Faith UCC To Close At Month's End

Faith United Church of Christ, a nearly 60-year-old church with a unique sloped roof that resembles a ship’s bow at 25th and Livingston streets, Allentown, will close the end of this month.

The once “energetic, dynamic” congregation from Allentown, South Whitehall, Macungie and Alburtis has dwindled along with its finances, according to church officials.

The Rev. William Ellsworth, interim pastor the past two years, put the current number of congregants at 300. After installing a new roof, boiler and air conditioners, the church’s operating income, however, has fallen short of expenses by more than $8,000 this year.

“The church has been in the hole for years and has never gotten out,” Ellsworth said in a phone interview. “I don’t feel good about it (closing).”

Ellsworth would like to remain active but said there has been no decision regarding the future of the congregation. The last service will be June 26, he said, and the property is up for sale.

Faith UCC belongs to the Penn Northeast Conference of the United Church of Christ, which also counts among its local churches: Zion in Allentown,(Ellsworth‘s home church), Hope in Salisbury Township, St. John‘s in Emmaus and Union United Church in Neffs.

Although saddened by the loss, Ellsworth noted that Faith is the latest in a number of UCC churches in the Lehigh Valley to close in the last 20 years -- Christ Church, Salem, Trinity, and St. Andrew’s, all formerly in Allentown.

Six years ago, Faith UCC drew neighborhood protests over the proposed installation of a cell tower on the church parking lot.  Ellsworth said he did not believe the failed effort to collect payments for the erection of an 80-foot pole and antenna played any part in the church's plans to close, but he felt church officials could have handled the matter better at the time.  There is no renewed effort to erect a cell tower, he said.