A PCA Congregation on Oregon Pike
Westminster Presbyterian Church sits along a busy stretch of Oregon Pike on the north side of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the congregation has gathered for decades to worship, teach, and serve the surrounding community. The church belongs to the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) and to the Susquehanna Valley Presbytery, a regional body of about twenty PCA congregations in central Pennsylvania. Westminster's own stated mission has shaped everything from Sunday morning to short-term mission trips: to glorify and enjoy the living God, to nurture believers of all ages into mature discipleship, and to proclaim the good news of faith in Christ by words of witness and deeds of mercy, in Lancaster County and to all nations of the earth.
Three short words sit at the top of the church's home page: Glorify. Nurture. Proclaim. That motto functions almost like a backbone for the whole congregation, and it shows up in the way the church organizes its life. The body of Christ at Westminster numbers roughly 1,250 members, served by a large staff of pastors, ministry directors, counselors, and program coordinators. Three Sunday services fill the sanctuary, Sunday School meets between them, and Wednesday evenings bring the congregation back together for a family meal, choirs, children's clubs, women's and men's Bible studies, and youth group. A building project is underway, and updates about construction are posted for the congregation as the work progresses.
The church's international reach is visible not only in its missionary support but also in its own building. Three languages are spoken in worship: English, Burmese, and Swahili. A Swahili service draws together a Congolese community that calls Westminster home. The congregation has welcomed refugee families for years and has woven that ministry into everything from adult ESL classes to a children's refugee coordinator on staff. Visitors arriving on a Sunday morning will see English and Burmese worshippers sharing the early service, and later in the morning, families walking across the parking lot toward the Reformation Room for the Swahili gathering.
Three Sunday Services and the Shape of Worship
Sunday at Westminster follows a steady rhythm. The 8:00 AM service is the early service, translated into Burmese for Burmese-speaking families. Sunday School for all ages meets at 9:30 AM and runs about an hour. The 11:00 AM service is the late morning gathering, and a less-formal 6:00 PM evening service closes the day. The whole schedule is built to give families a chance to be present at more than one part of the day, and the church notes that the late morning service typically draws the largest crowd.
Westminster describes its worship as emphasizing historic Christianity and as largely traditional in style. Services follow a printed bulletin and include the Lord's Prayer and the historic creeds, including the Apostles' Creed. Singing draws on the rich body of Christian hymnody along with newer hymns and songs. Preaching is expository, with the preaching of God's Word at the center of all the church does. The evening service is described as less formal but not substantially different in style; its goal is the same as the morning services - to lift up the glory of God and to apply His Word to life.
The worship space itself reflects the same blended inheritance. The Music Ministry draws on Sanctuary Choir, Matins Choir, handbell ensembles, brass and string ensembles, flute choir, clarinet choir, and chamber orchestra. Instrumentalists and vocalists serve throughout the year as soloists and accompanists. The Sanctuary Choir, the largest ensemble, sings weekly at the 11:00 AM service and at special services such as Thanksgiving Eve, the 10:00 PM Christmas Eve service, Holy Thursday, and both Easter morning services.
International Worship at Westminster
Few features of the church are as distinctive as its international worship. The 8:00 AM service is translated into Burmese for Burmese families who attend. ESL classes for adults, along with English-speaking classes for children, run during the Sunday School hour from 9:30 to 10:30 AM. The Swahili Worship Service meets from 10:30 AM to 1:00 PM in the Reformation Room and is led by Pastor John Mwaura, a ruling elder who serves as Pastoral Associate for Refugee Ministry, and Congregational Care Associate Jean Malumalu. Nursery is available for children age three and under during the Swahili service.
These gatherings are not separate ministries tacked onto the side of the church; they are part of how Westminster understands itself. The church's stated core values include reaching the global unreached and the local unchurched, and the leadership has described the vision in the language of Revelation 7:9-10, picturing a great multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language standing before the throne. Pastor Mwaura, a native of Kenya, has been a member of Westminster for thirty-four years and joined the Refugee Ministry in 2017 to support the Congolese community in pastoral ways. Jean Malumalu, the Congregational Care Associate who assists with visitation and ministry to the sixty families in the Swahili ministry, is himself a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was resettled in Lancaster in 2019.
