Church History
Lincoln Village, location of our church today, had two streets, few houses, and no churches. A group of Presbyterians (Read and Barbara Kingsbury, Charley Knoop, Valla Offensend, Dale Newton, and Reverend William Boder of Claysville, PA) met at the Kingsburys' home to change this.
After several meetings, with some officials with the United Presbyterian Church, Westminster United Presbyterian Church was established as a mission church and the presbytery appointed Rev. William Boder as pastor.
Firsts:
The first worship was held on Dec. 4, 1955 Prairie school(now Prairie Norton). Valla Offensend was temporary treasurer, William Stern was temporary Sunday school superintendent, and the first Sunday school teachers were Mrs. Frederick Goddard, Mrs. Read Kingsbury, Mrs. William Stern, and Mrs. Kenneth Hamrick.
The first group organized at Westminster was a group called the Westminster Winners to make calls for 10 weeks. The first choir practice was held Dec. 18, 1955 conducted by Mary Muncie. Over 100 people attended the first social event which was a "Get Acquainted Night" covered dish held on Feb. 18, 1956 at the school.
By March 18, 1956 over 50 people had indicated their desire to become members.
Ground breaking ceremony for the church building at the corner of Amesbury Way and Schoolhouse Lane in Lincoln Village was held on Easter Sunday, April 1, 1956. The church was officially organized on April 8, 1956 with 100 members.
On April 10, 1956, Westminster Women's Association was organized. The first infant baptism was held on April 15, 1956.
In June, 1956, the vote on church union between the Presbyteryian Church in the United States of America and the United Presbyterian Church was approved by both assemblies.
The first worship service was held on October 4, 1956.
By Nov. 1959 the membership was 398. A 3-year building fund campaign was launched on Oct. 2, 1960 to add an additional church school facility.
By the 5th year membership was 460.
The new addition to the building was dedicated on Nov 25, 1962.
After 25 years going into 1980 membership was at 188. There were many more houses and churches in the area by that time.
The church went into maintenace mode for several years until 2001 when we started looking at how to make the church more accessible for anyone with difficulties entering or moving about the church.
A building campaign ensued in 2001 and decisions were made to revamp the sanctuary and install a new front parking lot in 2003 for easier access to the building with additional easier access parking spaces to the front entry into the building. This project was completed by 2005. Concrete gound level ramping was applied a few years later and has made the sanctuary easier to access with no steps into the sanctuary.
In 2022 since elevators were cost prohibitive and would lose functional rooms in the building we opted to install stairlifts that now allow access to the lower and upper levels of the building.
Future:
We are proud of our historical footprint that has provided a place of worship, a sense of belonging inside these walls and in the community, and a mission to many in the world.
