Northminster Presbyterian Church has stood on Villa Road in Springfield, Ohio for decades, a small PCUSA congregation that has built a quiet reputation for its partnership with the Clifton Avenue Church of God food pantry, its long-running shoe drive for WaterStep, and its willingness to be a "four for four" supporter of the denomination's four special offerings for nearly two decades. The motto that runs through the church's own writing - "Worship and Serve God while connecting with people to meet their needs" - is more than a tagline. It is the way the church orders its week, its calendar, and its relationships with neighbors near and far.
The present building on Villa Road dates to 1978, and the people who call it home acknowledge with disarming honesty that it "shows a bit of its age." Inside, the sanctuary holds a congregation that averages about 50 in worship on a Sunday, drawn from a roll of 124 active members. Most arrive through the door beside the accessible parking spaces, where a ramp leads up into what the church calls the Family Room, a small lobby just outside the sanctuary. A printed bulletin waits on a lectern, and the same order of worship is projected onto a screen at the front for those who prefer not to fumble with paper. It is the kind of place where the coffee pot is on, the greeters know your name by the second Sunday, and the organ has been there long enough that the music director, David Hapner, can feel the building breathe before the first note.
Sunday Morning at 10
Sunday worship begins at 10:00 AM and runs for about an hour. The service is traditional, with liturgy drawn in large part from The Presbyterian Outlook, responsive readings, congregational hymns from the Glory to God hymnal, Scripture readings, prayers of confession and assurance, an affirmation of faith, and a sermon that is usually less than twenty minutes long. Joys and concerns are spoken aloud, and members of the congregation are invited to add their own. A liturgist welcomes those present in the pews and those watching from home; the pastor preaches; the choir, organ, and grand piano support the singing of roughly two hymns, two sung responses, and a closing chorus.
The music is "traditional mainline hymns accompanied sometimes by our Allen Organ and sometimes by a grand piano, always pointing to Jesus as the object of our praise." Communion is served periodically, prepared by the Deacons and distributed by the Elders; all who call themselves believers in Jesus are welcome at the table. Baptism, one of the two PCUSA sacraments, is performed during worship, often by sprinkling, and is open to infants and adults alike. The church does not rebaptize.
The service is livestreamed on Facebook Live every Sunday at 10 AM, a practice that began during the COVID-19 pandemic and has continued so that homebound members and faraway friends can stay connected. Facebook deletes its livestream archives after about a month; viewers who want to see recent services can visit the church's Facebook page.
The Two Stories Behind One Congregation
Northminster's history runs along two tracks that finally came together on Villa Road. The first track began on February 11, 1877, when Springfield's First and Second Presbyterian churches launched joint mission work at the corner of Mason Street and Stanton Avenue, on a lot donated by the heirs of Dr. Robert Rodgers. A chapel there was dedicated in 1879. In May 1891, the sessions of those two churches met to organize Third Presbyterian Church, with 1,104 members and the Rev. George H. Fullerton as the first pastor. The name was changed to Northminster Presbyterian on December 22, 1918.
The second track began on the north side of Springfield. Between 1954 and 1968, a group of United Presbyterians interested in new church development held discussions, and on August 12, 1956, the first service of what would become Valley View United Presbyterian Church was held at Westside School on U.S. 68 North. The congregation purchased a manse and church building at 400 Villa Road, and that building was dedicated on October 13, 1957, with 94 communicant members and the Rev. William Harper as its first minister.
In 1971, the two congregations - Northminster on North Limestone Street with 320 members and Valley View at Villa Road with 170 - decided to merge, working through their sessions and the Miami Presbytery. The combined congregation began its life at the Northminster Limestone location with the understanding that Villa Road would be its permanent home. The relocation took place on August 28, 1972, the same year the Rev. Franklin Sparks was called as the first pastor of the merged church. Sparks served until his retirement on January 31, 1997, when the congregation conferred on him the title of Pastor Emeritus. He was followed by the Rev. Scott Loomer (1999-2005) and the Rev. Dwight McCormick (2007-2023). The present pastor, the Rev. Steve Merrin, leads the congregation today.
The building itself has been shaped and reshaped over the years. In 2015, members contributed roughly $120,000 above their annual budget to renovate the sanctuary, including the ceiling beam and windows. The electronic Allen organ that fills the sanctuary today was purchased through the generosity of the members in 2008.
Matthew 25: A Congregation Reorganized Around Service
The church has formally adopted the Matthew 25 Initiative of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a denominational call to "eradicate poverty and dismantle structural racism." That commitment is visible in the way the Mission/Outreach Committee, the Deacons, and the Presbyterian Women divide their work. The primary local mission partner is the Clifton Avenue Church of God Food Pantry. Each quarter, Northminster's Deacons purchase bags of groceries for the pantry, and once a month, on a Saturday morning, elders, deacons, and other members travel to Clifton Avenue to help serve a hot breakfast to neighbors in need.
Northminster has also become a host site for Second Harvest Food Bank's mobile distribution, with the food truck pulling up to Villa Road on the last Tuesday of each month (or the fourth Tuesday in months with five Tuesdays). Members help transfer food into the trunks of waiting cars.