Sunday School for Every Age
Sunday School is a centerpiece of the church's nurture ministry. More than three hundred adults participate in 9:30 AM classes that change quarterly and run primarily on an elective basis, open to all ages. Classes typically cover Bible books, doctrinal themes, practical Christian living, church and society, subjects suited for newer believers, Christian history, biography, and men's and women's topics. There are usually five to ten options each quarter, taught by capable teachers drawn from the congregation.
The four-quarter calendar is Winter (December-February), Spring (March-May), Summer (June-August), and Fall (September-November). Newcomers and visitors are welcome any time, and registration at the start of a quarter is encouraged so room assignments can be added before classes begin. A typical fall lineup has included a ten-week New Members Class taught by Senior Pastor Dr. Chris Walker and others; a course on biblical manhood and womanhood; a survey of select passages in Jeremiah; a study in Christology tracing the incarnation through the Old and New Testaments; and a required class for those newly nominated as ruling elders, deacons, or deaconesses.
Two ten-week membership classes each year give prospective members a path into the church, held during the Adult Sunday School hour in the spring (March through May) and fall (September through November). The classes cover who Westminster is and what the Bible teaches, and prospective members are interviewed by pastors and elders about their testimony of faith in Christ. Baptism is required for membership, either at the time of joining or in the past. Youth follow a separate membership process beginning in seventh grade, with a fall class reviewing doctrine and a winter class on practical questions of church membership.
Wednesday Night Fellowship
Wednesday evenings, September through May, are a second front door into the church. The schedule begins with a paid family dinner from 5:00 to 6:20 PM, served in the church dining area for seven dollars a person or twenty dollars maximum per family. RSVP is needed each week by Monday at noon, and gluten-free meals are available by reservation. The menu for the year mixes comfort food with international touches, from fiesta chicken and burgers to an Uzbekistani plov night and a beef brisket burnt ends and cheese cavatappi.
After dinner, the church splits into age-graded programs. Story Time meets in the library from 5:45 to 6:15 PM for children ages four to eight. Children's choirs rehearse from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. Kids' Clubs run from 6:30 to 7:30 PM, where boys and girls ages four through sixth grade develop Christian character and build relationships with God, peers, family, and caring adults through learning activities, service projects, fun, and games. Women's Bible Study meets at 6:30 PM, currently working through a study of Romans. Wednesday night Men's Fellowship meets at the same hour, with discussion, encouragement, and a study of Edmund Clowney's The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament. Financial Peace University is offered periodically on Wednesday nights as a nine-week course for those wanting to tackle debt and steward their finances.
Youth Group runs from 6:20 to 7:45 PM in a room called The Cove. Students in grades seven through twelve are welcome any time after 5:30 PM and can stay to play sports or other games until 9:00 PM. Adult choirs rehearse in the evening as well, with the Matins Choir from 6:00 to 7:00 PM and the Sanctuary Choir from 7:30 to 9:00 PM, both preparing music for Sunday worship and special services throughout the church year.
Children's Ministry from Nursery Through Sixth Grade
Westminster's Children's Ministry exists in partnership with parents to develop disciples of Jesus Christ by proclaiming God's glory to the next generation. The ministry reaches children from birth through sixth grade across the nursery, Sunday School, Wednesday night Kids' Clubs, Missions & Me, and Vacation Bible School.
The nursery cares for newborns and children up to age three during the 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM worship services, during the 9:30 AM Sunday School hour, during Wednesday evening activities September through May, and during the Tuesday morning Women's Bible Study at 9:30 AM. Parents check children in at an electronic kiosk at the Nursery Check-In Desk and are assigned to an age-specific room. A Toddler Gym also meets monthly for caregivers and their children ages six months to four years, with inside free-play in the gym area from 9:30 to 11:00 AM.
