About Painesville Church of the Brethren
PAINESVILLE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN is located near the shores of Lake Erie, about 25 miles east of Cleveland. Established as a mission church in 1955 with just a handful of charter members, our church now has 175 members and is growing. Arthur Hess was called as the founding pastor in 1955, and served faithfully for 32 years until he retired in 1987. In May 2000, our church honored him by installing him as “Pastor Emeritus.” After Art’s retirement, Herman Kauffman, Dick Speicher (Interim) and Ken Langdon were called to serve as pastors. Ted Tate, our present pastor, has been serving the church since 1999.
The building and church grounds have changed considerably since 1955. A new Sanctuary, increasingt he seating from 90 to 280, along with an education wing, was added in 1977. The original sanctuary nows erves as a fellowship hall for gathering. Beautiful stained glass windows depicting the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ were installed throughout the new sanctuary, along with a large (30ft high) “one of a kind” back-lighted stained glass window that hangs behind the chancel. In the early part of 2000, a pavilion was built and donated to the church as an Eagle Scout project by a former student who attended our church’s preschool when he was very young. The most recent change to our church is the installation of air conditioning in the sanctuary…Praise God!
Our congregation consists of a diverse group of people of different ages and backgrounds. Many younger families are visiting and becoming members. A “Baby Boom” is presently occurring in our church, so ther eare lots of young ones running around everywhere! Many of our elderly members are wonderful mentors to the younger members and great examples of servants to the Lord.
Our local out reach programs include teams that serve meals monthly at a local soup kitchen (St. James) and teams that provide dinners and a music ministry at the local homeless shelter (Project Hope). We hold free pancake breakfasts, spaghetti dinners and an Annual Neighborhood Picnic for our local community. Our church’s preschool & daycare, Coleridge, has served more than 3000 children and their families for over 30 years now ministering to the families, and teaching the children about Jesus Christ. We have also sent teams on mission trips to an orphanage in Honduras and most recently to Gulfport Mississippi. We also participate in several disaster relief efforts. Sundays find us gathering together to worship God through Biblical teaching and musical praise. In our worship, we express our love for God and proclaim His glory through music. We blend the riches of our Christian musical heritage with current musical styles.
Central to our worship is the teaching of God’s Word. As we study the Bible, we discover its relevance and learn how to live according to God’s plan and purposes for our lives.
PAINESVILLE CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN…A great place to be!!