A Lutheran Congregation Rooted in 1868 Easton
St. Paul's Third Lutheran Church sits on Newburg Road in Palmer Township, just off the Easton-Nazareth Highway, and has been a steady Lutheran presence in the Easton area since 1868. The congregation is a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is one of three ELCA churches served by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod that worship within reach of the Lehigh Valley. Its members come from Palmer Township and the surrounding communities, drawn by a Lutheran worship tradition centered on Word and Sacrament, an active music program, and a wide range of outreach to neighbors who need a meal, a ride, or a hand.
On any given Sunday morning, worshipers gather at ten o'clock for a service that draws on the Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship, with Holy Communion celebrated every Sunday and on every festival. Children join the service, receive a special message from the pastor before the sermon, and the morning wraps up with coffee in the Fellowship Hall. It is the kind of unhurried, weekly rhythm that has shaped this congregation for more than a century and a half.
From Fourth Street to Newburg Road: Our Story
In 1868 Easton had two Lutheran churches, St. John's and Christ Church. After a meeting on April 17, 1868, a small group of Lutherans organized a third congregation and named it St. Paul's. On August 31 of that year the Rev. Joseph H. Barclay, D.D. accepted the call to be St. Paul's first pastor. Land was purchased on North Fourth Street and the new church was dedicated on January 8, 1870.
As Easton grew and suburbs spread east, the congregation followed its members. In 1963 St. Paul's Third moved from its Fourth Street home to Palmer Township in order to better serve the growing suburban population. The move paid off: the congregation flourished in its new location, and in 1973 an educational wing was added to accommodate the growing Sunday School. By the 1980s the increasing size of the congregation and its commitment to the surrounding community made it clear that the building itself needed to grow. Ground was broken for a renovation and enlargement of the sanctuary in August 1994, a project that added a narthex and improved access for people with disabilities.
Today the building on Newburg Road continues to serve as a base for worship, Christian education, music, and outreach. The congregation describes its trajectory simply: it continues to move toward the future, grounded in a commitment to serve God and humanity as the living body of Christ.
Pastor Dan: A Third-Career Pastor
The Rev. Daniel W. Brettell, M.Div., ST.M., has served as pastor of St. Paul's Third since October 16, 2018. He is, by his own description, a third-career pastor. Before entering seminary in 2006, he spent thirty-five years in education. He taught College Prep and Advanced Placement Biology, Biochemistry, Human Anatomy and Physiology, and Life Sciences in the New Jersey public schools, then moved to educational publishing, where he worked for Silver Burdett, Silver Burdett Ginn, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, and Houghton Mifflin as a curriculum developer for science and mathematics, an educational consultant who trained teachers throughout the United States and the Caribbean, and finally a regional marketing director for the Northeast.
In 2006 he left Houghton Mifflin to pursue a call to ministry, earning a Master of Divinity from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia in 2010. After his vicarage year and ordination on February 19, 2011 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Fountain Hill, he continued his studies and was awarded a Master of Sacred Theology in Church History in May 2017. During his time at St. Paul Fountain Hill he co-founded CoMiT (Congregations on Mission Together), bringing Lutheran pastors and congregations in the area together for common work; with that congregation he helped create the BackPack Buddies program, providing easy-to-prepare weekend meals for at-risk children at Fountain Hill Elementary School.
Pastor Dan and his wife Patti are long-time Palmer Township residents, having lived in the community for more than thirty-five years. Four adult children, three of whom live in Palmer Township with their spouses and children, and one in Bethesda, Maryland, give the couple nine grandchildren, plus an enthusiastically welcoming dog named Billy. He has coached soccer and baseball in Palmer for nearly all of his years in the township, served for sixteen years as a trauma, critical care, and crisis response chaplain for the St. Luke's University Hospital Network, and has served as a first-response chaplain with the Palmer Township Police Department.
On Sunday mornings, those who arrive a little early will likely find Pastor Dan out front of the church greeting members and visitors. After worship, he makes his way to the Fellowship Hall, where he sits and talks with members and guests over his favorite chocolate-chip cookies. He welcomes the children up every Sunday for a Children's Message before the sermon, leads the Tuesday evening Bible Study on Zoom and the Adult Discussion Group on the first Monday of each month, and despite a self-admitted deficiency in reading music, has been convinced to sing with the Joyful Singers and ring bells with the Joyful Ringers (limited, he says, to no more than four bells).
