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With an anniversary on Christmas, Clen-Moore Presbyterian Church chose to celebrate its 175th year a bit early. “We didn’t want to overshadow the birth of Jesus,” explained the Rev. Michael Spicuzza, pastor of the North Hill church, which was founded on Dec.
25, 1849. To mark the occasion, a special service is planned at 10:30 a.m.
Sunday followed by Clen-Moore’s annual harvest luncheon highlighting the bounty of the church’s garden. The service will feature the Rev. Dr.
John “Mike” Loudon, minister emeritus of First Presbyterian Church of Lakeland, Florida, who will address the congregation’s history. Loudon, who pastored locally at Highland and Wurtemburg Presbyterian churches and headed congregations in Nebraska and Florida prior to his retirement, grew up in the Clen-Moore congregation. Loudon explained that Clen-Moore holds a special place for him as “it was where I met God as a child.
“I was there in the ‘50s and ‘60s when the mainline churches were experiencing tremendous growth,” he said, noting that at the time, Clen-Moore had nearly 2,000 members and three Sunday services. “I still remember hundreds of us going to the Arthur McGill school every Wednesday for youth club where we had crafts, Bible study and sloppy Joes for dinner.” Founded as Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church of New Castle, the Clen-Moore congregation has its roots in prayer meetings led by the Rev.
Dr. Robert Audley Browne, who, Loudon noted would later get involved in politics and serve as president of Westminster College. A residence hall on the New Wilmington campus is named in his memory.
When the National Associate Church and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church merged in 1858 to form the United Presbyterian Church, the congregation became known as the First United Presbyterian Church. Members worshiped in a small building near Beaver Street. Story continues below video Its second building, on North Jefferson Street, a block north of Kennedy Square, was built in 1901 and destroyed in a fire on New Year’s Day 1927.
After that, the “congregation made a radical move to the middle of nowhere on Clen-Moore Boulevard,” Loudon said. The current church building was dedicated in 1930, with a major addition constructed in the 1960s due to the rapid growth of what had been renamed Clen-Moore Presbyterian when the United Presbyterian Church and Presbyterian Church USA merged in 1958. Much of that growth was credited to the pastor, the Rev.
Dr. Robert Mayo, whom Loudon considers one of his inspirations. “He’d find out from the water company who just got their service turned on and show up at their house with a pie and an invitation to church,” Loudon recounted, also recalling the influence of a subsequent minister, the Rev.
Jack Heinshon, “He was the most dramatic preacher I’ve ever heard.” Currently, Clen-Moore’s congregation numbers about 280, according to Spicuzza, drawing about 100 worshippers for Sunday services. “Our challenge is to help the church right-size itself,” explained Spicuzza who has been at Clen-Moore since July 2018.
“We found we were trying to function as a much larger church, but there were a couple things we were doing really well, so we’ve made that our focus. “One of our big positives, and an area where we’re becoming even stronger, is our hands-on mission work,” the pastor continued, noting that the congregation also seeks out ways to “use our big, beautiful building” that go beyond Sunday services and Bible studies including hosting community and religious groups and offering office and storage space for a local missionary serving in Haiti. “I’ve only been here for a very small percentage of the church’s history, but we want to keep the most important things front and center,” Spicuzza said.
“If we continue to do what God calls us to do, both in the local community and beyond, He will provide and keep giving us the people and resources we need for another 175 years.”.
