For more than 150 years, Fallston Presbyterian Church has stood on Fallston Road in northern Harford County, Maryland - known to neighbors as the white church with the columns. The congregation gathers each Sunday at 10:30 a.m. for worship that blends traditional hymns with contemporary and contemplative music, broadcasts the service live on Zoom, and shares the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of each month.
From a Hotel Barroom to the Sanctuary on the Hill
The story of Fallston Presbyterian begins in the fall of 1872, when the Reverend Ebenezer D. Finney, a young minister of the First Presbyterian Church of Bel Air, started holding services in the barroom of an unoccupied hotel in the Fallston area. By June 1873, plans were already underway for a permanent church building. James K. Hamilton donated the land, and a 26-by-45-foot sanctuary was built at a cost of $1,890. A schoolhouse followed on the same grounds and served as part of Harford County Public Schools until the 1960s.
The church was formally organized on January 4, 1874 - the date the congregation counts as its founding. Reverend Finney served faithfully until May 13, 1891. For the next seventy years, supply ministers from Franklinville and Chestnut Grove churches filled the pulpit. In 1961, Fallston Presbyterian officially separated from Franklinville and called its first full-time pastor, the Reverend Lawrence H. Jongewaard. A larger sanctuary - given momentum by a bequest from church member Mary Sewell - was constructed in 1985 and dedicated in February 1987. The little 1873 building had done its work well.
Through every decade, the congregation has held tightly to two traits that newcomers still remark on: a multi-generational welcome and a deep commitment to learning.
Worship with Room for Every Generation
Sunday morning worship is the center of the church's life. The service runs about an hour and follows a traditional but relaxed shape. A bulletin guides worshipers through the order of worship, marking cues to stand for hymns, prayers, and readings while printing congregational responses in full. Music director Tian Lu leads a choir that prepares an anthem each week, accompanied by organ and piano. The musical palette intentionally runs from traditional hymns to contemporary songs and the occasional contemplative piece. Visitors will hear long-standing favorites like Amazing Grace, Be Still My Soul, Holy Holy Holy, and Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee alongside newer settings of the psalms.
Children are not separated from this hour; they are part of it. Each week the pastor or another worship leader offers a children's moment with a message just for the younger members of the congregation. The passing of the peace gives the congregation time to greet visitors and each other.
Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month. All who trust in Jesus Christ and have been baptized in his name are welcome at the table, and gluten-free elements are available on request. On the last Sunday of the warmer months, weather permitting, the service moves outdoors into the church's Meditation Garden at the back of the parking lot.
Throughout the church year, special services mark the seasons. Advent opens with a Hanging of the Greens service and continues through four Sundays focused on hope, peace, joy, and love, climaxing in candlelight worship on Christmas Eve at 4:00 p.m. Lent begins with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday and walks through Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday, ending in the bright rejoicing of Easter Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Pentecost brings red paraments, the singing of Happy Birthday to the church, and a focus on the Spirit's outpouring.
The Emma Clair Arthur Memorial Garden
At the bottom of the church parking lot, behind the main building, sits the Emma Clair Arthur Memorial Garden, dedicated in 2014 to the memory of a young grandchild of church members. The garden was created so that all who have lost loved ones could plant something in their memory and find a quiet outdoor space for meditation, prayer, and worship. On warmer Sundays the memorial garden doubles as an open-air sanctuary.
Two permanent pieces have joined the garden over the years. A chalkboard cross invites visitors to write a prayer and leave it visible to whoever stops by next. A prayer station is being developed as an invitation to sit and pray specifically for people on the visitor's heart. Near Holy Week each year, the congregation offers a quiet meditational spirituality center inside the church, with stations for prayer and reflection that can be taken home and revisited throughout the week.
