At 1482 Horseshoe Pike in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Lebanon Valley Bible Church is a Bible-teaching congregation known for rooting worship in preaching and Scripture while caring for families from infancy through senior adulthood. Its ministry also reaches beyond the building through global missions and Keziah's Hope Adoption Ministry. The church exists to glorify God by knowing Jesus Christ and making Him known in Lebanon Valley and beyond.
Sunday begins at 9:00 AM on Horseshoe Pike
Sunday begins at 9:00 AM with Morning Worship, followed at 10:30 AM by Bible Fellowship Hour for children through adults. Both take place at 1482 Horseshoe Pike. A special service or activity is also gathered once each month. Jr. Church meets concurrently with the 9:00 AM service for preschool children through Grade 2, and nursery care continues through the Sunday morning schedule.
What a Sunday service feels like
Visitors are greeted with a friendly face, a warm smile and a welcoming handshake. The morning service lasts about 75 minutes. Although the order can change, it generally opens with a brief welcome and announcements from pastoral staff, followed by 25 to 30 minutes of worship through song, prayer and giving. Preaching the Word is the primary focus. The Welcome Center, just inside the main entrance, has greeters ready to help visitors find the right classroom or answer questions about children's ministry.
Parking, access and modest attire
Designated parking for guests with disabilities is near the west entrance, and an elevator is just inside that entrance. People worship both casually and formally; there is no established dress code, although modest attire is expected so clothing does not distract from worship.
Bible Fellowship at 10:30 AM
After worship, classes meet from 10:30 to 11:30 AM for every age. The adult classes are built around stages of life as well as Scripture study:
- Quest serves adults 18 and older, including singles, college students and those in a career.
- Newly Wed serves engaged and newly married couples.
- Common Ground serves young families with preschool and early-elementary children.
- Refocus serves established families with middle-school and high-school-age children.
- Truth Seekers serves empty nesters and families whose children have finished high school.
- Followers of the Word serves adults age 60 and older.
- Sojourners brings together people from different generations.
Classes meet in spaces including the cafe, several classroom rooms and the Family Life Center. Nursery care is provided throughout the Sunday schedule, allowing the youngest children to be included while their families participate in worship and Bible study.
Wednesday nights gather children, students and believers in prayer
Midweek Bible Study and Prayer Meeting runs from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. Awana also begins at 7:00 PM during its September-through-May season, while The Foundation youth gathering begins at 6:45 PM and continues until 8:45 PM. Nursery workers are present from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. The schedule gives elementary children, teenagers and adults distinct ministries while bringing them together for the same evening at the church.
A blended voice and a preaching-centered service
LVBC's worship committee plans music that combines modern praise and worship with traditional hymns. The congregation also uses a variety of instrumentation and recorded music. This blend fits the church's description of worship as heartfelt and grounded in the Word of God, with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs sung with thankfulness. Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and John 4:24 are among the passages connected with its musical and worship beliefs.
The church says its musical focus is not a style, method or technique. The larger aim is to magnify Jesus Christ and make Him pre-eminent. Corporate worship is understood as the gathered expression of wholehearted devotion that flows from each person's life of obedience. Song, prayer, giving and the sermon are therefore parts of one service centered on God and His Word.
From a Campbelltown barn to a church on Route 322
The congregation's story began in 1932, when the Rev. Samuel H. Waltz dedicated Union Gospel Tabernacle, a former barn. An annex for a Sunday School room and furnace room followed in 1943. In 1962, the Union Gospel Tabernacle and Jonestown Bible Church met about establishing an organized Bible church in Campbelltown. The name Campbelltown Bible Church became official in 1966, and the Rev. James Ober had been installed as pastor that January.
Growth created a long series of practical building changes. The congregation used the Campbelltown Fire Hall for three years, renovated the original building, added space in 1969 and held multiple services. Sunday School classes also moved into a refurbished mobile home and the Campbelltown Municipal Building. The need for more room eventually led to the purchase of ten acres in 1973, three miles east of Campbelltown along Route 322. The congregation approved construction of the present facilities in 1976 and dedicated them on March 27, 1977.
