Christ Presbyterian Church sits on Deerfield Road in the Allendale neighborhood of Camp Hill, just off Interstate 83 at exit 40B in Lower Allen Township. The congregation, known locally as CPC, gathers each week around a three-part motto: "Proclaiming Christ. Loving and Serving Others. Learning and Growing Together." From Sunday worship to a half-day preschool that has served local families since 1959, the church weaves those three commitments into every part of its ministry.
Sunday Worship at 10:15
Worship takes place each Sunday at 10:15 am in the sanctuary, with the service also livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. Visitors will find the parking lot closest to the sanctuary and office entrances just before the church on the left as they approach. From 9:45 am during the school year, coffee and donuts are served in the lounge. Print bulletins and sermon manuscripts sit at the Welcome Table in the lounge and by the main doors of the sanctuary. Build-Your-Own Worship bags are available in the lounge for young worshippers, and nursery care is provided for children up to three years old. Children ages four through first grade may attend Pew Prep and Children's Church. Audio from the service is also piped into the lounge and the nursery suite for parents of small children.
Christian Education for All Ages
Faith formation at CPC begins in the nursery and continues through adulthood. On Sunday mornings from October through May, a rotation of programs fills the 9:00 hour. Adults gather for Faithful Conversations, a Bible study and discussion series that asks hard questions about how Reformed Christian faith speaks into evil, injustice, violence, and deep disagreement. Children in kindergarten through third grade join the Young Worship Team to learn the parts of worship in age-appropriate ways and help lead the congregation the following week. Youth in fourth through twelfth grade meet as Young Worship Team 2.0 to explore new ways of engaging faith and preparing to lead. Children and youth who love to sing rehearse with the choirs during this hour, and on the third Sunday the children gather instead for Prayground, open to those from birth through twelfth grade.
Midweek, an adult Bible study meets year-round on Wednesdays from 10:00 to 11:00 am. From October through March, Wednesday Night Live (WNL) gathers children and youth in kindergarten through twelfth grade from 5:30 to 7:30 pm for a free meal, structured activities, and open gym. Participants come from a variety of congregations and faith backgrounds, and no church affiliation is required. The fourth Sunday of the month sets aside formal programming in favor of a potluck brunch at 9:15 am for all ages.
Music Ministries
The music program invites participation from anyone who wants to sing or ring. The Adult Handbell Choir rehearses in the sanctuary on Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 7:15 pm, offering musical selections and hymn accompaniments in worship at various times during the year. The Adult Vocal Choir rehearses from 7:30 to 8:30 pm on Thursdays in the choir room behind the sanctuary, singing an anthem most Sundays from September through May and during special evening services, with summer solo opportunities as well. No audition is needed for either choir. Children in kindergarten through twelfth grade rehearse the Children's Vocal and Chime Choir on Wednesday evenings at 5:45 pm and present their gift of music in worship quarterly and during seasons like Christmas Eve. The Director of Music, Jordan Carey, oversees all three ensembles.
Mission in Community
Outreach at CPC runs through a year-round Donation Hub, with each two-month stretch devoted to a specific need: toilet paper for the Harrisburg Area Food Pantry in January and February, adult socks and underwear for Downtown Daily Bread in March and April, personal care items for the food pantry in May and June, easy-prep lunches for West Shore School District students in July and August, hygiene items for Fairview Intermediate School's Care Closet in September and October, and diapers for New Hope Ministries' Lemoyne Center in November and December. Donations are placed in a bin in the Fellowship Hall or Sanctuary Lounge. A Donation Station near the church office collects eyeglasses, cell phones, and toiletries for Downtown Daily Bread, and a book exchange and sale outside Fellowship Hall raises money for benevolence.
The Mission in Community Commission supports a long list of local and global partners through regular volunteer time and benevolence giving. CPC actively engages with Christian Churches United, an ecumenical partnership of more than 100 congregations in Dauphin, Cumberland, and Perry counties; Downtown Daily Bread, where 80 to 120 hot meals are served every afternoon at the Boyd Center and CPC volunteers prepare the Wednesday meal; the Ecumenical Food Pantry, the largest pantry served by the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, where CPC volunteers help distribute food monthly; the Joshua Group's after-school and summer learning programs for youth in Allison Hill; Lend A Hand, a disaster-response network that CPC supports as one of the most active congregations in the Presbytery; Sonshine Ministries, a discipleship program for men rebuilding lives from addiction; Family Promise of Harrisburg Capital Region, partnering with Fishing Creek Salem United Methodist Church to provide temporary lodging and meals for homeless families; the Holy Spirit Medical Outreach that serves the homeless in inner-city Harrisburg; New Hope Ministries, a Christian social service agency; Beacon Clinic, a faith-based free health clinic for the uninsured and underinsured; and The Program, which supports individuals involved with the criminal justice system, primarily women and children, to prevent recidivism. Project ASK (Assisting Students and Kids), a ministry of Christian Churches United, partners with the West Shore School District social worker to meet unmet needs of children in that district anonymously.