Fallston Community Pre-K: A Faith-Based Beginning Since the 1950s
The same Fallston Road property has been home to a Christian preschool since the 1950s, growing out of an era when the original schoolhouse on the grounds had been used by Harford County Public Schools. Today Fallston Community Pre-K is a state-approved program governed by a committee that includes the church's minister, the school's director, and several church members. Programs follow Maryland State Department of Education standards and are built around a hands-on curriculum that moves children through letter identification, sight words, counting, science discovery, and play.
Class options include a five-day Pre-K 4 program (Monday through Friday, 9:00 to 11:30 a.m.), a three-day Pre-K 4 option (Monday, Wednesday, Friday at the same times), a Pre-K 3 program on Tuesday and Thursday, and a parent-tot class on Wednesday mornings. Class size is capped at about fourteen children, with a teacher and an assistant in every room. Tuition is supplemented by community sponsors and by the church's underwriting of the program, which means more families can participate.
The pastor holds a series of monthly chapels with the students using The Beginner's Bible: Timeless Children's Stories. In roughly thirty minutes the children hear a story from either the Old or New Testament and then reinforce it with a craft, an activity, or a song. A Thanksgiving chapel invites each child to share three things for which they are grateful; an Advent chapel retells the Christmas story; a spring chapel retells Easter. Lessons on the Good Samaritan, Joseph and his brothers, and the Israelites in the desert shape how the children learn to forgive, to make good choices, and to trust a God who keeps promises.
The school partners with the congregation's outreach program - planting raised beds for families transitioning out of homelessness, helping assemble Thanksgiving food boxes, and walking alongside the monthly mission emphasis each season.
Christian Formation for Adults
The church sees growth in faith as a lifelong pursuit, and the rhythms around Sunday morning support that.
Adult Sunday School meets at 9:00 a.m. each Sunday during the school year in the Fellowship Hall, with light refreshments usually available. The group walks through books of the Bible, picks up short topical studies, and occasionally turns to current events. The current format uses an in-house study that surveys the whole story of Scripture from beginning to end.
A different kind of formation happens in small group Bible study. The DISCIPLE class is an ecumenical study that reads through the whole Bible in thirty-two weeks, meeting on Tuesday nights. An Advanced Discipleship class helps seasoned Christians learn how to mentor others in faith. Day and evening options are offered across the year, and the church welcomes anyone interested in starting a new group around a topic that matters to them.
For older members, a senior lunch bunch meets on the third Wednesday of each month at noon at a local restaurant, sharing updates, solving puzzles, and just being together. All women in the church and community are welcome at Presbyterian Women's Bible Study, held on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 7:00 p.m. The format rotates leaders, requires no advance preparation, and reserves time for sharing prayer concerns and giving thanks.
Vacation Bible School happens one week each summer - typically in the evenings - and is open to children of all ages and their families. A week of Bible stories, music, games, and crafts is paired with a meal each evening. Recent themes have included the story of Daniel in Babylon, Everywhere Fun Fair, and G-Force: God's Love in Action. Middle schoolers from the congregation serve as mentors to the younger children, and families are invited to bring donations for a local mission project connected to the week's curriculum.
Outreach: Faith Worn on Aprons and Sleeves
A large share of the church's energy goes outward. The congregation supports a trio of anchor partners in Harford County and a much wider circle of regional and national ministries.
Faith Community and Civic Agencies United (FCCAU) provides an overnight shelter for thirty-three men and women with food, showers, a clothing closet, and laundry. Fallston Presbyterian members donate food, prepare meals, stock paper products, and contribute furniture, linens, and housewares when clients move into permanent housing.
Harford Community Action Agency (HCAA) helps clients with emergency food, utility bills, and other pressing needs. The congregation donates toiletries for HCAA clients, drops off children's books for the waiting room, and volunteers on the food-pantry shelves.
Found in Faith Ministries grew out of a furniture ministry Fallston Presbyterian had run for many years. Volunteers pick up donated furniture and deliver it - sofas, tables, mattresses, lamps, dressers, small appliances - to people moving out of homelessness into their own apartments. The ministry now serves clients well beyond the church.