An administration wing was added in 1989, creating much-needed nursery rooms, staff offices and additional Sunday School space. A Family Life Center followed in 2004 to meet the needs of growing families. The Rev. Ober retired in 2005, followed by interim pastoral service and a two-year ministry under David W. Cunningham beginning in 2009. The congregation invited Pastor Chandler Cutting to become senior pastor in 2013. The resulting campus includes space for worship, teaching, nursery care, family activities and the many ages served by the church.
A childhood path through nursery, Bible classes and Awana
The nursery provides a fully supervised environment in two separate rooms. The infant room serves babies up to 12 months, or until a child begins walking, and the toddler room serves children 13 to 24 months old. Workers are present for Sunday worship and Bible Fellowship Hour from 9:00 to 11:30 AM, and for Wednesday prayer and Awana from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. A paging and texting system lets workers reach parents immediately if a child needs them.
Jr. Church meets at 9:00 AM for preschool children through Grade 2, giving the youngest worshippers age-appropriate teaching while their families attend the service. Sunday Bible classes then continue the teaching through the elementary years and beyond. Nursery care remains available during all Sunday services and Wednesday evening activities.
Awana meets on Wednesday evenings from September through May. Its games, crafts, songs and reward opportunities are centered on Bible time, where children memorize Scripture and learn to serve Jesus Christ. Awana groups are organized for younger children, kindergarten and early elementary ages, upper elementary ages and sixth grade. The program is led by caring adults and includes special events and themed nights throughout the year.
The Foundation gives teenagers room to become devoted adults
The Foundation serves students in Grades 7 through 12 on Sunday mornings from 10:30 to 11:30 AM and on Wednesday evenings from 6:45 to 8:45 PM. Its aim is to establish teenagers on the Word of God and disciple them toward adulthood, with an emphasis on truth, integrity, evangelism and sharing faith.
The ministry treats parents as the primary influence in a teenager's faith and works alongside families. Its objectives also include involving students in local and foreign ministry, encouraging unity and love among believers, helping those who do not know God, and raising future leaders. Teens can serve in music and teaching, visit care facilities such as Londonderry Village and other local rest homes, join approximately monthly social activities and attend a winter retreat. Summer outreach has also taken students to the Broken Arrow Bible Ranch in New Mexico, where they ministered to children.
Men sharpen one another, women study together, and mothers share the journey
Men's Ministry
The men's group meets in the church cafe at 7:00 AM on the first and third Saturday of each month. Men of all ages are welcome to pursue growth as husbands, fathers, sons and leaders. Its mission includes peers who counsel, correct and equip one another in the truth of God's Word, with study topics that have included purity, anger and biblical courage.
Women's Bible studies
Refresh and Oasis meet on the first and third Thursdays, offering a morning and an evening option. Refresh runs from 9:00 to 10:30 AM in the cafe, while Oasis runs from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in a member's home. Women of all ages are welcome to build friendships, dig into Scripture, listen to counsel from godly older women and mentor younger women. Childcare is not provided for these studies.
Moms Renewed
Moms Renewed gathers mothers of preschool-age children every other Tuesday during the fall and spring semesters for a 9:00 to 10:45 AM meeting. The group is open to expectant mothers and to mothers with at least one child under age 6, with older siblings also welcome. Meetings combine a hot breakfast, speakers, discussion, fellowship and prayer. Childcare is provided for all ages, with Bible time and age-appropriate activities for babies, toddlers, preschoolers and homeschooled children age 6 and above. Play dates, open-gym times and a moms night out add fellowship beyond the classroom.
Missions with a global horizon and a local emphasis
Global evangelism is a major part of LVBC's ministry rather than a separate program. The Missions Outreach works with partners in church planting, Bible translation, team leadership, missions mobilization and development, training national workers, support projects and humanitarian efforts that promote evangelism. These partnerships reach both across cultures and into local outreach.
A Missions Committee coordinates the work under a defined missions policy and the oversight of the Board of Elders. LVBC commits both prayer and financial support to missionary families and desires to raise more workers from its own congregation for global ministry. Partners may serve in local settings as well as overseas, and their work can include support projects and humanitarian needs connected with the spread of the gospel.
