A Stoverstown Church with a Long Memory
St. Paul's United Church of Christ sits along Stoverstown Road in the small village of Stoverstown, part of Spring Grove in York County, Pennsylvania. The congregation's roots reach back to the late 1870s, when Lutheran and German Reformed settlers in the area decided to share a single church building. That original Union Church was dedicated on November 21, 1880, and grew through a 1904 remodel, a 1935 renovation that added brick, stained glass, and Sunday School rooms, and a complete rebuild after a lightning strike on August 6, 1940 destroyed the structure. The rebuilt building was rededicated on February 22, 1942.
By the late 1970s, both the Lutheran and UCC members of the Union Church had outgrown the shared space. The Lutheran congregation kept the original building, while the UCC group broke ground on its own sanctuary at the corner of Stoverstown Road and Short Road on April 10, 1983. Members of the congregation built much of the new building themselves, and the first service was held on April 15, 1984, with the formal dedication on June 10, 1984. The two congregations continue to share a community Easter egg hunt, Vacation Bible School, a Thanksgiving evening worship, and mid-week Lenten services.
An Open and Affirming Congregation
St. Paul's describes itself as an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ. The ONA process at St. Paul's began in the fall of 2017 under the leadership of Pastor Dave Martin, with a team that included Deb Henry, Kathy Sterrett, Jess Hoffman, and Joyce Kain. After a year of story-sharing, video Bible studies, and outside speakers, the team drafted a covenant. A straw poll in August 2019 came back overwhelmingly in favor, and the congregation adopted the covenant 31 to 2 in October 2019.
The covenant commits St. Paul's to welcome all people regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, ability, culture, economic status, ethnicity, or family composition. The church offers marriage ceremonies for same-gender couples, participates in PFLAG events and Equality and Diversity festivals in the York and Harrisburg area, and networks with other affirming churches and organizations. The congregation numbers about 160 members.
Sunday Morning at St. Paul's
Sunday is built around a simple rhythm. At 9:00 am, from August through May, an all-ages Faith Formation hour gathers for discussion and study. A 10:00 am connecting time offers space for conversation before worship begins at 10:15 am. The intergenerational service generally ends between 11:15 and 11:30 am. Worship is livestreamed each week on YouTube for those who cannot attend in person.
Lay liturgists, non-ordained members of the congregation, play a substantial role in every service, reading scripture, sharing faith stories, and occasionally preaching. Children remain in worship every Sunday rather than being dismissed to a separate program, and the church teaches that both speakers and listeners in the pew are performers, with God as the only audience. Worship draws on ancient practices while aiming to speak to modern everyday life.
Visitors are encouraged to dress casually and comfortably; the building is kept at about 72 degrees. On the last Sunday of June, July, and August, weather permitting, the service moves outdoors under a shade tree, and worshippers are invited to bring a lawn chair. Christmas Eve, a Wednesday evening series during the seven weeks of Lent, and an Easter sunrise service round out the year.
Music that Brings the Congregation Together
Music is a defining part of the church's life. Joy Gobrecht, a Spring Grove Middle School science teacher, directs the Shalom Choir, which is open to high school and college students as well as adults and sings regularly from September through June. The choir rehearses on Thursday evenings at 7:00 pm and welcomes singers who do not read music or who cannot commit to every week. Organist Darlene Hoover supports congregational singing and also teaches the children classic, simple songs of faith each week.
The Agape Band and Singers lead worship on the first Sunday of each month. The group includes guitarists, keyboardists, woodwind players, and drummers, and they blend contemporary songs with the day's liturgy. The band has been part of St. Paul's since 2006 and often appears at other events in the area. During Advent and Easter, a wider group of instrumentalists joins in: St. Paul's Players prepares for Christmas, and brass players traditionally provide music for Easter morning.
Communion Around the Table
St. Paul's celebrates Communion about a dozen times a year. The welcome at the table is wide: anyone who wishes to experience Christ's presence is invited to come forward. Children whose parents decide they are not yet ready to receive the sacrament may still join the procession and receive a blessing from one of the worship leaders.
