An 1805 Congregation in the Village of Granville
First Presbyterian Church of Granville sits on the southwest corner of West Broadway and Main Street in the heart of the village, its stone walls and stained glass listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the oldest church in Granville, having been founded in 1805 by the first settlers who came to the village from Massachusetts, and its members still come from every direction around Licking County, Newark to New Albany, Blacklick to Buckeye Lake, bringing a wide blend of experiences and gifts into one congregation. The church describes itself as an inclusive community in the Presbyterian Church (USA), a mainline denomination in the Reformed tradition that affirms the equality of women and men in church leadership and ministry.
Worship is rooted in the rhythms of liturgy yet open to new ways of encountering God. Mission is taken just as seriously. The congregation has committed itself as a Matthew 25 church, a designation within the PC(USA) that calls for bold, compassionate action on behalf of people who are hungry, oppressed, imprisoned, or poor. Members serve in the community through food security programs, housing partnerships, environmental stewardship, and a youth construction mission trip, and they sustain a Stephen Ministry of lay caregivers who walk alongside people through grief, divorce, illness, and other hard seasons.
Sunday Worship in the Landmark Sanctuary
Sunday morning worship gathers at 10:00 a.m. in the Sanctuary. The service focuses on Scripture, prayer, and a sermon, with music from the Chancel Choir, the Angel Choir, and instrumentalists, alongside hymns accompanied on piano and organ. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month and at special services during the church year. The whole service is livestreamed through YouTube Live and Facebook Live, so that members who are traveling, homebound, or simply exploring from a distance can take part.
The congregation has chosen a thoughtful, intergenerational way of including children in worship. Worship Bags sit at the Sanctuary entrance with activities that engage children through Scripture; families are invited to pick one up on the way in and return it on the way out. A Prayground occupies the tables at the back of the Sanctuary, with hands-on, Scripture-based activities that let young worshipers use their energy and curiosity without leaving the room. A Word with Children moment during most services brings children forward for a message crafted especially for them, paired with the day's Scripture reading.
A staffed nursery for children from birth through age three is open each Sunday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Coffee Hour follows the service in Heritage Hall, with light refreshments and time to greet one another. Parking can be tight in the village, but the church has a lot directly behind the building and on-street parking along Broadway and Main, with most visitors finding a space within a block.
Wonderful Wednesdays Around the Heritage Hall Table
The most distinctive weekly gathering at Granville Pres takes place on Wednesday evenings during the school year, when all ages come together for Wonderful Wednesday from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in Heritage Hall. The hour is built around a shared meal, fellowship, and faith-filled conversation, often including singing and a planned activity. RSVPing ahead helps the kitchen plan, and guests are welcome whether they come every week or only once.
Faith formation for adults stretches through the week in a number of smaller circles. PRISM, the Sunday-morning adult small group, meets in the Church Library from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and has taken on Parker Palmer's Healing the Heart of Democracy for a current nine-week study. Bible Speaks gathers on Thursdays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Zoom, and the Men's Bible Study meets Mondays from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. in the Library. Periodically, Theology on Tap relocates adult conversation to Seek No Further Cidery on East Elm Street, an evening that draws a mix of regulars and newcomers for meaningful theological dialogue over drinks.
Throughout the year there are also church-wide dinners and seasonal classes. Newcomers who want to go deeper have a clear on-ramp through First Connections, a casual gathering with the pastor and other leaders designed to introduce the church's ministries, mission, and values.
Children's Ministry on Wednesdays and the Prayground
Children from kindergarten through sixth grade gather for Children's Ministry Formation on Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m., using a curriculum called "Disciples and Dragons." Each week begins with an imaginative time-travel adventure into a Bible story, followed by reading the story itself and drawing connections back to the children's own lives. The aim is to give kids both a vivid experience of the narrative and a real handle on the Scripture behind it.