Sunday School for children uses Great Commission Publications curriculum and runs from 9:30 to 10:30 AM on Sundays. Classes are organized by age: two- and three-year-olds, four- and five-year-olds, grades one and two, grades three and four, and grades five and six. Explorers Sunday School is available for children with disabilities and welcomes them alongside their peers. Kids' Clubs meet Wednesday evenings from 6:30 to 7:30 PM in an active, structured environment that combines Bible teaching, worship, games, and service. Children must be pre-registered to participate.
Missions & Me began in 1999 and runs yearly from mid-January to early March. Its purpose is to teach children how God works through the church in the world, to connect them to the missionaries Westminster supports, and to encourage them to be missionaries right where they live. A companion book supports family participation with weekly prayer requests for WPC missionaries, activities, and recipes. Vacation Bible School rounds out the year as a four-day summer program that extends the love of Christ to children in the local community and within the church community in a fun-filled, exciting setting.
Youth Ministry for Grades Seven Through Twelve
Westminster's Youth Ministry gathers students in grades seven through twelve to receive, celebrate, and share God's love for us in Christ. The ministry's stated rhythm is to receive God's love by studying the Bible together, to celebrate God's love by gathering in worship, and to share God's love through fellowship, fun, and service. The ultimate goal is to glorify God by nurturing the next generation to be wise, faithful, and loving disciples of Christ who proclaim His gospel through words of grace and lives of service in Lancaster County and beyond.
Wednesday nights in The Cove are the main gathering, with students welcome any time after 5:30 PM and activities running until 9:00 PM. Sunday mornings offer Junior High and Senior High Sunday School classes at 9:30 AM. The Senior High class works through an Introduction to Biblical Theology using Jon Nielson's Tracing God's Story as a guide from Genesis to Revelation. The Junior High class studies the Westminster Shorter Catechism using the Digging Deeper curriculum from Great Commission Publications, with the goal of helping students develop a biblical worldview.
A Student Leadership Team of tenth through twelfth graders focuses on service and provides input on improving youth group, retreats, and events. Students in seventh grade and above may pursue communicant membership through Communicants' Class, a five-week course held on Sunday afternoons from 5:00 to 6:00 PM. The next Communicants' Class will begin January 2027. The church also offers summer internship positions for college-age students to lead Bible studies, plan events and trips, and build relationships with junior high students. The fall calendar typically includes a youth retreat and seasonal fun nights.
Music Ministry
The Music Ministry exists to lead the congregation of Westminster Presbyterian Church in joyful worship through music that glorifies the living God, encourages the body of Christ, and magnifies the gospel of Jesus Christ. Under the leadership of Director of Music and Organist Frank Dodd, the music program nurtures the musical gifts and spiritual lives of all ages in the preparation of music for worship services and special events.
Choirs span every age group. The Sanctuary Choir, for SATB singers in grade nine through adult, rehearses on Wednesdays from 7:30 to 9:00 PM and sings weekly at the 11:00 AM service as well as at Thanksgiving Eve, the 10:00 PM Christmas Eve service, Holy Thursday, and both Easter morning services. The Matins Choir, also SATB singers in grade nine through adult, rehearses on Wednesdays from 6:00 to 7:00 PM and sings every two to three weeks at the 8:00 AM service. The Primary Choir introduces fundamentals of choral technique to beginning singers in grades one and two, rehearsing on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6:30 PM. The Junior Choir, for grades three through six, builds two- and three-part singing skills with the same rehearsal time. The Youth Choir, for grades seven through twelve, sings regularly in Sunday worship services with rehearsals most Sundays from 12:30 to 1:45 PM.
Two handbell ensembles provide opportunities for ringers of all ages. Jubilate Ringers is a two- to three-octave bell choir open to beginning and intermediate ringers in grade four through adult, rehearsing on Tuesdays from 6:15 to 7:15 PM. Westminster Ringers is a three- to four-octave bell choir for experienced ringers in grade seven through adult, rehearsing Tuesdays from 7:15 to 8:30 PM. Instrumental ensembles for brass, strings, flute choir, clarinet choir, and chamber orchestra rehearse periodically and present music in Sunday morning and evening services. Soloists and accompanists are scheduled quarterly by the Director of Music. Pianists are especially needed for Sunday evening services and to accompany various groups and Sunday School classes.
