The Church on the Hill in the Heart of Clarks Summit
First Presbyterian Church of Clarks Summit has stood on School Street since 1912, when its earliest known service drew a worshiping community into the small borough just north of Scranton. The congregation calls itself simply the Church on the Hill, a name that fits the building's perch above the surrounding neighborhoods and the way it has come to identify the people who pass through its doors. Almost a century after that first service, the church describes itself as one of the liveliest Presbyterian congregations in Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the rhythm of its week - learning, singing, serving, and eating together - backs up the claim.
The church is a member congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the Rev. Bill Carter has served as pastor since 1990. Reverend Carter's long tenure is woven into almost every part of the church's identity. He preaches each Sunday, teaches regularly, and serves the wider denomination as a faculty member for the national CREDO program, as a preacher on the Day 1 radio ministry, and as an active member of Mountain Laurel Presbytery. The parish he leads is theologically rooted in the Reformed tradition, finds itself in the center of the Christian church, and gathers a membership that the pastor describes as neither stodgy nor off the wall. As he puts it, the congregation finds its coherence in a single confession: that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of the world.
A Sunday Morning Built on the Service for the Lord's Day
The Sunday service at 10:00 am follows the Service for the Lord's Day, the fourfold order that Presbyterians share with Christians around the world. The shape is simple and ancient: the people of God gather, listen for God to speak, respond to God's word, and depart to serve in the world. Each part of that pattern is named in the bulletin and prayed aloud - call to worship, prayer of confession, assurance of pardon, passing of the peace, prayer for illumination, scripture lessons, sermon, affirmation of faith, offering, and a final charge and benediction.
The church celebrates the Lord's Supper on the first Sunday of each month. On any given Sunday the music might include Bach or Brubeck, and the prayers are spoken in language people can understand. Masks are not required in the building, though anyone who prefers to wear one is welcome to do so.
The 10:00 am service is livestreamed on the church's YouTube channel, and recordings of past services are kept there for anyone who wants to revisit a sermon. Large print Bibles and bulletins are available from the ushers, and rides to worship can be arranged by calling the church office. First-time visitors are gently guided through the order with a laminated card in each pew, and children are folded into the service rather than asked to leave it.
Children, the Nursery, and Bible Time
From the moment a family walks into the sanctuary, the church signals that children belong. As children enter worship each Sunday, they are offered a children's Bible and handouts to help them follow along, and each pew holds a laminated guide that explains how younger worshipers can engage in the service. Activity bags for children can be picked up in the Narthex.
For the youngest, a fully staffed nursery is available in room 208 during worship for children three years old and under. Children who are four through about fourth grade are invited to leave the sanctuary after the anthem for Bible Time, a twenty-minute program in which Bible stories are told in a fun, engaging way. The children return to the sanctuary in time for the Prayers and the end of the service.
Vacation Bible School is a major summer undertaking. A week-long program is held each July, running Monday through Friday from 9:00 am until noon, and welcomes children from age four through fifth grade. The 2026 program is built around the Apostle Paul and the world of the early church, with a different activity each morning and a closing celebration on Friday.
Music, the 1922 Möller Organ, and the Presbybop Quartet
If worship is the heart of the congregation, music is a great deal of its bloodstream. The Adult Choir, the Adult Bell Choir, and the Presbybop Quartet all play a regular role in the 10:00 am service, and at least one group or choir participates in almost every Sunday of the church year.
The Adult Choir, directed by Frank Jones, is open to adults and older high school students who love to sing. Rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings at 6:15 pm in the sanctuary and run from late August through the spring. The Adult Bell Choir, for high school age through adult, rehearses on Wednesday evenings at 7:00 pm in Fellowship Hall, and its season resumes each October for the new program year. Choir season generally runs from September through May, and new musicians - members and non-members alike - are always welcome to join in.
The 1922 Möller pipe organ is one of the church's most distinctive instruments. The organ was built by the M. P. Möller Pipe Organ Company of Hagerstown, Maryland, and installed in the sanctuary in 1922 through the efforts of Mr. and Mrs. P. C. Wroe and MacDonald Heebner. In 2000 the nine-rank instrument was enlarged with Walker digital stops and moved to its present location in the attic, behind the cross above the choir. The church marked the organ's hundredth birthday on October 30, 2022 with a special service of worship. Kay Ten Eyck has been the church's organist since December 2008 and brings to the bench a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Heidelberg College in Tiffin, Ohio, and a long career in area churches.
The Presbybop Quartet, the church's own jazz ensemble, was formed by Reverend Carter in 1993. The group grew out of a single Sunday when the church needed a substitute organist, and Carter - a long-time professional jazz pianist - called a few musical friends to help lead worship. Twelve recordings later, the quartet is nationally known for its jazz masses and liturgical leadership, and Presbybop makes First Presbyterian its home for rehearsals. Each fall the quartet leads the church's Jazz Communion Service, and on Christmas Eve it leads the late-night service as well. Albums are available at presbybop.com and through CDBaby and iTunes.
Christian Education, Bible Study, and the Immerse Program
Christian education is a deeply held value of the congregation, and a calendar of classes runs throughout the year. The Wednesday evening Bible study meets at 6:00 pm in the library and is open to anyone who wants to dig into a particular book or theme. Adult classes have included recent series on the slow work of the Holy Spirit and on the Psalms as a prayer book for all seasons of life.
Presbyterian Women, organized locally as the Dorcas, Priscilla, and Eunice Circles, meet together on the third Tuesday morning of the month for fellowship and Bible study. The current year's study is United Through Christ, Bound to Each Other: Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians.