The Prayground and Children's Choir keep children tied to Sunday morning worship. Children who are in fourth through sixth grade are also invited to Club 456 on a Mission, which meets once a month for service projects, baking, a farm day, packing meals for the Healthy Kids Network, and other hands-on activities that stretch them as they prepare to cross into the youth ministry. Traditional markers of the church year include the Granville Ecumenical Vacation Bible School, a Christmas pageant, and an Easter Egg Hunt. Infant baptism is the traditional practice of the PC(USA), and anyone at any age who has not previously been baptized is invited to receive the sacrament.
Across all of this runs the Children's Choir, rehearsing Sundays from 9:15 to 9:45 a.m. in the Angel Choir Room under Children's Music Director Aaron Wilburn. The choir's mission is to bring young singers into the broader community of faith through song, and the group has a habit of offering its music well beyond the Sanctuary walls.
Youth, Team 78, and the Angel Choir
Youth ministry at Granville Pres is built around two weekly gatherings on Sunday evenings. Team 78 welcomes seventh and eighth graders from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., with a focus on relationships, faith exploration, and friendship as students navigate the middle school years. Senior High Youth, for ninth through twelfth graders, meets at the same time and begins with a shared meal, followed by discussion and games; outside the weekly schedule, students continue to support one another at school and church events and put their faith into action through service and mission.
Concrete opportunities mark the year. A fall retreat draws seventh through twelfth graders away from the busyness of daily life for worship, conversation, and reflection. In alternate summers, Senior High Youth travel to the Montreat Youth Conference in North Carolina, and on the off years they serve on a weeklong construction mission trip, repairing and building homes for families in need. The Massanetta Springs Middle School Conference in Virginia serves sixth through eighth graders in summer with keynotes, recreation, workshops, and worship designed with them in mind.
For singers in grades seven through twelve, the Angel Choir is the music ministry centerpiece. Rehearsals on Sunday evenings run from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. (girls from 4:30 to 5:15, boys from 5:15 to 6:00, with a crossover rehearsal roughly once a month). The choir sings in Sunday morning worship about once a month from September through May, presents a program for Granville's Christmas Candlelight Walking Tour on the first Saturday of Advent, and gives concerts around the community. Every other summer, the high school members take a weeklong Summer Singing Tour; in 2026 the group traveled more than 2,000 miles through Philadelphia, the New Jersey shore, the coast of Maine, and Annapolis, ending at the U.S. Naval Academy Chapel.
Music for the Congregation and the Wider Community
Music is one of the strongest witnesses of First Presbyterian Church of Granville. The Chancel Choir, open to all voices ages eighteen and up, rehearses Thursday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. with a flexible schedule that recognizes the rhythm of its singers. The choir prepares music for weekly worship, special services, and seasonal events, and each year presents a large choral work. Recent programs have ranged across Faure's Requiem, Tim Sharp's joyful Bluegrass Mass, and John Rutter's Requiem.
Two bell choirs round out the instrumental life. JuBellee, welcoming to all ages and built for beginning skills, rehearses at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and plays in worship two to four times a year. Festivo, the advanced ensemble, rehearses at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and plays once a month. Both choirs have performed at The James Comprehensive Cancer Center during the holiday season and at the Granville Christmas Candlelight Walking Tour.
Periodically, the Sanctuary hosts concerts that are open to the wider community, part of a Music for Sacred Spaces series organized by Director of Music Philip Everingham. Recent and upcoming offerings include a Beethoven Sonata Project and a Celtic Communion Service drawn from the worship traditions of the Celtic church.
Stephen Ministers, Prayer Quilts, and a Meal Train
Congregational care at Granville Pres flows through both staff and trained laypeople. The church's Stephen Ministry is a team of lay caregivers, trained by Stephen Leaders, who provide high-quality, one-to-one Christian care to people going through difficult times. A Stephen Minister typically meets with one care receiver once a week for about an hour, and the team gathers twice a month for supervision and continuing education. The relationship is strictly confidential; men are matched with men and women with women, and referrals are made when needs go beyond what a Stephen Minister can provide.