The Music Series brings several concerts each year to the church. Recent and upcoming programs have included WPC Arts Night, a Service of Lessons and Carols with the Westminster Adult, Youth, and Junior Choirs, an organ recital, the Genevans in concert as part of Geneva College's spring tour, a Brahms Requiem performed by Westminster's adult choirs and chamber orchestra, and a New Holland Band concert. The biennial Music Camp is for children currently in grades K through seven, with counselors in grades eight through twelve, and the next camp is planned for summer 2027.
Adult Discipleship: Women, Men, and Young Adults
Westminster's Adult Ministries provide opportunities to know God more deeply, to connect with others, and to reach the community with His transforming grace. The Adult Ministries Committee, one of the standing committees of Session, oversees the work.
Women's Ministry is led by Women's Ministry Director Amy Williams and is organized around three goals: to help women cultivate a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, to equip women to minister relationally to each other, and to prepare women to respond to their world for the glory of God. The ministry gathers through core Bible studies, relationship growth opportunities, and service projects. Wednesday night Women's Bible Study runs during the school year, and the Tuesday morning Bible Study at 9:30 AM includes nursery for children up to age five. Two women's counselors, Stephanie Hubach and Dr. Joan McConnell, also serve on staff.
Men's Ministry is overseen by Pastor Barry Cureton. The ministry helps men fight spiritual battles and mature in faith. Activities include Bible studies, integrity groups, fellowship events, bus trips, seasonal dinners, small group Bible studies, and athletic programs such as basketball, volleyball, softball, and golf outings. Wednesday night Men's Fellowship meets during the school year with a study of The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament.
Home Fellowships are small groups intended to help members of the church enter into significant relationships with one another. The groups emphasize Bible study, sharing, prayer, and general support and encouragement for growth in grace. Sign-ups for Home Fellowships typically run in seasonal windows.
Young Adult Ministry is a discipleship ministry focused on singles in their twenties, creating a community for young professionals to do life alongside one another. Young Adults meet every Thursday for Bible study and fellowship, with seasonal activities such as Cross Con, a fall retreat, and other gatherings through the year. A publication called The Fold helps young single and married adults in the Lancaster area grow in their faith in Jesus Christ by encouraging a thriving community focused on practical Christian living and discipleship. Pastoral Resident Micah Freer and Young Adult Intern Kelly Robinson help lead the ministry.
English Classes, Refugee Outreach, and Community Service
Westminster's outreach ministries have grown into some of the most distinctive parts of the church's life, especially its ESL and refugee work. Free English classes for adults are taught Tuesday nights from 7:00 to 8:50 PM, September through May, in the church building. The program, called English for the World Ministry, exists to glorify God by offering to the nations represented in Lancaster County free classes for learning English as a Second Language and opening a door for them to hear the good news of Jesus Christ from the Westminster community. Students are assessed the first night they come and placed in a class from beginner to advanced. Workbooks are available for thirty-five dollars. During the summer, Bible reading classes for English learners are offered on Tuesday evenings.
ESL volunteers serve as teachers, classroom assistants, interviewers, greeters, snack organizers, and prayer partners. A regular need is for childcare helpers on Tuesday nights from 6:50 to 8:45 PM. The church periodically hosts a two-day in-person ESL training event in partnership with Mission to North America to equip new and experienced teachers.
The Refugee Ministry at Westminster serves families who call Westminster their home church. Practical ways to serve include donating Walmart and Target gift cards for newly arrived families, providing transportation, tutoring after school on Wednesdays from 4:00 to 5:30 PM during the school year for Congolese elementary and middle school students, and teaching or assisting in Sunday morning ESL and literacy classes during the Sunday School hour. Summer events and special gatherings are also organized for tutored children.
Westminster also supports Bible2School, an elective that provides free, non-denominational Bible classes to students in second, third, and fourth grade in local public schools. Classes begin in late September and run through the end of April, with trained volunteer teams leading worship, Bible stories, small group discussion, and prayer. Good News Clubs, free after-school clubs for elementary-aged children, meet weekly during the fall and spring at Ross Elementary School and in several other local school districts.