Sunday Worship in Word and Sacrament
Worship at St. Paul's Third follows the Lutheran tradition of Word and Sacrament and centers on two themes: God's Word and the Sacrament of Holy Communion. The service uses the Evangelical Lutheran Book of Worship as its primary source, with contemporary hymns and worship formats woven in from time to time. Scripture lessons are read from the Bible each week, the appointed lectionary shapes the readings, and the pastor's sermon offers a Bible-based, contemporary interpretation of one or more of those lessons. Hymns are led by organ and/or piano, with the choir and bell choir adding their voices throughout the year.
Holy Communion is celebrated at every Sunday service and on every festival. The congregation teaches that Christ is truly present in the consecrated elements of bread and wine, and that the gifts of the Lord's Supper are forgiveness of sins and eternal life. All baptized Christians who have received First Communion instruction, or who normally commune in their own church, are invited to come forward and share the Lord's Supper. Children who have not yet received Holy Communion are invited forward to receive a blessing. Both bread and wine are used; grape juice and gluten-free wafers are also available for those who need them.
The service lasts about an hour. For those who cannot get to church on a given Sunday, the worship is livestreamed on Zoom, with the link emailed from the church office ahead of time. Recordings of recent services are also posted to the church's YouTube channel, so members and friends can catch up on Sunday afternoon or any time during the week.
Worship does not happen only at the front. Behind the scenes, members serve as readers, ushers, greeters, altar care, communion assistants, the audio-visual team running the projection slides, bread bakers who prepare the loaves used at communion, and prayer partners who lift up prayer concerns during the distribution. The church's worship page details each of these roles to help newcomers find a ministry that fits their gifts.
Christian Education for All Ages
Christian formation at St. Paul's Third reaches from preschoolers through adults. Sunday Church School classes for children from age 4 through sixth grade meet on the second and fourth Sundays of each month at 9:00 a.m., running until 9:45 a.m. from the Sunday after Labor Day through the Sunday before Memorial Day, so families can drop off early and head into the ten-hour worship together. Children also sing with the Sunday School on those mornings, sharing rhythm instruments, props, hand motions, and simple signing to complement what they are learning.
For older youth, the congregation offers a two-year Confirmation program for students beginning in seventh grade. Class meets on Sundays from noon to 1:00 p.m. Confirmation is designed to help young people live faithfully within the covenant of Holy Baptism; students work through scripture, the church and church year, and Luther's Catechism, take part in worship leadership and congregational life, and in their second year participate in a program of discipleship training with parents serving as mentors. Those who finish the preparation are confirmed through the rite for Affirmation of Baptism on Reformation Sunday.
Adults have two regular study opportunities. Pastor Dan leads a Bible Study on Zoom every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.; the current text is the Epistle of 1 Peter, and the link is emailed from the church office each week. On the first Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m., the Adult Discussion Group gathers for a less formal educational evening; participants are invited to bring a beverage or a snack to share. Both groups are open to newcomers at any time.
The congregation also points members to a year-round rhythm of daily devotions. The Daily Devotions page offers meditations by Carol Dean Henn and links to Luther Seminary's God Pause devotions, which are tied to the assigned Scripture readings for the coming Sunday.
A Musical Congregation
Music has long been one of the distinctive gifts of St. Paul's Third. The Music Director, Nancy Broadbent, has been playing piano and organ in churches for more than forty-five years, having served Trinity Lutheran Church in Bangor, First United Evangelical Congregational Church and Mackey Memorial Baptist Church in Bangor, and St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Plainfield Township, and having worked as rehearsal pianist for the choir at Moravian Hall Square. A native of Bangor and a graduate of Lafayette College and Harvard Law School, she also practices law in Easton under her professional name, Nancy Schneiderman, and has performed in regional theater and at assisted-living and nursing homes with her husband Fred.
The music program offers several ensembles. The Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. and welcomes anyone from seventh grade to their seventieth year and beyond. No solo experience or music-reading ability is required; the only prerequisite is a willingness to raise voices in praise and thanksgiving. The Joyful Ringers, the bell choir, rehearses on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 7:00 p.m.; basic techniques are taught and music reading is not required (you can ring if you can count). The Praise Band is open to all musicians and singers interested in contemporary worship opportunities, with rehearsals scheduled around performance and service dates. Adults and older teens who are accomplished instrumentalists are invited to accompany choirs or congregational singing and to provide solo or group performances for special occasions.
