A Christ-Centered Family in Happy Valley
State College Alliance Church gathers on the west side of State College, Pennsylvania, in a community known around the region as Happy Valley. The church sits at 1221 West Whitehall Road, a short drive from Penn State's University Park campus, and the rhythm of the year follows both the academic calendar and the steady cadence of a congregation that has chosen a simple framework for everything it does: Worship, Belong, Serve, and Send.
The church identifies with the Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA), a movement founded in the late 1800s by A.B. Simpson, and receives regional support and leadership from the CMA Eastern Pennsylvania District. State College Alliance embraces the Alliance's Fourfold Gospel as a beautiful summary of what it believes about Jesus, and it affirms the full Statement of Faith from the C&MA National Office. The congregation also describes itself with seven Core Values that shape its day-to-day life: unified in worship, grounded in Scripture, connected in prayer, growing in community, active in service, intentional in missions, and advancing in big faith.
Sundays at Nine and Ten-Thirty
Two identical Sunday morning services meet each week at 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. in the Sanctuary, with overflow seating available in the lobby when the room fills. Each service includes singing, prayer, and preaching from the same passage or series, and the full gathering is also livestreamed for those at home, traveling, or unable to attend in person. The online service is more than a passive video feed: viewers can interact through chat, submit prayer requests in real time, and follow along with others watching from a distance.
Both services are designed to feel like an open door. Visitors are invited to stop by the Info Center in the lobby to introduce themselves, ask questions, and pick up a small gift mailed to first-time guests who share their contact information. The church notes plainly that there is no expectation for guests to give financially, and the offering is framed as one act of worship among many rather than a duty of attendance.
The church practices Communion on the first Sunday of every month, calling it the Lord's Supper. Anyone who has entered the family of God through a relationship with Jesus is welcome to participate, regardless of denominational background, and gluten-free elements are always available. On those same first Sundays, the Living Waters Prayer Service offers an extended hour of praise, worship, and listening prayer. All are welcome, including prayer novices and seasoned prayer warriors.
Alliance Kids: From Nursery Through Preteens
Children are woven into the life of the church from the earliest weeks. During the 9:00 a.m. service, childcare is provided for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, freeing parents to worship with the rest of the congregation. At the 10:30 a.m. service, a full children's ministry runs from birth through sixth grade in age-appropriate rooms.
Infants through twenty-four months are welcomed into a staffed nursery. Preschoolers ages two through Pre-K gather in First Look, a ministry designed for the first steps of faith through play, songs, simple teaching, and a lot of hands-on fun. Elementary children in kindergarten through third grade meet in Route 252 for creative large-group Bible teaching followed by small-group discussion and activities. Preteens in fourth through sixth grade journey weekly through a study of the Chronicles of Narnia, led by adult and student leaders from both Alliance Kids and the AWAKE student ministry, looking for biblical parallels and applying them to everyday Christian living.
For children who need a quieter environment, a staffed Flex Room offers a sensory-friendly alternative during the 10:30 service, and the ministry also pairs kids with buddies as needed. Families are encouraged to reach out ahead of a visit so the team can prepare the right support and make a child's first morning the best it can be.
On Sunday evenings during the school year from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m., the church hosts an AWANA club for children from age three through sixth grade. AWANA combines games, teaching, and Bible memorization, and children from the surrounding community are welcome to attend whether or not their families come to Sunday morning services. The club also supports the ministry of Wilson Waigwa and the Children and Youth Empowerment Center (CYEC) in Nyeri, Kenya, raising funds and prayer for that long-term partnership.
Each summer, Alliance Kids pours into the broader community through Alliance Sports Camp, a week-long day camp held the last week of July. Open to children entering kindergarten through fifth grade, the camp runs each morning with sports, songs, Bible teaching, and friendship, supported by more than two hundred volunteers and partner organizations that loan equipment ranging from soccer balls to robotics kits. The week closes with a Friday evening Block Party, complete with inflatables, yard games, freeze pops, and an outdoor rally that brings together families from Sports Camp and a collaborating camp at Calvary Church.