Other outreach includes support groups such as Men's Integrity Groups for men overcoming sexual addiction and related challenges, DivorceCare, a thirteen-week Christ-centered program for those in separation and divorce, and Surrendering the Secret, an eight-week Bible study for women who have gone through the trauma of abortion. The Sanctuary Choir and Westminster Singers occasionally sing at Water Street Mission as part of this broader ministry of mercy.
Sanctity of Life
The Sanctity of Life Ministry seeks to defend and care for the most vulnerable from conception through natural death by working to reestablish a biblical culture of life through education, mobilization, and outreach. Activities include adult education, youth worldview conferences, films, presentations, field trips, prayer vigils, sidewalk counseling for abortion-vulnerable women, and healing Bible studies for those wounded emotionally and spiritually by abortion.
Westminster partners with Love Life to mobilize prayer for the end of abortion and the orphan crisis. The ministry also coordinates youth participation in City on the Hill, a week-long leadership and worldview conference founded by the Pennsylvania Family Institute and held at Lancaster Bible College, with scholarships available for high school students. Westminster supports a number of community pro-life services, including A Woman's Concern and Align Pregnancy Services for counseling and pregnancy resource support; House of His Creation and Clare House for maternity and mother/child resident housing; Water Street Ministries and Bridge of Hope for those facing homelessness or housing crisis; and post-abortion recovery resources including Surrendering the Secret and Deeper Still.
Short-Term Missions and the Wider World
Westminster's missions vision is to foster a congregation passionately motivated by God's heart for the lost and to support missionaries in spreading the good news of faith in Christ locally and globally. The church supports more than thirty missionary families and individuals serving with organizations such as Mission to the World (MTW), Mission to North America (MNA), Reformed University Fellowship, Serge, HOPE International, Harvest USA, Engaging Disability with the Gospel, the Presbyterian Church of South Asia, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Central & Eastern Europe, Kibera Kids, Kibera Reformed Presbyterian Church, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and others. Missionaries serve in countries including Japan, France, Ethiopia, the United Kingdom, Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Canada, Austria, Taiwan, and Ukraine.
Short-term mission trips are a regular rhythm of the church. The congregation sends teams to places like Colombia with e3 Partners, to London with Serge for the London Evangelism And Prayer (LEAP) week, to the Yakama Nation with Sacred Road Ministries, to Easton, Pennsylvania with Bridge Community Church for Kids in Motion, and to Kenya with Kibera Reformed Presbyterian Church for medical clinics in the Kibera slum. Junior high students can participate in Kingdom Builders, a local Lancaster service week designed to introduce them to short-term missions at the local level. An OM Ships 55+ trip for older adults brings volunteers to the Operation Mobilization Ships Ministry Center in South Carolina to sort and pack books for international gospel distribution.
The annual Missions Conference gathers missionaries, congregants, and small groups for a week of teaching, fellowship, and celebration, including a Mission Fare with dinner, seminars, children's programming, a men's and boys' breakfast, a women's fellowship, and home fellowships hosting missionaries. The conference offering is split among local youth outreach and discipleship partners such as the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding, Child Evangelism Fellowship of Lancaster County, Manheim Township Bible2School, Young Life of Lancaster County, and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Beliefs and Presbyterian Identity
Westminster holds that the Word of God in Scripture is its one, infallible authority for doctrine and life. The church affirms the historic Christian creeds, including the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed, and as a Reformed and Presbyterian church holds to the Westminster Confession of Faith along with the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms.
The church confesses that the Bible is its rock of divine authority and the only source for absolute truth and the knowledge of God. It teaches that all humanity has fallen into sin, choosing its own way rather than God's way, and that each person is separated from God and deserves His just punishment. Westminster confesses that Jesus was both a real person in human history and the divine Son of God, who died on the cross in the place of sinners and rose again to give eternal life to all who trust in Him. The Holy Spirit draws people to Christ, bringing repentance and faith, enabling them to fight against sin, and growing them in holiness while they wait for the return of Christ. The church is described as the body of Christ, the visible gathering of God's people on earth, called to minister to one another so that all may grow up in every way into Christ.