Globally, CPC supports the Presbyterian Education Board in Pakistan, contributing to scholarships and the construction of a secure multipurpose building at PEB Lahore, helping students attend PEB schools for as little as $20 per month.
Closer to home, the Prayer Shawl Ministry, founded about twenty years ago, has produced more than 2,000 shawls knit and crocheted by roughly ten women who meet in the church library at 1:00 pm on the first and third Mondays of each month. Each shawl is blessed during a worship service before being given to those grieving, ill, in despair, or in need of comfort, and the group has donated shawls to Hershey Medical Center, Bethany Village, Lend-A-Hand mission trips, area nursing homes, and Meals on Wheels clients. Hats, mittens, scarves, and baby afghans have also been crafted, and newcomers are welcome whether or not they already know how to knit.
Half-day Preschool Since 1959
Christ Presbyterian Church Preschool (CPCP) has been educating the community's youngest children since 1959, growing out of a kindergarten program that predated public-school offerings. Today it serves three-, four-, and five-year-olds in three classes that meet Tuesday through Friday, September through May, in light, spacious classrooms on the main floor of the church building near the parking lot. A fenced playground with sandbox, climbing equipment, seesaw, stepping stones, and a chalkboard keeps children active in good weather, while Fellowship Hall serves as a rainy-day play space with tricycles, balls, hula hoops, a balance beam, and a tumbling mat. During school hours, every door to the church is locked.
Inchworms (PreK-3) meet Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 9:00 to 11:30 am for $165 per month. Caterpillars (PreK-4) add Friday and meet for $190 per month, ideal for children not entering kindergarten the following year. Butterflies (PreK-5) for children heading into kindergarten meet Tuesdays through Fridays from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm for $295 per month. An optional Lunch Bunch program for PreK-3 and PreK-4 families runs on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. Children must be age three, four, or five by September 1 of the current school year and must be potty-trained. A scholarship fund in honor of Lisa Shenck, the program's longtime teacher and director for over thirty years, helps families with tuition, and CPCP is also an approved provider for the TFEC Early Education Scholarship and the United Way EITC childcare scholarship programs. Director Deena Du oversees the program, with teachers Page Reeve (Inchworms), Teressa Kilheffer (Caterpillars), and Caitlin Panko (Butterflies).
Fellowship Through the Year
Fellowship at CPC is built into the regular rhythm of the week. From October through May, coffee and donuts run in the lounge each Sunday at 9:45 am. The second Sunday of the month brings a potluck brunch at 9:00 am in Room 4 with programming for children, youth, and adults. Second Sundays in summer bring an all-church meal and Vacation Bible School-style learning event after worship. On the first Monday of every month at 11:30 am, the CPC Lunch Bunch gathers at a different local restaurant for food and fellowship. Adults can also join the Prayer Shawl Ministry on the first and third Mondays at 1:00 pm for knitting, crocheting, fellowship, and laughter.
The Memorial Garden and the Building as a Community Hub
Just beyond the west side of the sanctuary, a landscaped Memorial Garden offers a place for meditation and for the interment of cremains, open to both members and the wider community and tended by a Memorial Committee. The building itself doubles as a gathering place for non-profit and community organizations, with available rooms including Fellowship Hall (capacity 350 for assembly, 160 for seated events), Room 4 (capacity 80), Room 8 (capacity 20), Room 11 (capacity 8), and Room 6 (capacity 8 to 10). Hosting groups provide a building use request form, proof of insurance, and background checks if minors will be hosted.
Among the regular community guests meeting on the property: the Allendale Association; an Alzheimer's Association support group that convenes the second Saturday of each month at 10:00 am; the Appalachian Audubon Society, which meets the third Thursday of each month from September through April; a Jacki Sorensen's aerobics class on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9:00 to 10:00 am in Fellowship Hall; the Cumberland County Board of Elections; the Keystone Capital Chorus, the local chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society; a Pennsylvania Lyme Resources Network support group on second Tuesdays from 7:00 to 9:00 pm; Parkside Harmony and Parkside Melody a cappella choruses; and the West Shore Meals on Wheels, which both keeps office space in the building and uses it as a staging area for delivery teams serving New Cumberland, Wormleysburg, Lemoyne, Camp Hill, and portions of Lower Allen Township.
Where to Find Them
Christ Presbyterian Church sits at 421 Deerfield Road, Camp Hill, PA 17011, in the Allendale development of Lower Allen Township, just off Interstate 83 exit 40B. Office hours run Monday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, and pastoral appointments can be arranged through the church office at (717) 737-0051. Pastoral emergencies after hours are routed through option 3 on the voicemail. Pastor Lynn Miller leads the congregation, Eli McCulloch Cappel directs Christian Education, Jordan Carey directs Music, and Deena Du directs the Preschool. Sunday worship, the building schedule, programs for children and youth, and midweek Bible study all run year round, with Wednesday Night Live, the children's choirs, and Sunday morning education following the October-through-May rhythm of the school year.