The Presbyterian Women, with two circles (Esther and Ruth) meeting monthly, raise additional money each year through the Holiday Bazaar held at Northminster. Since 1972, those proceeds have gone to a long list of local partners: the Springfield Soup Kitchen, Project Woman, Oesterlen Services for Youth, the local homeless shelter, Safe Harbor, the Salvation Army, the Nehemiah Foundation, On the Rise, Interfaith Hospitality Network, and the Springfield Promise Neighborhood, among others. Northminster has been a "four for four" supporter of the four PCUSA Special Offerings - One Great Hour of Sharing (Lent), Pentecost, Peace and Global Witness (fall), and Christmas Joy - for eighteen consecutive years.
The WaterStep Shoe Drive
The mission with perhaps the most visible footprint beyond the building is the annual WaterStep shoe drive, hosted on the last two weekends in August since 2015. Members and friends drop off any wearable shoes - any style, any condition, as long as they are free of mold and mildew and the soles, buckles, and Velcro are intact. Northminster then transports the shoes to WaterStep, a Louisville, Kentucky-based nonprofit. WaterStep sells the shoes to an exporter, and the funds pay for the organization's simple water-purification technologies: well installations and repairs, chlorine generators, rain catchment systems, and "Water on Wheels" mobile treatment carts. Those systems are deployed in Third World countries and in U.S. disaster areas, including tornado- and flood-affected regions.
Over thirteen years of collecting, the drive has gathered 69,747 pounds of shoes, enough to help an estimated 16,270 people gain access to clean water. WaterStep no longer picks up the shoes, so Northminster now arranges its own transport to Louisville and welcomes donations toward the shipping costs.
Children, the Pray-Ground, and a Search for a Leader
Children are welcome in the sanctuary - "even if they are fidgety and loud," the church says. "It is a welcome sound." A Children's Time is part of every Sunday worship, after which the children head to Sunday School. Activity packets with coloring pages and crayons are available for use during worship, and a "Pray-Ground" - a small table with chairs near the front of the sanctuary - lets younger children color and listen while a parent sits with them. A nursery is also available for those who prefer it.
Links to parenting resources from The Presbyterian Outlook, including pieces for mothers of young children and articles on building children's faith, are posted for families who want them.
Music, the Allen Organ, and the Woman's Chorus
Music at Northminster is built on a small but committed core. David Hapner, the music director, leads the choir and provides special music each Sunday. Dawn White plays the Allen organ from September through May. The Glory to God hymnal is the source for congregational song, accompanied by either the organ or the grand piano, with a large collection of bells reserved for Easter and Christmas services. A Woman's Chorus rehearses on Thursdays at 6:30 PM. The church is also looking for a very part-time bell director to bring the bells back into regular rotation.
Adult Education: Bible Study and the Belonging Series
Christian education for adults takes two main forms. The first is a long-running Tuesday morning Bible Study that meets from 10:30 AM to noon in the Family Room, exploring the same texts used in the following Sunday's sermon. The group is small - typically four to six people - and conversational, and has been meeting for many years. The second is a Presbyterian Outlook study series; the most recent focuses on the Outlook's "Belonging" issue, meeting on the second Sunday of the month immediately after worship in the Family Room. Past book studies have included Father Richard Rohr's "Breathing Underwater: Spirituality of the Twelve Steps."
Presbyterian Women and the Holiday Bazaar
The Presbyterian Women of Northminster are a major engine of the church's mission giving. Esther Circle meets on the second Monday of each month, and Ruth Circle on the second Thursday. The women gather on Wednesdays at 10 AM in the Church Community Room to craft items for the annual Holiday Bazaar, held at Northminster each October. All proceeds from the bazaar go to local nonprofits. The 2022 Fall Festival raised $4,000 for local charities, and the bazaar has been a fixture of the church's mission life for more than half a century.
The Building Beyond Sunday
The Villa Road building hosts more than Northminster's own ministries. The congregation shares space with Cub Scout Pack 131 and Boy Scout Troop 311, a quilt guild that meets on Mondays, a Young Women's Mission group, the Springfield Dulcimer Club on Thursday afternoons, and Plena Vida Seventh Day Adventist Church, which gathers for worship in the building on Saturdays. On the last Tuesday of each month, the Second Harvest Food Bank mobile distribution takes over the parking lot. The result is a building that is in use nearly every day of the week, by a constellation of community groups the church has quietly cultivated over decades.
The Pastor and the People Who Keep Things Running
The Rev. Steve Merrin serves as pastor. Lois Shroyer is the Clerk of Session, a role she has filled for fifteen years, and is the point of contact for Session business. The Deacons are organized into three classes (2024, 2025, 2026) and care for the congregation's pastoral and practical needs; the Ruling Elders, in the same three classes, share the governance of the church. The Music Director is David Hapner, the Organist is Dawn White, and the Woman's Chorus rehearses on Thursday evenings. Connie Titus-Koepnick is the Office Manager and Financial Secretary, in the office on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9 AM to 2 PM. Julie Griffin, a retired certified public accountant, serves as Treasurer. Semonicka "Semi" Miller, the custodian, keeps the building in good order.
Office hours are Monday and Wednesday, 9 AM to 2 PM. The church office can be reached at 937-399-0838 or office@northminsterspringfield.org. Donations are accepted online, by mail, or in person.