A Red Brick House of Worship on Street Road
Union Presbyterian Church sits on a stretch of Street Road in Kirkwood, a small village in Colerain Township in the southern end of Lancaster County. Six miles from Oxford and seven from Quarryville, the large red-brick sanctuary is easy to spot off Route 472. That visibility has served the church well: from this rural crossroads it has reached out to the Southern End and beyond for more than two hundred years. Today the congregation describes itself with the words of its pastor and people: "At Union Presbyterian Church, we want to know Christ and make him known," with a vision that everyone in the life of UPC will know more of God's power and grace through Jesus Christ, and a mission that all of Kirkwood, the Southern End, and beyond will experience life and peace with God.
The Kirks and the Village That Borrowed Its Name
Union takes its name from the joining of seceder Presbyterians with other Presbyterian congregations. On June 22, 1811, 209 people met and pledged $1,588 to build a meeting house. Eight months later, on February 25, 1812, the first trustees purchased 1.84 acres from Joseph Andrews for ten dollars and began erecting a 36-by-40-foot stone building across the road from where the present sanctuary stands. Rev. Ebenezer Dickey of Oxford Presbyterian Church preached the first sermon in that stone building, and about twenty charter members furnished their own wooden pews. On September 24, 1816, the Union Presbyterian Church was granted a charter, and the New Castle Presbytery ordained its first elders. When the first church was built, the village up the road was not Kirkwood at all but Barkley's Tavern, and the village across the road was called Coleraine. The village eventually took the name Union from the church, not the other way around.
Growth came quickly. By 1850 the stone walls were extended fifteen feet westward at a cost of $739, and after the Civil War the congregation built a much larger 85-by-55-foot brick building on the present site in 1869 for $8,800. That structure became the first floor of what worshippers use today. In 1898 the second-floor sanctuary, bell tower, and brick front were added for $7,500, with the 1,900-pound bell still hanging in the tower. For more than a century nothing major changed, until a $1,200,000 addition was completed in 2004 - roughly seventy times the cost of everything that had been built before it.
A Pipe Organ from a Silent-Film Palace
The instrument that fills the sanctuary with sound has a story of its own. The pipe organ was originally built as a theater organ in the era of silent movies following the First World War. Many theaters had an organ to provide background music, and once talking pictures arrived the instruments quickly lost their niche and were sold for new uses. One of them, made by the United States Pipe Organ Company of Philadelphia, found its way to Union. The serial number on the air blower matches records for the Embassy Theater in Elizabeth, New Jersey, which fits the passed-down history of its New Jersey origin. Listed as a "Style E" organ (a six-rank organ), somewhere along the way a trumpet rank was added, making it a seven-rank instrument.
During the pastorate of Rev. Thomas Kerr, a committee was established to investigate purchasing an organ. The congregation approved the purchase in January 1931, and the organ was dedicated on Palm Sunday of that year at a cost of $3,600. A generous gift in honor of long-time Union members Bordley and Emma Patterson, given by their daughter Mrs. Hugh Foresman, made the purchase possible. Mr. Foresman had been a professor at the Union Academy before moving to Chicago and founding Scott, Foresman and Company, one of the largest schoolbook publishers in the world. On the Friday before the dedication, a recital featured the President of the organ company (who sang with his wife), several members of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, and Professor Raymond Wilson of the Eastman School of Music. Lila Penny Wilde served as Union's organist at the time. In 1998 the console was converted to solid state for $19,200, and in 2015 SDG Organ Service of Millersville carefully restored the pipes, air supply, and many controls so the organ could lead worship well into the future.
Stained Glass and the Rose Window
When the second floor was added in 1898 the congregation decided to fill the new sanctuary with stained glass. Almost every window was sponsored in memory or in honor of a loved one, and every panel carries the memorial name of the person who inspired it. Walking the sanctuary is a tour of Colerain Township: James Patterson, an early elder; Samuel Morrison, whose brother became the second pastor; Sarah Andrews Holmes; Joseph White, the carriage builder; and a small round window honoring Rev. Robert Kirk, who served Union from 1891 to 1905, oversaw the construction of the sanctuary, and personally built the oak staircase to the second floor.
At the rear of the sanctuary, the great rose window glows in memory of Professor James Andrews, who operated the Union Academy on Academy Road as Union's high school for many years. Andrews was the grandson of the Joseph Andrews who sold the land to the church trustees in 1812. Hugh Foresman was one of the last professors to teach under Andrews; his gift in 1931 brought the pipe organ console to Union in memory of the Patterson family. A window on the east side honors Rev. and Mrs. James Mackey, born in Colerain Township in 1820, who in 1850 were among the very first Presbyterian missionaries to go to Africa. Within six weeks of reaching Gaboon, Mrs. Mackey died of African fever, and two more missionaries drowned when their boat capsized.
Sunday in Kirkwood
Sunday is the center of the week at Union. Two adult Sunday school classes and a children's Sunday school class for elementary-age children meet at 9:00 in the morning, and the whole church gathers for worship at 10:00. The service usually lasts about seventy minutes and includes singing, prayer, readings from the Bible, and a sermon. Visitors are greeted at the door by members of the church family, and worship guides are available in the sanctuary; newcomers can sit wherever they like. After the service, everyone is welcome downstairs to the cafe for fellowship and refreshments.