Salvation is taught as accomplished completely by God's grace; even the response of faith is by God's grace. The church sees Reformed theology, as specified in the Westminster Confession of Faith and catechisms, as the best summary of the theology of the Bible. This theological structure is described as the bones of the church body, with the church seeking to explain its views in a winsome manner and to welcome those who do not hold to these distinctives.
Westminster belongs to the Presbyterian Church in America, an evangelical Presbyterian denomination formed in 1973 that has grown from about forty thousand members to roughly 380,000 members in more than 1,750 congregations across the United States and Canada. The PCA's stated theme is to be true to the Scriptures, the Reformed faith, and obedient to the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. Every PCA congregation belongs to a regional network called a presbytery, and Westminster's presbytery is the Susquehanna Valley Presbytery, comprising about twenty churches and several church plants in central Pennsylvania.
Leadership and Governance
Westminster is committed to a Presbyterian system of church government. The congregation elects its leaders, who make decisions about the vision, ministries, finances, and life of the church. Two ordained offices carry authority to lead the ministry of the church: elders and deacons.
The elders form the governing board of the church, called the Session, and are elected by the congregation and called to shepherd the members. The Session includes teaching elders, identified as pastors and focused on the teaching ministry of the Word, and ruling elders, focused on shepherding care and providing leadership to the mission and ministries of the church. Eric Conner serves as Clerk of Session. The Session's standing committees include Adult Ministries (chaired by Mark Bleecker), Children & Youth (chaired by Paul Rogers), Finance (chaired by Kyle Hunt), Great Commission (chaired by Bob Hivner), Leadership & Vision (chaired by Rick Anderson), Membership Care (chaired by John Barry), Shepherding (chaired by Bill Ziegler), and Worship (chaired by Mark Espenshade).
Ordained deacons carry a ministry of practical service and mercy within the church, and Jim Oosting serves as Head Deacon. The ordained offices are open to men only, consistent with 1 Timothy 2 and 3. The congregation also elects a non-ordained board of deaconesses who assist the deacons in practical ministry of the church, chaired by Amy Ormerod. Westminster believes God's Word calls men to fill the ordained roles of elder and deacon, while recognizing the many significant leadership and ministry roles that women fill at the church.
The pastoral team is led by Senior Pastor Dr. Chris Walker, who preaches and teaches God's Word, provides leadership and vision for Westminster's ministries, and shepherds Westminster's leadership and staff. Dr. Tucker York serves as Executive Pastor, overseeing personnel matters for staff and coordination of ministries under the direction of Session and the Senior Pastor. Dr. Barry Cureton is the Associate Pastor of Counseling, overseeing visitation, the Men's ministry, and the Home Fellowship Groups. Rev. Steve Light serves as Associate Pastor of Congregational Care, with a focus on shepherding, Home Fellowship Ministry, and visitation. Rev. Eric N. serves as Assistant Pastor of Missions & Outreach. Rev. Matt Collins is the Associate Pastor of Youth. Rev. Scott Johnston serves as Assistant Pastor of Visitation. Dr. John Mwaura serves as Pastoral Associate for Refugee Ministry. Dr. Michael Rogers is Pastor Emeritus. Micah Freer serves as Pastoral Resident and helps with church planting. The Music Ministry is led by Director of Music and Organist Frank Dodd, with Choral Director Floyd Rawleigh and Organ Assistant Jonathan Humbert.
Visitors who arrive for the first time will find handicap accessible entrances and seating, the main entrance under the carport on the north side of the building, and a Gathering Space that serves as a place to fellowship and meet new people. Dress ranges widely, from suits and ties to jeans and t-shirts, with most people in business casual dress on Sunday mornings and more casual attire in the evenings. Live streaming of services is available on YouTube, and a bulletin with announcements and a worship guide is published for each Sunday. A Westminster Church App provides live streaming, archives, events, giving, and a church directory. Services are also broadcast on WDAC each Sunday at 8:30 AM.