Covid forced Murrysville church to postpone bicentennial, will now celebrate 201 years

The congregation at Emmanuel Reformed Church of the United Church of Christ has plenty to celebrate, especially at a time when, according to Gallup polling, a majority of Americans say they do not belong to a church, synagogue or mosque.

Results from the March survey marked the first time in eight decades that religious membership became a minority. Declining church membership among Catholics in Western Pennsylvania has led to the proposed consolidation of a number of parishes.

That made it all the more cause for celebration that Emmanuel – better known as “Hills Church” in Murrysville – had reached its 200th anniversary as a congregation.

Unfortunately, that anniversary came in 2020 during the global covid-19 pandemic, which means Pastor Joseph Hedden Jr. and congregants will have to settle for celebrating its 201st anniversary this year.

“We always celebrate our founding on the last Sunday in June,” Hedden said. “This year, we’ll have a June 27 homecoming service with Penn West Conference Minister David Ackerman, who’s a Murrysville native, and we’re hoping to partner with the Murrysville Historical Preservation Society for a celebration including a German meal and German-themed service on Oct. 23.”

In August, the church will begin sales of “Sowing and Reaping Together,” a book created through Hedden’s research for its bicentennial.

The church was started by German Reformed Christians who arrived in the area prior to the American Revolution, when eastern Murrysville was essentially still the American frontier. An informal group began meeting in the early 1780s in their homes, open meadows or barns. They were joined by local German Lutherans, meeting together but worshiping via their own individual congregations and pastors.

The official founding of the congregation happened around 1820, and by 1831 the first Hills Church, a log building, was completed. It remained a union church with Reformed and Lutheran Christians worshiping there until 1883, when the Emmanuel Lutheran congregation moved first to a wooden building at the corner of Roosevelt and Arthur streets in present-day Export, and then in 1965 to a property off Old William Penn Highway, where the church remains today.

And while the Emmanuel Lutheran congregation also will mark its 201st anniversary in 2021, they are holding off on an official celebration as they transition a new pastor to the church.

Hedden said that in preparation for the bicentennial, Hills Church congregants spent time reflecting on the community support that allowed them to remain vibrant for 200 years.

“We realized that what worked 30 or 40 years ago was not going to fit our 200th anniversary,” he said. “We want to be more intergeneration-focused and find ways to bring people both older members and younger people together.”

Hedden said there are plenty of Hills Church families whose relatives have been attending services since the church’s founding. “So we want to honor that history, but also get perspectives from people for whom all of that history is new,” he said.

The church’s belated bicentennial is likely to stretch out through the remainder of the year, carried on by a congregation Hedden has gotten to know much better during his decade in the pulpit.

“I think the people here are very faithful, very committed to their beliefs and their desire to serve God and their neighbors,” he said. “So it’s fun to do ministry with them. They take care of their pastor and each other.”

For more on the Hills Church 201st anniversary celebration, see Hills-Church.org.