Children have their own ensemble, the Treble Makers, who sing regularly during worship. Parents are encouraged to contact the music director about the children's music program and to stay at the beginning of Sunday School to observe. Special music offerings throughout Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and other seasons draw on the full range of instruments and voices available in the congregation.
Stitchers, Meals-on-Wheels, and Safe Harbor
Outreach is woven into the congregation's weekly life. The Stitchers meet on the first Wednesday of each month from 9:00 a.m. until noon to assemble and stitch blankets for Lutheran World Relief, and they stitched a quilt for the narthex bearing the names of the congregation's members. Each month they also provide lunch for the residents of the Safe Harbor shelter in Easton. The gathering is as social as it is productive; everyone enjoys a morning of fellowship and leaves with a feeling of accomplishment.
On the first Monday of each month from 10:15 a.m. until about 12:45 p.m., a team from the congregation supports the local Meals-on-Wheels program. Each team includes a driver, who uses their own vehicle to transport the meals, and a runner, who carries them from the car to the door of the recipient. Two meals per shut-in are delivered on each run, and new team members are always welcome.
Throughout the year, volunteers from St. Paul's Third also organize and prepare a full meal for the residents of the Safe Harbor Shelter in addition to the monthly lunch the Stitchers provide. A year-round food collection area in the narthex gathers non-perishable food items for the local food bank, alongside a pot for monetary donations, and volunteers periodically deliver what has been gathered. Each year the congregation rallies around an annual Souper Bowl collection during the month of February, gathering cans of soup to be split between two local food pantries; the totals from past years are tallied at the end of the month with a chili cookoff and a trophy for the favorite.
Centered in Christ, Called to Serve
The mission statement of St. Paul's Third is short enough to memorize: We are a congregation centered in Christ and called to serve in our community, our nation and the world. The vision statement spells out what that calling looks like in practice. The congregation extends hospitality, accepts others openly and honestly, and shares the fellowship of Christ with the surrounding community. It nurtures and strengthens God's children of all ages using creative ways to help them learn and grow as Christians, encouraging and supporting them in their journey of faith. Worship is shaped by active participation in Word, Sacrament, prayer, and song, including special offerings of music and arts to the glory of God. Members are encouraged to be true and faithful stewards of the gifts God has given - time, talents, and possessions - offered freely, lovingly, and thankfully. Faith is fueled by studying and teaching the story of Christ, spreading the Gospel, and leading and living by Christ's example.
Sunday worship centers on the Lutheran teaching that the Bible is the Word of God, that we are saved by grace through faith, and that Christ is truly present in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. The seasons of the church year - Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Easter, Pentecost, and the long green stretch of Ordinary Time - give the year its rhythm, with each season marked by the texts, music, and colors of the day. The congregation walks through the lectionary week by week, year by year, planting seeds through the readings and the sermon, and then in the time after Pentecost looking outward, asking what it means to bring in the harvest.
Visiting St. Paul's Third
For first-time visitors, the basics are straightforward. Sunday worship begins at 10:00 a.m. and runs about an hour. The church sits on Newburg Road in Palmer Township, just off the Easton-Nazareth Highway (Route 248), and is easy to find on Google Maps. A large parking lot adjoins the building, so finding a space on a Sunday morning is rarely a problem. Access for people with disabilities was improved in the 1994 renovation.
Dress is whatever feels right. On any given Sunday the room includes suits and ties alongside jeans, shorts, sneakers, sandals, and flip-flops. The only expectation is that visitors come as they are; the congregation says it is simply glad to have guests. Communion is open to all baptized Christians who share the church's faith in the real presence of Christ in the sacrament; children who have not yet received their First Communion are invited forward for a blessing. Coffee hour follows the service in the Fellowship Hall, where newcomers can meet members of the congregation, say hello to Pastor Dan, and reach for one of his favorite chocolate-chip cookies.
Those who want to dig deeper can pick up a monthly newsletter, sign up for the church's emails through the office, and find a specific ministry that matches their gifts. Readers, ushers, greeters, altar care, communion assistants, the audio-visual team, bread makers, and prayer partners are all ways to step into the life of the congregation. Children can be enrolled in Sunday School and the Treble Makers; youth can enter the Confirmation program in seventh grade; adults can join the choir, the bell choir, the Praise Band, the Stitchers, the Meals-on-Wheels team, the Adult Discussion Group, the Tuesday Bible Study, or any of the other ongoing ministries. The congregation's online giving page makes it easy to support the work financially for those who wish to do so, and Zoom worship remains available for those who cannot get to the building on a given Sunday.