There is no dress code. Members and visitors arrive in everything from suits to jeans. Children are very welcome in the service, and cries and squeals are considered part of family worship; if a child needs a break, a nursery for children six months to three years old sits down the hall on the same level as the sanctuary. Elementary-age children are invited to Children's Church during the sermon for age-specific teaching focused on the truths of God's Word.
Pastor Jeremy and the Church Office
The church is led by Pastor Jeremy Peterson, who lives in Quarryville with his wife Carla and their three children, Penelope, Jasper, and Cooper. He trained for the ministry at Cairn School of Divinity and loves opening God's Word with others. Pastor Jeremy has a passion for studying and teaching the Bible and a desire to see lives changed by the overwhelming grace of Jesus; he also enjoys cooking for others, reading theology and mystery novels, and spending time with friends and family. Carla coordinates the nursery program for the youngest children, and Julie has been part of the church office for twelve years, greeting visitors and helping the congregation in many practical ways. She moved to the area with her husband Ken, who grew up nearby, and they have watched their son Kenny grow up and prepare to welcome his bride, Rachel, into the family.
Beliefs Rooted in Scripture and the Westminster Confession
Union Presbyterian Church is part of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC), a denomination committed to carrying out the Great Commission from within the Presbyterian and Reformed tradition. The congregation holds that all Scripture is self-attesting and requires unreserved submission, that the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are a complete and unified witness to God's redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks.
Seven essentials set out the heart of the church's faith. Union affirms one God, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three Persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and proclaims that Jesus Christ, the living Word, became flesh through His miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and His virgin birth, died on the cross as a sacrifice for sin, rose bodily on the third day, ascended into heaven, and now serves as High Priest and Mediator at God's right hand. The Holy Spirit convicts and renews, giving new life, empowering for service, instructing in truth, and sealing believers for the day of redemption. Salvation is wholly dependent on God's free grace; He credits His righteousness to those who put their faith in Christ alone. The true Church is composed of all who through saving faith are united in the body of Christ, finding visible expression in local congregations that preach the Word in purity and administer the sacraments in integrity. Jesus Christ will come again personally, visibly, and bodily to judge the living and the dead, and every believer is called to proclaim the gospel and make disciples of all nations. These essentials are set forth in greater detail in the Westminster Confession of Faith and its catechisms, which Union receives and adopts as its system of doctrine.
Growth Groups, Union Presbyterian Women, and Evening Prayer
Sunday worship is the primary gathering, but the church's life extends well beyond it. Growth Groups are smaller groups that meet through the community during the week for fellowship, prayer, and Bible study, deepening relationships and growing toward maturity in Christ. On the first Sunday of each month, Union joins other local congregations for an evening prayer service, lifting up the churches, the community, the nation, and the world.
Union Presbyterian Women (UPW) has been the most vibrant and long-serving organization in the church's recent history. Founded in 1980, UPW raises funds that are donated to a range of church endeavors, facilitates church and community meals, and hosts special events through the year. Its members meet regularly for Bible study and for occasions that bind generations together. The children's ministry also gathers for special events through the year in addition to Sunday school and Children's Church, and youth activities are part of the rhythm of life at Union.
Reaching the Southern End and Beyond
Outreach is woven into the church's identity. The congregation regularly partners with Solanco Neighborhood Ministries and the Solid Rock Youth Center, hosts community meals, yard sales, organ concerts, and youth activities, and welcomes visitors to join whenever and however the church gathers. Locally, members support Black Rock Retreat, the Oxford Lighthouse, the New Hope Ministry, Oxford Oaks Ministry, and the Northstar Initiative. Nationally and internationally, Union stands with Cru, Joy Ranch, Mission Companion Ministries, and WorldServe Mission (WSM), and it walks alongside the EPC's wider engagement efforts.
Union Cemetery, Next Door but Separate
Across the road and along Route 472 lies the Union Cemetery, a non-profit association that sits next to the church but is not formally affiliated with it. Founded in 1865, the association grew out of a group of men who felt the church was not doing enough to maintain its original burial ground. Over the past 150 years additional purchases and land swaps have brought the cemetery to its current 9.7 acres, of which only about four are currently in use; the rest stretches well out into the adjoining farmland and includes ballfields that a neighboring Amish community mows in exchange for their use. The association's twelve volunteer directors include descendants of the founders, and many of the burials come from a wide region of southern Lancaster County. The cemetery keeps a careful record of burials from 1980 onward and a veteran list of those who served in the armed forces.
From a $10 land purchase in 1812 to a seven-rank pipe organ, a rose window, and a sanctuary that has been extended three times over, Union Presbyterian Church has stayed in its red-brick place on Street Road through war, growth, and a change of denomination. The congregation continues to welcome anyone who wants to know more about the good news of Jesus, with Sunday worship at 10:00, Sunday school for all ages at 9:00, growth groups through the week, and a people eager to know Christ and make him known.