pursuing a pastor, the ministry of the Five-for-One continued. In October, 1979, the Warrior Run Church joined the group
maintaining the number of participating churches at five. In early 1982, after much study and prayerful deliberation the Second
Welsh Presbyterian Church closed its doors and turned over its assets to Presbytery. The members gravitated to different churches
in the area. Sixteen of their members joined Christ United in November, 1982. Others soon followed. This reduced
the number of churches in Five-for-One to four. At the suggestion of Mr. Belden, the group chose to call itself the “Presbyterian
Koinonia” (Greek=:’communion, fellowship’), a name under which they operated until 1985 when, for various reasons, the group disbanded.
There is no doubt that but for the opportunity to work together in common ministry and getting to know and respect each other, the
merger of our two churches might not ever have taken place. But. praise the Lord, it did. Those of us who worked intently
during the process of coming together can attest to the presence of the mighty hand of God leading us and bringing us together.
By calling a new pastor to serve a new church, there was never a glimmer of Douglass vs. Grant Street. We have been one church
since day one! He also enriched us by leading the wonderful people of the Second Welsh church to unite with us. Our name
was aptly chosen. We are Christ’s church, united in our service to Him!
Psalm 127:1 – “Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain who build it.”
