St. James Lutheran Church sits on Kugler Road in Limerick Township, a stretch of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania where residential cul-de-sacs and small farms share the 19468 zip code. A congregation of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the church has built its identity around contemporary Sunday worship, a deep investment in children and youth, and a steady willingness to roll up its sleeves for the wider community. Pastor Chris McKinstry leads a staff that includes a Director of Discipleship, a Director of Family Ministry, and a Director of the on-site Christian preschool that has shaped generations of local families.
Sunday Mornings at Nine
Worship gathers at 9 AM on Sundays in a contemporary style that blends praise choruses with traditional hymns. Two scripture readings frame each service, one from the Hebrew Scriptures and one from the Christian Scriptures, and the pastor preaches a sermon that works to connect the readings to daily life, often aided by pictures and video. Holy Communion is shared on the first Sunday of every month and on festival days of the church year, and everyone who attends is welcome at the table - no church membership required.
Visitors are explicitly invited to come as they are. The only guidance offered on dress is to wear what is comfortable, whether that means jeans, khakis, shorts, or even a Chewbacca costume, which one worshipper once wore. Children of every age are welcome in worship. After the service, a time of fellowship offers coffee and refreshments in the Fellowship Hall, with overflow to the parking lot and yard when the weather cooperates. A fragrance-free policy asks worshipers to skip perfumes, colognes, aftershaves, scented lotions, and other fragranced products so the building stays welcoming for those with allergies and respiratory sensitivities. Services are livestreamed on YouTube, with a deep archive of recent services available online.
Kids Connect and Family Ministry
The children's ministry at St. James is called Kids Connect, and it runs concurrent with the 9 AM service throughout the school year. Children age 3 through 6th grade begin worship with their parents, are dismissed after the Children's Message, and gather in age-divided classrooms accessible from the green center hallway: Preschool, PreK, and Kindergarten in Room 4; Grades 1-3 in Room 5; Grades 4-6 in Room 6. Check-in happens at a kiosk by Door 2 before worship begins. During the summer months, all ages combine in one classroom.
The Spark Activate Faith curriculum shapes the lessons through a four-part rhythm - Gather, Open the Bible, Activate Faith, and Send - and continually points children to God who made us, Jesus who loves us, and the Holy Spirit who guides us. Third graders receive a Bible during the Children's Message on Rally Day each September, and Bibles are offered at no cost to older students who would like one. First Holy Communion classes meet for 5th graders every Sunday in February, with a family dinner and bread baking the night before the celebration.
For the youngest children, a nursery is available in Rooms 8 and 9. Parents can observe the livestream on a TV in Room 8, and the space is often parent-supervised, with volunteer support available when families are ready for separation. Vacation Bible School anchors the summer calendar, with a four-night program for children age 4 (PreK) through 5th grade.
Family Ministry, led by Janet Hilsmier, ties the rhythm together with seasonal events: a Halloween Trunk or Treat, Advent craft days, an annual Easter Egg Hunt scattered across the Swamp Pike field and the preschool playground, and family outings to local farms and corn mazes. Janet and her team write the Kids Connect Blog and a monthly newsletter, and the church app carries a separate Kids and Youth calendar so families can plan ahead.
His Kids Christian Preschool
Sharing the building and the grounds is His Kids Christian Preschool, a ministry of St. James that serves the wider community regardless of church membership. Director Niki Lewis, a His Kids alumna parent herself, leads a staff that walks preschoolers through Transitional Kindergarten, Pre-Kindergarten, Preschool Plus, and Preschool classrooms, with a music curriculum woven into the week. Families from across the area enroll, and the preschool's blend of early education and faith formation has made it a fixture for households with young children in Limerick and the surrounding towns.
Youth Group, Confirmation, and Mission Travel
St. James youth ministry serves students in grades 6 through 12, with Confirmation as a two-year program for 7th and 8th graders who want to affirm the promises made at their baptism. Confirmation classes rotate through three locations - St. James Limerick, New Hanover Lutheran in Gilbertsville, and St. James Pottstown - giving confirmands a wider circle of peers and mentors. Second-year students affirm their baptism during a Sunday morning service in early June.
Youth Nights meet on the 3rd and 5th Fridays of each month from 6 to 9 PM, mostly on site, with dinner, active games, and a light devotional. Janet Hilsmier coordinates the program and looks for adult parent-partners to help with each gathering.
Beyond Limerick, the youth travel. Recent servant trips have taken the group to North Carolina, Kentucky, and West Virginia - most recently to Arden, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where they assisted with repairs coordinated through Lutheran Disaster Response after damage from Hurricane Helene. The youth also participate in the triennial ELCA Youth Gathering, a week of faith formation that draws thousands of high schoolers from across the denomination, with periodic regional events like Box City, an overnight awareness-and-fundraiser for homelessness and food poverty, and an annual winter retreat.
Bible Studies, Small Groups, and Pub Theology
Adults at St. James have several ways to go deeper. Three Bible discussion groups meet regularly:
- Tuesday mornings by Zoom.
- Tuesday evenings by Zoom at 6:45 PM, resuming in September after a summer pause.
