McEWENSVILLE — Ten years of fundraising, prayer and hard work have finally brought a new church to upper Northumberland County.
On Sunday, the congregation of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church will hold an open house from 2-5 p.m. to showcase their new building at 10275 Route 44 between McEwensville and Turbotville.
The $1 million structure includes a sanctuary, family living center, offices and kitchen.
John Everitt, a member of the church, said two smaller congregations, Messiah Lutheran in McEwensville and St. James Lutheran in Turbotville, began to discuss merging their congregations about 10 years ago. The two churches had been served by a single minister for some time as a cost-saving measure.
Those discussions took a different turn when the Rev. Charlotte Heiges, their pastor at the time, suggested not only that the congregations merge, but that they build anew. The merger took place in 2002. Everitt said a building committee was formed, and they visited a similar congregation in western Pennsylvania to learn how their project progressed.
Then the two churches began the daunting task of fundraising, sponsoring monthly dinners, taking pledges from members, holding soup sales, Easter candy sales and an annual fall festival. They put both of the existing church buildings up for sale, after agreeing that the congregations would move to whichever building remained.
Finally, in 2007, construction began. Lehman Construction, of Chambersburg, did the major work, with congregation members undertaking much of the interior finishing work.
“It was quite a chore, but it was great,” said Linda Weaver, another member of the church. “We came together Saturday after Saturday to work.”
Weaver and Thornton “Sonny” Moser showed off the new building. The sanctuary, still unfinished, includes a circular stained glass window moved from St. James. Members will install insulation and wallboard before painting the 60 by 70-foot space, and they will finish off the narthex area, where a tapestry from Messiah will be hung.
“Some of our older members had stopped coming because they couldn’t go down the steps to the lavatories in the old church,” said Moser, as he showed off the fully-accessible restrooms. “They were thrilled when they saw this.”
The new building uses radiant hot water heating in the floor. The heating system is nothing more than an industrial-sized hot water heater that circulates water under the floor.
“It was more expensive, and some people didn’t want to do it because of the expense,” said Weaver. “But if the floor is warm, so is the rest of the space.”
Weaver said part of the church’s mission is to be part of the community, and the church building will be available for community events. For example, she said, the Montgomery House Warrior Run Area Library in McEwensville may use the church for events too large for the small library building. A part of the extensive grounds has been set aside for community gardens. Last year, several people raised vegetables, and the congregation raised its own corn for its chicken corn soup sales.
For now, the congregation worships in the family living center. A temporary altar faces comfortable chairs covered with red fabric. Behind the altar hangs a quilt featuring a large cross. The cross was stitched from swatches of fabric brought in by members of the congregation, and is a symbol of the cohesiveness that brought them to their new sanctuary.
The congregation held its first service in the new building on Feb. 15.
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Wayne Laepple/The Daily Item
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Merger culminates in new church: Holy Spirit Lutheran
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