AWAKE Student Ministry
Middle and high school students find a home in AWAKE Student Ministry, designed to help young people become exposed to, experience, and express Christ, His kingdom, and the biblical purposes of His church. AWAKE gathers students for teaching, small groups, fellowship, service projects, and retreats throughout the school year, and it maintains its own social media presence to keep students and parents connected between events. The ministry is led by Student Ministry Pastor Seth Roush, and students are encouraged to step into leadership roles alongside adult volunteers.
AWAKE students regularly take the ministry on the road through short-term mission trips, including a Mobile Sports Camp partnership with Envision Atlanta, where they run sports camps, serve in ESL classrooms, and build relationships with refugee families in the Clarkston community. The students have cooked alongside a local family, scooped goat pens on a farm, joined a Karenni congregation for a multilingual worship service, taken a refuge-loss simulation led by an Envision worker, and spent the week in Bible teaching and huddle groups with local children. These trips have become a defining part of the student ministry, blending the energy of summer camp with the long-term commitments of Alliance missionaries.
Alliance Christian Fellowship at Penn State
Just minutes from the church, Penn State is home to Alliance Christian Fellowship (ACF), a student-led church that meets on or near the campus. ACF's vision is to build God's kingdom through a growing relationship with Christ, and it welcomes undergraduates, graduate students, and other college-aged young adults for worship, Bible study, discipleship, and community. The ministry is pastored by Andy Hendry, and many ACF students also consider State College Alliance Church their home congregation, moving between Sunday morning services, weekly small groups, and the broader life of the church.
Adults: Community Groups and Beyond
The hub of adult life at State College Alliance is the Community Group network. These small groups of varying sizes, locations, and life stages meet throughout the week to pursue three shared rhythms: worship through prayer and Bible study, belonging through friendship, accountability, and mutual care, and serve through hospitality, evangelism, and simple acts of service. Open groups are listed in the church's online directory, and newcomers can be paired with a group that fits their schedule and stage of life. The church also provides resources for community group leaders who shepherd these gatherings week after week.
Beyond community groups, the church maintains several focused ministries for adults. 20/30 Connect gathers marrieds, singles, grad students, and young professionals in their twenties and thirties for monthly social events and deeper weekly small groups, with a mission to help people in this stage of life fall more deeply in love with Jesus and find entryways into serving the broader church family. A Women's Ministry provides a multi-generational space for women to pursue wholeness in Christ and build the kingdom locally, and a Men's Ministry flourishes through a handful of men's community groups (including a Bible Study Fellowship host site and several morning groups) as well as service projects. Prime Timers serves the congregation's seniors with opportunities for fellowship and spiritual growth.
For people with disabilities and their families, the church maintains a special needs ministry integrated into the children's programs and offers the sensory-friendly Flex Room during the second service.
Conversational English on Wednesday Nights
From September through mid-May, the church opens its facility on Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. for a free Conversational English program. The program is designed for adults from around the world who live in the State College community and want to grow more comfortable speaking English in everyday settings. New students are welcome any week, and free childcare is available for children from birth through age ten, making the program accessible to young families.
On the first visit, students stop at the Info Desk for a short assessment that helps the team place them in the right group. After that, most groups meet around round tables in the lobby, creating a relaxed, café-style environment where conversation flows naturally. Levels range from an Intro group for newcomers to English, through intermediate Level 2/3 and classroom-style Level 4/5 groups, to two book clubs that read and discuss a chosen novel together. Recent book club selections have included Woody Brown's Upward Bound and Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn-Dixie.
ESL volunteers lead conversations, run games, prepare snacks, assist with childcare, and host monthly cultural events such as pumpkin carving, Thanksgiving-style meals, and cookie decorating. A small library of conversation cards, vocabulary exercises, and discussion activities helps even new volunteers step into a teaching role.
