Windber Covenant Brethren to celebrate 100th anniversary of church building's dedication

WINDBER – One hundred years ago this week, the Windber Brethren congregation dedicated a new brick and sandstone church building along 19th Street as a place of worship to God and of service to the community.

On Sunday, current members and guests of the Windber Covenant Brethren Church will gather again to celebrate and renew that commitment to worship and service on the 100th anniversary of the building’s dedication.

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The anniversary service starts at 10:30 a.m. and the program includes the recognition of church members, reception of new members, special music by Dana Hetz, remarks by a former pastor, Royden Airesman, and a message by guest speaker Lee Smith, pastor of the Mount Joy Covenant Brethren Church in Mount Pleasant.

"The service is open to anyone to come celebrate with us,” said Joseph Brown, church pastor. He and his wife, Joyce, have served the Windber congregation for the last 10 years.

The church is located at 500 19th St., next to the Windber Public Library. A covered dish meal will be provided in the church basement after the service.

A brief church history

The Windber Brethren congregation held its first service in the community on July 14, 1900, with 24 people attending. Their first church was dedicated on August 6, 1905, and expanded upon in 1913. In the early 1920s, church leaders decided to tear down the original building and build a new church on the same site to serve a growing congregation.

The cornerstone of the present church building was laid on Sept. 3, 1922, and the church was dedicated on June 10, 1923.

Brown said the congregation is excited to celebrate the centenary of their church building. On June 3, church leaders removed a copper box from the church’s century-old cornerstone, and inside the box were a Bible, historical documents about the church, a list of church officers, Sunday School papers and pages from local newspapers, including the former Windber Era.

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Brown said the congregation plans to put new items into a time capsule and replace the cornerstone sometime this month as part of the anniversary celebration.

“They (the congregation) have kept up the building, where they can come to worship God, have their needs met in prayer, (to) celebrate and (to) grieve in the loss of loved ones,” he said. “They are the ‘keepers of the house.’”

Following the call to serve

Windber Covenant Brethren Church is also committed to putting its faith into action through various projects that serve the local community and beyond.

The congregation has sponsored a Blessing Box at the church since 2018; the box is filled with non-perishable food and hygiene items that people can take when they have a need.

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The church offers a “Helping Hands” ministry to help those in the community who have recently suffered a disaster or tragedy, Brown said, and their “Living Free” programs provide support and encouragement to anyone who struggles with issues like addiction or depression, as well as family members of those who are dealing with those issues.

The church is also a distribution point for the Pittsburgh Food Bank’s Senior Box program, which provides a box of nutritious, shelf-stable foods once a month to low-income seniors in Somerset County.

Beyond the local area, the Windber congregation is helping residents in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa recover from flooding and war by contributing to the Covenant Brethren Church’s work with Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian international relief organization.

“This (work) means fulfilling the call of Matthew 28,” Brown said, referencing the chapter in the Bible’s New Testament where Jesus tells his disciples to go share the story of Jesus and make new disciples among all the nations of the world.

“The church needs to teach more with actions than with words,” he said. “This is to be a starting point to reach out to where we can serve throughout the world.”

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Windber Covenant Brethren to celebrate 100 years in church building