Fairview Church of the Brethren Celebrates 150 Years

Sunday was the third and final day of the weekend which was dedicated to celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Fairview Church of the Brethren in Williamsburg.

“Thank you for coming out it has been a great weekend,” Pastor Alan Brumbaugh said.

He said that there were a lot of meetings and planning that went into the celebration which began on January 11, 2023.

Brumbaugh said they had a great crowd and weather the whole weekend.

Their theme verse for the service was Hebrews 13:8. which said “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Brumbaugh said he prayed for several months asking God to give him a theme scripture.

He said one day he was reading that verse in his office and God said that’s it.

“The reason why I picked that is 150 years ago our brothers and sisters felt a need for a church to be in this place,” he said. “Think of all the brothers and sisters that served here and now here we are.”

Brumbaugh hoped that people of the church would be as faithful for the next 150 years.

“I won’t be at the 300 but I hope were are as faithful as our brothers and sisters who came before us because certainly they saw a vision we did not,” he said.

Brumbaugh said they came from the Clover Creek congregation in 1874 which is about nine miles away from Fairview.

“I guess that was too far to travel but remember that was horse and buggy days,” he said. “Nine miles would have been a bit of journey.”

David Banaszak, Executive Director of the Middle Pennsylvania District said the first days of Fairview are a distant memory.

“We can only be thankful for the countless pillars of faith down through the decades that this church has produced,” he said. “They carried the faith to where we are today. Here we are 150 years later grateful to all who had the vision to be here today.”

“It is okay to celebrate but I encourage you as a church to look forward,” he said.

David Steele, General Secretary of the Church of the Brethren, who is a Martinsburg native, gave the main message of the service.

“We want to acknowledge the 150th anniversary, and your many years of faithful service,” he said.

Steele said he signs a number of certificates and letters to congregations that celebrate these milestones.

“I’m sorry to say, you’re not the oldest, I sent one this year to mark the 300th anniversary of the Germantown Church of the Brethren, and if you know your Brethren history that is the mother church of all of us,” he said.

Steele said it was an incredible weekend to acknowledge those who came before them.

“The Fairview community stands as a living testimony to their ministry and their witness,” he said. “I hope your celebration is an opportunity for rededication to renewed life in ministry.”

On behalf of the Fairview congregation, a certificate was presented to representatives of Williamsburg Church of the Brethren in recognition of them as their daughter church.

Brumbaugh said Williamsburg was started out of the vision of Fairview.

“As we began our ministry here, there was a need for a church in Piney Creek and of course Williamsburg came along too,” he said.

Williamsburg Church of the Brethren was incorporated in 1898.

“As the Brethren began to move into that small community, they began to work in the mills that was there, they felt the need for Brethren church,” Brumbaugh said.

He said Fairview was about three miles away from Williamsburg.

“I guess that was too far to come to worship, and they said we need a church here in Williamsburg,” Brumbaugh said.

Land was donated on West Third Street where the church sits today, and a building committee was formed.

He said the first structure was 44x58 feet and was built at a cost of $6,000.

“It was completed in 1912 and on March 9, 1917, Williamsburg gained its independence as their own congregation and they are still there today,” Brumbaugh said.

Everyone in town knows it as the church beside the school, he said.

Brumbaugh said they did a beard growing contest in which they were able to raise $8,600 for the Good Samaritan fund at the Village of Morrison Cove.