The Immerse Bible Reading Experience, a small-group program held at members' homes, meets on Mondays at 1:30 pm. It is designed to be welcoming for people who have struggled with reading the Bible on their own and uses the Immerse format, which gathers several books of the Bible into a single readable volume. The church also offers two named scholarship funds for young people: the Paul R. Dobson Memorial Scholarship for graduating high school seniors, and the Robert London Scholarship for any child, teen, or young adult who wants to attend a church camp, leadership conference, or other Christian education event.
For the men of the church, a Men's Breakfast meets on the first and third Thursdays of the month at 8:30 am in Room 206, and a Men's Breakfast and Bible Study Group meets on the second and fourth Thursdays. A Book Group gathers on the fourth Thursday evening of most months. Teachers of The Way, the Wednesday evening Church School, serves children from age two through adults.
Mission Across the County and Around the World
The Mission and Justice Committee anchors the church's service to the wider community. The committee is guided by the denomination's Office of Presbyterian Missions and supports a long list of local, national, and international partners.
Locally, the church collects clothing for the St. Francis Kitchen in Scranton, serves a monthly meal at the soup kitchen, contributes travel-size hand sanitizers to the Voluntary Action Center's Care Bags in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, cleans a section of the Morgan Highway four times a year as part of the PennDOT Adopt-A-Highway program, and partners with Hickory Street Presbyterian Church on a community meals program. The My Brother's Keeper quilt group makes sleeping bags for the homeless, meeting on the second and fourth Tuesday mornings in Fellowship Hall. Coups for Troops, a non-profit that collects manufacturers' coupons for military families, has a basket for unused clipped coupons in the Narthex.
Around the world, the church's reach is just as wide. A decades-long connection to the village of Gwo-Jan in Haiti continues through Yaya, a friend of the congregation who returned to Haiti after earning his college degree. The church has supported the tuition of Gwo-Jan children, and the Mission and Justice Committee displays a series of photographs and the story of the Choukoun - a small gathering place in the village that the church helped fund, where the letters FPCCS are written inside a heart at the center. The church also supports a Central European Mission through Burkhard Paetzold, who works with Roma people and refugees from his base in Germany, and a ministry that sends aid to Ukraine. The Alternative Gift Market, held in late autumn each year, features SERRV, Heifer International, the Presbyterian Coffee Project, the Appalachia Service Project, and the Pygmy Project as alternatives to conventional holiday giving. Reaching the Pygmies Ministry, established in 1994 to aid Batwa Pygmies evicted from their traditional rainforest home, receives regular support through the Mission and Justice Committee.
Each fall, the church devotes a full weekend to Worship through Service. Past projects have included helping at the Clarks Summit State Hospital fair, organizing donations at Angel's Attic, cleaning up Abington Hills Cemetery, stitching quilts, assembling sandwiches for the Community Intervention Center, sorting food at the NEPA Youth Shelter food pantry, and singing at a local assisted-living community. The PC(USA) Special Offerings - One Great Hour of Sharing, the Pentecost Offering, the Peace and Global Witness Offering, and the Christmas Joy Offering - are woven into the church's calendar throughout the year.
An Earth Care Congregation with a Century of Bulletins
First Presbyterian is one of about eleven Presbyterian congregations in Pennsylvania and roughly three hundred nationwide that have been designated Earth Care Congregations through the PC(USA) Office of Environmental Ministries. The church has publicly adopted four pledges - in worship, in its facilities, in outreach, and in education - to cherish, protect, and restore the earth, and is forming an Earth Care Corner as a way to share ideas, news, and concerns.
The Archives reflect just how deep the congregation's roots run. Bulletins in the church's archive begin with a service from September 20, 1912, and a 20th anniversary bulletin from October 9, 1932, anchors the story of a parish that has kept a continuous record of its worship for more than a century. The Presbyter monthly newsletter has been published for decades, and a digital archive stretches back to 2013, with older print issues going back to 1947. Annual reports from 2013 through 2018 are kept in the archive as well.
The FPCCS Endowment Fund, administered by the Presbyterian Foundation, was created by the Session to give the church a long-term, sustainable source of income for the years ahead. Gifts may be made as cash, securities, bequests, endowed pledges, life insurance, or retirement plan designations, and the Fund is overseen by a committee of members.
Caring Ministries, Recovery Groups, and the Board of Deacons
The Board of Deacons is elected to show care and concern for members and friends of the church. Deacons provide transportation to worship services, visit shut-ins, assist people in crises, maintain contact with college students, and support local food drives. The Caring Ministries program extends that care to people in independent and assisted living, families at the time of a loss, and households facing emergency home repair or maintenance needs. Anyone who knows of someone in need of care can call the church office, and the Deacons' Care Team Coordinators will follow up.
Two twelve-step recovery groups meet at the church. Tradition 3 Group AA gathers every morning at 7:00 am in Room 206, and Overeaters Anonymous meets in Room 210. Both are open to anyone in the community who needs them.
Joining the Congregation and the Arts at First Presbyterian
People who want to make First Presbyterian their church home can do so by letter of transfer from another church, by reaffirmation of faith, or by baptism and affirmation of faith for those joining a church for the first time. New Member Conversations are held with Reverend Carter as interest arises, immediately following worship.
Arts at First Presbyterian, a community concert series hosted by the church, opens the 2026-2027 season with the Kerry Kenny Band on the first Sunday in October. The series brings original music, classic rock, folk, Celtic, Americana, and blues to the sanctuary and treats the building as a gathering place for the wider Clarks Summit community as well as the congregation.
The church office is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 am to 12:00 pm and again from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm. Visitors and members are warmly invited to stop in, explore the building, listen to the organ, walk through a Sunday service, or simply sit and watch the light change on the hill.