Children, Youth, and Faith Formation
Faith Formation at 9:00 am on Sunday mornings is intentionally intergenerational, and the church's Safe Sanctuary Policy, first adopted in 2006 and updated to reflect current Pennsylvania Child Protective Service laws, sets the standards for all programs involving children, youth, and adults.
For older youth, a group for grades 6 and up meets about once a month for fellowship, service projects, and conversation about issues that matter to them. In recent years the youth have traveled to GROUP Workcamps, week-long summer mission trips in which young people and adults provide minor home repairs for homeowners who could not otherwise afford them. St. Paul's youth have served in York County, Parma (Ohio), Erie (Pennsylvania), and East Bank (West Virginia).
Care and Outreach Across York County
St. Paul's describes its main geographical mission as the Spring Grove School District and York City, with additional support going to wider regional, national, and international efforts. The church's hunger ministries are particularly extensive. Members tend a church garden whose produce goes to local food pantries, including the West York Church of the Brethren food pantry, Harvest of Hope in Spring Grove, and the Harvest of Blessing food pantry in York. The congregation participates in the October CROP Walk and supports Lifepath Christian Ministries, Our Daily Bread soup kitchen, and the York County Food Bank. On the rare months with a fifth Thursday, the church prepares a lunch in its own kitchen for delivery to Our Daily Bread.
For housing, St. Paul's supports Habitat for Humanity's York affiliate and Bell Socialization Services, which provides housing, homelessness, intellectual disability, and mental health services. The church participates in annual UCC offerings including the Christmas Fund for Retired Ministers, Neighbors in Need, One Great Hour of Sharing, Our Church's Wider Mission (a portion of which stays with the Penn Central Conference), and Strengthen the Church. Members assemble hygiene kits and emergency cleanup buckets each Easter for distribution through Church World Service to disaster survivors.
Creation care is another long-standing commitment. The church converted to geothermal heating and cooling more than a decade ago and has since replaced all of its lighting with energy-efficient LEDs. During April, the building serves as a recycling collection point. In 2024, the congregation planted a Heritage Grove of mostly native trees to honor past leaders and create a place of peace for people and wildlife.
A Building That Hosts the Community
St. Paul's makes its building available well beyond Sunday morning. The lower-level fellowship hall, a kitchen equipped with three stoves, three sinks, and two refrigerators, an upper-level gathering area with comfortable seating, two Sunday School rooms, a children's nursery, and a sanctuary are all available for rent. The outdoor gazebo is a popular setting for weddings. The church has hosted birthday parties, fundraisers such as pancake breakfasts and spaghetti suppers, theatrical performances, music lessons, community meetings, and elections.
Both levels of the building are wheelchair accessible. A handicap-accessible ramp to the chancel area was added in 2020, and a stairlift was scheduled to be installed in spring 2026; the building does not have an elevator. Smoking and alcoholic beverages are not permitted anywhere on the property.
The Pastor and the People
Pastor Dave Martin began serving St. Paul's on October 1, 2015, after earlier ministry in western New York and southern Illinois. A second-career pastor, he worked in the computer industry in Massachusetts for more than a decade before entering ministry. He is married to Bonnie, and their two adult children, Karen and Tim, work in cancer research and engineering. In his free time, Pastor Dave enjoys reading, gardening, hiking, and skiing.
Sharon Warner-Smith serves as the church's part-time Administrative Assistant and is in the office on Wednesday mornings. The church's governance is shared through a Consistory (church council), with committees overseeing Outreach and Fellowship, Worship, Christian Education, and Stewardship and Mission, plus trustees who care for the building.
Three women who grew up in the congregation have been ordained: the Rev. Phyllis Baum, the Rev. Jacquie Church-Young, and the Rev. Barbara Brenneman. The church's more recent history also includes a 2012 change allowing youth aged 13 and up to vote in congregational meetings, biannual retreats to Hartman Center church camp that began in 2009, and a 2020 transition to livestreamed services that has continued since.