A Rhythm of Prayer
Prayer is named as one of the church's seven Core Values, and the rhythms around it are woven through every part of the life together. Prayer team members are available before and after Sunday services to pray with anyone who asks, and prayer request cards can be dropped into boxes in the back of the sanctuary or the lobby. The prayer chain receives requests by phone, email, and online form, and circulates them to a group of intercessors who commit to praying through the week.
Pastors and a Visitation Team consider it a privilege to visit people in the hospital or at home, and the church maintains a prayer team that serves both the congregation and the wider community. Monthly Living Waters gatherings offer an extended time of praise and waiting on the Lord, and Bible reading plans and Scripture memory bookmarks help individuals and families go deeper in their personal prayer lives. Visitors and neighbors can also send prayer requests to prayer@scalliancechurch.com at any time.
The Lord's Table and Believer's Baptism
Baptism and the Lord's Supper sit at the center of Christian life and witness at State College Alliance. The church practices believer's baptism by immersion, baptizing both adults and children old enough to understand the meaning of the step they are taking. Baptism services are scheduled periodically throughout the year, sometimes in the baptismal built into the upper stage of the Sanctuary, sometimes outdoors at special services, but always with the joy of a congregation that sees baptism as a public declaration of an inward change - a symbol of being united with Christ in His death and raised to walk in new life.
For families with younger children, the church offers Child Dedications, held three times a year around Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Thanksgiving. In a dedication, parents bring their child forward during a worship service, hear Scripture read, and publicly commit to raising their child to know and follow Jesus, while the congregation stands to affirm its role in supporting the family. Dedications are intentionally distinct from baptism, and the church takes time to walk parents through what each one means.
The Lord's Supper, observed on the first Sunday of each month, is open to anyone who has placed faith in Jesus, no matter their denominational background. Gluten-free elements are always provided, and the church welcomes children whose parents believe they understand the meaning of the bread and cup.
Going: Local and Global Missions
As part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the church sees itself as a sending community. The missions approach runs in two directions at once: caring for neighbors across the street and investing in gospel work around the world.
Locally, the Samaria Fund supports regional partners such as Out of the Cold Centre County and the Pregnancy Resource Clinic, allowing the church to bless organizations whose work extends beyond its own walls. Through the Persecuted Church partnership with the College of Prayer, the congregation supports brothers and sisters in Christ who live in countries where openly following Jesus carries real risk. The church also walks alongside its own members as they are sent out, including Cady and Jon Wieck, who have been approved for a two-year residency with Envision Berlin.
Globally, the church has a long-standing relationship with the Children and Youth Empowerment Center (CYEC) in Nyeri, Kenya, including its AWANA program led by Wilson Waigwa. The church sends teams to Nyeri to help run sports camps, support the children, and assist with facility projects such as clothing distributions, school uniform purchases, and improvements to the center's farm. Other partnerships have included trips to the Dominican Republic with Meeting God in Missions, to Chilca, Peru, where the church partners with Esperanza de Ana to serve kids and families through service projects, classroom time, and shared meals, and to New York City, where teams work with the C&MA's Envision site and partner ministries in the immigrant communities of the Bronx and Brooklyn, including prayer walks, English classes, and a memorable meal at John's Pizzeria in the first C&MA missionary training building.
Beyond sending teams, the church encourages regular giving to the Alliance Great Commission Fund, which supports gospel work in roughly eighty countries and within the United States.
Sports Camp and Food Pack
Each summer the church hosts Alliance Sports Camp, drawing hundreds of children from the community for a week of sports, songs, and Bible teaching, supported by more than two hundred volunteers and partner organizations that loan equipment ranging from soccer balls to robotics kits. The daily rhythm includes a halftime rally with worship, teaching, and Scripture memory, followed by sports stations and small huddle groups where campers dig into the lesson together. The Friday evening Block Party closes out the week with inflatables, yard games, freeze pops, and an outdoor rally, and brings together families from Sports Camp and a collaborating camp at Calvary Church.
