During the week of April 12–19, 1919, the congregation of East Liberty Presbyterian Church celebrated their centennial. With the help of people like Georgina Negley, granddaughter of ELPC founding members Jacob and Barbara Negley, stories were shared about how the East Liberty of 1819 was largely composed of farms and grazing lands, occasional fruit orchards, and a few homesteads. Jacob Negley is the one credited with ensuring that the main road in East Liberty (formerly Greensburg Turnpike, later Penn Avenue) would be one hundred feet wide to allow for future business development. Jacob also opened his own home to periodic church services as preachers were visiting the area and able to lead worship. There was a strong desire to establish a Presbyterian Church in East Liberty, but the financial crisis of 1819 made it difficult to raise funds. However, a stalwart group of 89 subscribers pledged money toward a new church, and on April 12, 1819, they met in the Negley schoolhouse to deed a parcel of land at the corner of Penn and Highland Avenues as a new home for East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
During the Centennial Celebration, a memorial tablet to Jacob and Barbara Negley was dedicated, as were a range of other items including a church flag, a soldiers’ memorial tablet, and a memorial tree planted in the church lawn. As part of a “homecoming celebration,” representatives came from the eight different congregations that were birthed from ELPC, including Shadyside, Point Breeze, Highland Avenue, and Valley View Presbyterian Churches. ELPC consisted of approximately 600 families then, and it seemed that almost all of them were busy with some sort of committee or centennial preparation work.
Looking back upon our congregation’s past gives many reasons to feel pride in the dedicated ministry accomplished over the years. It is humbling to consider the pastors, officers, staff, and members who did so much for so many people—not just in East Liberty, but around the world. And it is a point of pride that we continue that tradition of Christian ministry and outreach from within the oldest building our congregation has ever possessed (84 years young). We sincerely trust that the God who has brought us safe thus far will see us forward into the years to come.
In the coming days, the word “bicentennial” will be spoken many times and celebrated in a variety of ways. But far more important than the number (200) it represents is the sense that our work is not over. To be a congregation 201 years old is just as special as being 200 years old: if each Sunday is seen as an opportunity to welcome a stranger or worship together as a diverse family of faith; if each week of the year includes times of prayer and study, service and outreach, youth events and community concerts; if each monthly calendar describes commitment to works of justice and gatherings designed to put flesh and bones onto the core message of Jesus’ gospel; and if each person associated with ELPC seeks to embody the good news of our faith as ambassadors of hope and compassionate service in a world still in need of this Christ-centered ministry.
“To the One who is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”—Ephesians 3:20–21
—Randy Bush