These three organizations anchor a much wider circle of mission support. The list runs from local to national: Birthright of Harford County (Choose Hope), Harford Family House, Homecoming House, Disabled American Veterans, Church World Service, the Presbytery of Baltimore's Shared Ministry giving, and Habitat for Humanity Susquehanna. Each month during the school year the congregation takes on an Item of the Month collection - toiletries for the food pantry, blankets and bed frames for Found in Faith, winter coats for the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, or paper products for Harford Family House. In November the church honors veterans by packing grooming kits for homeless vets leaving shelters and hospitals.
The church also hosts Al-Anon meetings in its Fellowship Hall on Monday evenings (parents) and Wednesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. Friends and families of problem drinkers are welcome at any time.
Mission Trips Across Harford County and Beyond
Longer-distance mission is built around rebuilding after natural disasters and a yearly partnership with South Dakota. Trips have carried teams to the Gulf Coast after major hurricanes and to the Midwest after tornado outbreaks. Each team is a mix of skilled and unskilled volunteers - a steady joke around the church is that no one leaves the way they arrived.
The congregation has also partnered for years with the Baltimore-Dakota Learning Camps, leading Vacation Bible School for children on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Each fall, members send boxes of hats, gloves, scarves, and socks for Christmas and New Year's gifts to the same community.
Pastoral Care and a Listening Church
The members of Fallston Presbyterian take seriously their responsibility to one another. The pastor makes personal calls on families in need or in crisis and visits members in the hospital to pray and offer support. Deacons follow up with cards, phone calls, visits, and meals. The congregation actively supports the families of Pre-K students, whether or not they are members of the church - including blessing blankets for ill Pre-K students and holding prayer services for Pre-K parents fighting cancer. Prayer requests go directly to the pastor by email and are held in prayer by the whole community.
Walking Ecumenically with Neighbors
The church belongs to the Presbytery of Baltimore within the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - Presbyterian, but not the only Christians. Around Fallston the congregation gathers ecumenically with three neighboring congregations: Fallston United Methodist Church, Holy Communion Lutheran Church, and St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church. Each year the four share a Good Friday service and a joint service the Sunday before Thanksgiving, and they gather for a community prayer walk to bless local schools, students, and teachers at the start of a new year.
Baptisms, Weddings, and the Lord's Supper
The two sacraments recognized by the Presbyterian tradition are celebrated with care. Baptism is described as a true joy and a sure sign of God's presence and love. Adults affirm their faith; parents of infants and children affirm that God has already claimed their child and promise to raise that child within the Christian community - no matter where the family goes. The church pledges in turn to walk with each family through childhood and into adult discipleship.
Marriage is taught as a covenant made in the sight of God and within the fellowship of the church. Fallston Presbyterian welcomes couples for weddings and asks that they review the published wedding guidelines and meet with the pastor before planning. The church takes seriously its long-term relationship with the families it marries - to nurture them as the years go by.
Joining the Church
Anyone may become a member of Fallston Presbyterian. No one is denied membership because of age, gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnic origin, class, or any other reason not related to profession of faith. Visitors interested in taking the next step are invited to meet with the pastor to talk about what membership looks like.
Pastoral and Program Leadership
Rev. Jose Lopez-Chapa serves as pastor, having come to Fallston Presbyterian with his wife, the Rev. Dr. Melissa López (pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Bel Air), and their two children after years of ministry in Northern Michigan and Texas. Originally from Texas, Pastor José is a graduate of Texas A&M University and Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Tian Lu, an international concert pianist, leads the church's music ministry and serves as Artist Director of the Baltimore International Piano Festival. Kelly Long directs Fallston Community Pre-K, drawing on fifteen years of teaching in Harford County schools and a master's degree in instructional technology.
For 150 years the church has been a family of unconditional love, support, and encouragement on Fallston Road. Members describe it today the same way they did a generation ago: once we attended Fallston Presbyterian, we knew this was going to be our church home.