- Thursday mornings in person, gathering from 11 AM to 12:15 PM at the Willow Run Clubhouse, 200 Village Way, off Ridge Pike in Limerick.
Other small groups and social gatherings round out the week:
- Men's Night, a group of Christian men who share a pint, dinner, and lively conversation at a local pub.
- Pub Theology, a parallel space for conversation and reflection.
- Women of St. James, which meets at 1:30 PM on the third Monday of each month (with summer and January breaks) and raises money to support international, national, and local charities alongside the ministries of the church.
- Empty Nesters, a supportive group of moms navigating the joys and challenges of parenting adult children.
In addition, Director of Discipleship Bobbie Hoffman writes daily devotionals - short reflections on a Scripture verse, a prayer, and a video of a hymn or Christian song - and sends them to anyone who would like to receive them by email. The Devotionals blog also features contributions from writer Mo Haner. The ministries team notes that the congregation has hosted book clubs, a Mom's group, walking groups, and sewing clubs in the past, and invites anyone who would like to see another activity or service start up to share their idea.
Music Ministry
Music is woven through the contemporary worship at 9 AM. Singers and instrumentalists are invited to join the Praise Band, and the team is always open to new participants. John Green coordinates music and can be reached through the church office.
Feeding the Neighborhood: God's Kitchen and Beyond
Outreach is a steady drumbeat at St. James. Every Monday from 4:30 to 6:30 PM, a team helps feed the underprivileged of the Pottstown community through God's Kitchen. The Outreach Ministries Team also organizes several seasonal efforts:
- Operation Smart Start fills book bags with school supplies for local children in need. Each $25 fills one bag, and the congregation has filled more than 300 bags in a single year. Volunteers gather in the Fellowship Hall to sort and pack the supplies before the new school year.
- Operation Shining Star provides Christmas dinners via Giant store gift cards to families who could use a hand during the holidays.
- The Apple Festival, a fall day of food, kid's games, a silent auction, and more, raises funds for mission trips, St. James ministries, and a local charity.
- The MLK Day of Service offers families a chance to bless the surrounding community through hands-on projects - making sandwiches, writing get-well cards, baking treats, and creating prayer stones with encouraging messages.
Other annual outreach includes Box City, a youth-led overnight event that raises awareness and funds for those experiencing homelessness and food poverty. The proceeds support a different local initiative each year, with recent efforts bringing in more than $6,000 for transitional housing in Lansdale.
Serving Across the Congregation
St. James runs more than a dozen ministries that keep the church going week to week. Greeters welcome people before worship, answer questions, and help find seats. Ushers collect the offering and present it at the altar. Readers share a short passage from the Bible during the service. Communion Assistants support the pastor during Holy Communion, while Altar Guild members prepare the altar before services and clean up afterward - a commitment of about 30 to 40 minutes spread across three to five Sundays a year.
Behind the scenes, a Hospitality Team provides refreshments between services from September through May. A Food Ministry team cooks and delivers meals to church families dealing with illness, surgery, a death in the family, the birth of a baby, or other difficult circumstances - and also as a way of saying thank you. A Prayer Team prays daily for people who have requested prayer. Hospital and Home Visitors bring compassion and, when appropriate, Holy Communion to members who are hospitalized or homebound. A Property Team oversees maintenance and improvements for the church buildings, parsonage, and grounds. The Finance Committee assists the council with accounting, reporting, internal controls, budgeting, and long-term investment. A separate Events Team plans fun fellowship gatherings for the church and community, and a Facilities Use Guide describes spaces available for outside meetings and events.
Leadership and Pastoral Care
Pastor Chris McKinstry grew up in Baldwinsville, NY, studied at Houghton College in western New York, and attended seminary in Philadelphia. Before coming to St. James, he served as Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Meriden, CT. He and his wife Kate have two sons.
Bobbie Hoffman, Director of Discipleship, is a Limerick native who came to the staff after a career as a registered nurse in a neonatal intensive care unit and at Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital. She is also a Synodically Authorized Minister currently assigned to St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville, where she nurtures that congregation as they worship and grow in faith.
Janet Hilsmier, Director of Family Ministry, studied at Bowling Green State University before moving to the Philadelphia area. She and her husband Kevin are the parents of twin daughters.
Niki Lewis directs His Kids Christian Preschool, where she has taught since 2007 and now leads the program.
The Church Council is led by Jane Reedy (President), Laurie Green (Secretary), and Kevin Hilsmier (Treasurer), with at-large members Jim Bauer, Kris Brown, Jonathan Castner, Michelle DiPasquale, Lou Geiser, Shawn Lewis, Brooke Moyer, Laura Oliverson, and Tom Walters.
A Congregation That Stays Open
The welcome at St. James starts with the invitation to come as you are and stay for coffee after the service. Communion is open to anyone who wishes to receive it. Children are welcome in worship, in Kids Connect, and at the family events that mark the seasons of the church year. Adults find Bible studies, small groups, hands-on service projects, and a music program waiting for them. The congregation gathers on Kugler Road each Sunday at nine.