A Peace Church on Fruitville Pike
Lancaster Brethren in Christ Church (LBIC) meets on Fruitville Pike on the north side of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where a community shaped by Anabaptist convictions gathers for two Sunday morning services, weekly communion, and ministry that reaches well beyond the sanctuary walls. A member congregation of the Brethren in Christ U.S., the church sits within a long line of historic peace churches whose central commitment is to live out the reconciling love of Jesus - both in personal relationships and in the wider community.
The church describes itself with a single line on its front page: "We are a community being transformed by the love of Jesus, sharing this love with all people." Three shorter words mark what the congregation wants to be known for: Jesus Centered, Relationally Focused, Justice Oriented. Together they form the North Star for everything from how a Sunday service is structured to how the food pantry down the hall is staffed.
Two Sunday Mornings, One Message
Worship happens twice each Sunday morning at 1865 Fruitville Pike, at 9:00 and 10:30 a.m., with Sunday School running between them from 9:30 to 10:15 a.m. The 10:30 service is also the service that is livestreamed on YouTube.
Inside the service, the elements vary week to week but follow a steady pattern. Worship music opens the gathering; prayer gives the congregation a way to speak to God; teaching opens up the biblical text and helps listeners place their own lives inside the larger story; and communion is observed each week because, as the church puts it, "Jesus gave it to us as a way to tangibly meet with him." A rotation of pastors - and at times lay members - delivers the message.
Dress is "pretty casual." The seating is intergenerational: the church makes a point of saying that "all the generations are represented pretty equally," from the nursery through the oldest members.
Kids Stay Through the Music
Children are present for the music portion of every service and dismissed to a classroom before the message begins. Nursery care is available from the start of each service for the youngest children, and Pre-K through Grade 6 classes run during the sermon in both services. Each grade has its own team of teachers and helpers who have completed state-mandated clearances and Safe Church training, and a check-in system tracks every child while they are in the building.
The philosophy behind the kids' ministry is simple and stated plainly: the most important spiritual influence in a child's life is the parent, and the church exists to come alongside parents in teaching about the love of Jesus.
Youth in Grades 6 through 12
Lancaster BIC Youth meets on-site from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of every month. Volunteers lead students through a mix of large-group time, off-site small groups that meet during the month, and either a monthly activity or service project. The goal across those settings is the same: to walk with young people in their relationship with God and give them a space where they are loved and encouraged.
Home Church: Doing Life at the Table
Because Lancaster County stretches in every direction, the congregation has organized itself into Home Churches - smaller community groups that meet on the second and fourth weeks of each month on various evenings. A typical night begins with a shared meal, moves to discussion questions that grow out of the previous Sunday's message, and closes with a time of prayer for the needs of those gathered. Home Churches are designed to be the place where Sunday teaching takes root, and where neighbors care for neighbors throughout the week.
Food for Manheim Township
The church runs a community food pantry in partnership with the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, serving residents of the 17601 and 17520 ZIP codes in Manheim Township. Distribution takes place on the first and third Friday of every month from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., directly from the church building at 1865 Fruitville Pike. Signs guide visitors to the distribution area, and food is handed out first come, first served. Required intake forms are available at each distribution.
This is the most visible piece of the church's justice-oriented identity. The same value that sends members to the table with their neighbors shows up in bags of groceries handed through the door of the church twice a month.
An Affirming Place for Women in Ministry
LBIC is part of a denomination that has formally affirmed women in ministry leadership since 1982, a position the Brethren in Christ U.S. has reiterated at subsequent General Conferences. Women are ordained and commissioned as pastors, bishops, deacons, denominational leaders, and members of governing boards across the denomination.
The conviction behind that affirmation runs through the pastoral team itself. The current team includes a senior pastor and two associate pastors, among them a woman whose messages also appear in the regular preaching schedule.
A Pastoral Team of Three
Three pastors share the work of shepherding the congregation:
- Dr. Joshua Nolt, Senior Pastor, leads the overall ministry of the church and preaches most Sundays. He is also the first point of contact for anyone new to LBIC.
- Jane Beachy, Associate Pastor, regularly preaches and teaches. Her messages are part of the Watch and Listen archive.
- Bryan Leaman, Associate Pastor, rounds out the pastoral team.
The office is staffed Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and is closed on Fridays.
Listening Anytime: Podcast, Livestream, and Recordings
For those who cannot attend in person, the 10:30 Sunday service is livestreamed on YouTube through the church's channel, @lancasterbic29. Recordings of recent services are archived there as well, going back several years of weekly services and also making individual pastors' messages - including a long archive of sermons by Joshua Nolt - easy to find and listen to later.
The same audio content is available on demand through a weekly podcast on both Spotify and Apple Podcasts, so the preaching, teaching, and music of the congregation travel with listeners wherever they are.
Online Giving
Generosity is supported through a secure online giving page. Gifts given electronically support the ministries described above - the food pantry, the kids' and youth programs, the pastoral staff who preach and teach each Sunday, and the Home Church network that keeps the congregation connected through the week.
Part of Something Bigger: The Brethren in Christ
Lancaster Brethren in Christ Church is one congregation in the Brethren in Christ U.S., an Anabaptist denomination that traces its roots to the 18th century. The defining marks of the wider tradition show up clearly in this local congregation: the centrality of Jesus, the call to follow him in community rather than alone, the practice of peace and reconciliation as part of the gospel, and a willingness to take Scripture seriously in shaping both belief and daily life.
Those convictions are spelled out in the ten BIC Core Values the church shares with the rest of the denomination: experiencing God's love and grace, believing the Bible, worshiping God, following Jesus, belonging to the community of faith, witnessing to the world, serving compassionately, pursuing peace, living simply, and relying on God. It is a list that reads like a portrait of the life the congregation on Fruitville Pike tries to live each Sunday and every day in between.