The aim is to obey the Great Commission by making disciples of all nations, baptizing in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching people to observe Christ's commands and sharing the gospel throughout the process. World evangelism has long been a major focus of the congregation, and LVBC hopes that more people from its local body will carry a passion for global ministry.
Keziah's Hope puts orphan care into the life of the church
Keziah's Hope exists to advocate, administer and assist LVBC families seeking to adopt or foster children. The ministry informs families about adoption needs and options, then encourages a support network of fellow believers offering financial, educational, administrative, familial, emotional and spiritual help. It also seeks to share the gospel with those involved in the process and to support families through the transition into parenthood.
Not every family can adopt, but the ministry makes room for every family to help. Support can take the form of financial giving, childcare, meals, mentoring, supplies and encouragement. One hundred percent of donations designated for the adoption fund go to that fund, and those donations are tax-deductible. The larger vision is a church culture that responds to God's call to care for the fatherless both locally and around the world.
Scripture, grace and an autonomous church
LVBC believes the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant in its original writings and the supreme authority in doctrine, faith and life. It affirms one God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and describes the Spirit's work of conviction, regeneration, indwelling, sealing and empowerment in the lives of believers. Human beings are born with a sinful nature and cannot enter God's kingdom apart from the new birth.
Salvation is wholly accomplished by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. Christ's sacrificial death is the ground of redemption, while the new birth comes through faith; repentance is vital to believing, but no church, baptism, ordinance or work of merit helps a sinner take a step toward heaven. The church also teaches the security of believers, while rejecting that assurance as permission to indulge sin.
LVBC understands itself as an autonomous local church, distinct from Israel and answerable to Scripture rather than external control. It observes two ordinances: water baptism by immersion after salvation and the Lord's Supper as a continuing memorial of Christ's death. Separation from sinful practices is commanded, with positional sanctification at regeneration and practical sanctification growing throughout life.
Its teaching also includes the literal interpretation of Scripture, divine dispensations, a pre-tribulational and pre-millennial return of Christ, a seven-year period of tribulation, a millennial reign and an eternal state with conscious existence after death and everlasting punishment for the unbelieving. The Holy Spirit is affirmed as equal to the Father and Son, while speaking in tongues is not regarded as a necessary sign of the Spirit's baptism or filling.
Books, films and sermons for continued learning
The church library keeps more than 4,300 print books, including fiction, nonfiction and selections for children and teenagers, along with more than 120 family movies on DVD. Adults can borrow videos for one week. The door to both collections is always open, and many of the books have been donated by people who want to support reading and Christian literature.
The sermon collection includes recordings, videos and downloadable notes for messages on biblical transformation, fellowship, holy living and the foundations of Christian conduct. Online giving supports the church's work, including the adoption fund.
Pastors, teachers and ministry leaders
Pastors Jon Lauver and Aaron Goshert lead the church. Pastor Aaron also serves as Awana commander and is the point of contact for missions and youth. Adult Bible Fellowship classes are taught by couples and teachers including Aaron and Kristen Goshert, Brandon and Sherri Shirk, Roy and Bev Shirk, Morris and Audrey Hull, Doug and Robin Aldinger, and Lee and Dorothy Damon.
Awana directors are Crystal Boyer, Dan and Maribeth Davis, Kim Webber and Erin Eichfeld. Brenda Kocher leads Refresh Women's Bible Study, Audrey Hull leads Oasis, and the church also has elder and deacon boards. Together, these ministries reflect the church's emphasis on Bible teaching, worship, discipleship, family support and service.
Finding Lebanon Valley Bible Church in Lebanon
From Harrisburg, follow I-83 to US-322 east and look for LVBC 2.7 miles east of PA-117, 3.5 miles east of Campbelltown. From Lancaster, travel north on PA-72 to US-322 west; the church is 4.9 miles along that road, one mile west of Fontana. From Lebanon, take US-422 west through Annville, turn left on PA-934, then turn right at US-322; the church is 1.8 miles ahead, one mile west of Fontana. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM at (717) 867-4403, and office@lvbiblechurch.org handles general ministry correspondence. Standing along US-322 in the Lebanon Valley, LVBC continues to seek the goal that shaped its 1932 beginning: glorifying God by knowing Jesus Christ and making Him known in the community and throughout the world.