Around that backbone, the congregation maintains a quieter rhythm of practical care. A Prayer Chain lifts requests sent in through the church office. Traveling Communion brings the sacrament each month to residents at Otterbein, and is offered on request to others who cannot attend in person. Members sew Quilts for baptisms and others who need to be wrapped in a hug. Deacon Parish Care teams visit members in care facilities weekly and deliver flowers and cookies at Christmas and Easter. A Meal Train brings food to families with new babies, post-surgery recoveries, or recent losses, and a hospitality team plans Receptions for Memorial Services at the church.
A Matthew 25 Congregation with Packed Backpacks and Planted Trees
First Presbyterian Church of Granville lives out its faith through a sprawling mission network organized by Director of Mission Ellen Clark. The building is a founding member of the Licking County Coalition of Care, a non-denominational partnership of more than fifty local churches dedicated to emergency assistance, and it sits squarely within the PC(USA)'s Matthew 25 initiative.
Food security is a central thread. The church co-hosts a free Community Dinner with Second Presbyterian Church of Newark every Monday from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., with sit-down and take-out options; First Presbyterian Granville hosts every second and fourth Monday. Volunteers serve from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. Nearly every other month, church members pack backpacks through the Y Healthy Kids Network Backpack Program, which sends about 420 backpacks of weekend food home with local students each week. During summer Saturdays from June through August, volunteers collect unsold produce from the Granville Farmers Market and deliver it to the Drop-In Center through Share the Harvest. The congregation also stocks the Blessing Box weekly with First Presbyterian Church of Newark, and every year the church joins Second Presbyterian of Newark for a Rise Against Hunger meal-packaging event that has produced about 10,000 meals in recent years.
Housing and recovery partnerships run alongside the food work. The church supports the Center for New Beginnings shelter and services for women and children fleeing domestic violence; the Holy Trinity Lutheran Drop-In Center, where members help sustain a calm place for guests to find rest and stock needed supplies; Whole Living Recovery, providing safe, sober, community-based housing for women and men in early recovery; and the Licking County Coalition of Care, in which the church participates at a founding-church level. Earth care is taken seriously through the PC(USA) Earth Care Congregation pledge and through 1,500 Trees, a ministry that has set out to plant 1,500 trees throughout Licking County and that recently received a $2,500 award from the Licking County Foundation.
Younger generations are folded into this work. Team 78 on a Mission gives seventh and eighth graders a chance to put their faith into action through hands-on service projects across the county, alongside sensitivity training and poverty simulations. Club 456 on a Mission does the same for fourth through sixth graders. Starting Strong through Fostering Further supports young adults aging out of foster care, and the church sponsors an apartment at Hope Landing. Each summer, college-aged and adult volunteers travel together on a construction mission trip within the United States, repairing and building homes for families in need. The congregation also makes financial contributions to Healing Art Mission in Haiti, supporting comprehensive healthcare, education, and clean water initiatives in rural southern Haiti.
A Pastor New to the Village
The Rev. Wallace W. Bubar began serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Granville in 2025, arriving from previous pastorates in Iowa City, Des Moines, and Philadelphia. A native of Fort Worth, Texas, he holds a B.A. from Baylor University, an M.A. from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and an M.Div. from Emory University, with additional study at the Universität-Göttingen in Germany. He was ordained in 2001. He is married to Gabriele Albrecht, a native of Hildesheim, Germany, who teaches English Language Learners in the Southwest Licking School District. Their daughters, Lena and Sophie, attend St. Olaf College and Granville High School, respectively. The pastor can often be found walking local trails, spending time on the Denison campus, connecting with others at one of the village coffee shops, and, of course, shopping at the IGA.
Staying Connected Between Sundays
The church keeps its members linked through several everyday tools. Worship services are livestreamed every Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. on YouTube and Facebook Live, and recordings remain available afterward. The weekly e-mail update covers worship, formation, music, and mission, while a printed monthly newsletter called the Messenger arrives in mailboxes. Realm, the church's online ministry platform, hosts the directory, groups, event registration, and online giving, and it is available through both a web version and a mobile Connect App. Giving can be made online through Realm, by mailing a check, by automatic bill pay through a personal bank, or by stock or planned gift through the church's endowment funds. Office hours run Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and the building at 110 West Broadway is open throughout the week for those who want to step in.