In the spring, the church hosts a Mobile Food Pack event with Feed My Starving Children, a community effort that has packed well over one hundred thousand meals in a single weekend. Volunteers staff packing lines, local businesses sponsor the event, and the packed meals are sent to feed children around the world. A planning team recruits sponsors, coordinates volunteers, and keeps the event running year after year.
Community Care and Hope Initiatives
State College Alliance describes its care ministry with a simple conviction: no one should walk through life's challenges alone. The Community Care team offers prayer support, financial assistance, and practical help for anyone in the community, not only members or regular attenders. Requests can be made for hospital and home visits, meal coordination around a new baby or an illness, and confidential financial help for families in crisis. Anyone can reach the office through a care request form, by email, or by phone during regular office hours.
The Hope Initiatives umbrella gathers the church's outreach efforts under a single banner, including ESL, Sports Camp, the Food Pack, partnerships with local ministries, and short-term missions. The phrase echoes the church's mission to encounter Jesus and impact the world, and it invites every member to find a place to serve with their particular gifts, whether that is teaching English, packing meals, mentoring a student, hosting a small group, or supporting a missionary on the other side of the globe.
The Facility and Faith Forward
The campus at 1221 West Whitehall Road includes a Sanctuary with a baptismal on the upper stage, an expanded lobby, a gymnasium, a kitchen, a Fireside Room, and multiple classrooms that host nursery care, children's ministry, small groups, the ESL program, and large community events. The church's current footprint is the result of a major expansion that was dedicated in January 2018 in a celebration of God-sized Dreams and Holy Spirit Vision. The expansion project, which cost more than six million dollars, has been paid off in full, and the Faith Forward Fund remains open to support future kingdom-expanding projects such as church plants, land acquisition, or significant capital improvements.
Beliefs: The Fourfold Gospel and Seven Core Values
As an Alliance church, State College Alliance holds to the Fourfold Gospel articulated by C&MA founder A.B. Simpson, which centers on Christ as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer, and Coming King. The church also affirms the full Statement of Faith of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, covering the triune God, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit, the authority of Scripture, the church, the sacraments, and the return of Christ.
In its own words, the church is a Christ-centered, Spirit-filled family, and the seven Core Values give shape to that identity: unified in worship (Hebrews 13:15), grounded in Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16-17), connected in prayer (Philippians 4:6), growing in community (Hebrews 10:24-25), active in service (1 Corinthians 12:7), intentional in missions (Acts 1:8), and advancing in big faith (Hebrews 11:6). The framework of Worship, Belong, Serve, and Send captures the way those values play out across the week, from the songs on a Sunday morning to a soccer game in Kenya, from a toddler's Bible story to a free English class for a new neighbor.
Staff and Pastoral Team
The pastoral team includes Buck Hall, who came to State College Alliance after fourteen years of pastoral ministry and now serves the congregation from a home in nearby Bellefonte with his wife Kim. Bill Jester oversees baptism preparation and the Alliance Sports Camp, working closely with families and volunteers. Seth Roush leads AWAKE Student Ministry, and Andy Hendry pastors Alliance Christian Fellowship at Penn State. Anna Raquel Duiker directs Alliance Kids Ministries, including the Sunday morning programs, AWANA, and Sports Camp. Aden oversees the ESL program and other outreach efforts, and Chloe serves as the ESL program director. The broader staff team includes Aaron Henning, Dan Min, Beth Ertsgaard, Meredith LeRoy, Keith Maurer, Stephanie Miller, Lauren Walters, Suzanne Williams, and Jill Zeger, each contributing to a team that the church describes as united in passion and diverse in assignment.
The church office is open Monday through Thursday from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., and can be reached at (814) 237-7991 or office@scalliancechurch.com. Prayer requests can be sent to prayer@scalliancechurch.com, and the Church Center app handles online giving, event registration, group sign-ups, and the church directory for members. Visitors and newcomers can also follow the church on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Vimeo, and listen to weekly messages as a podcast on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Music.