Change has been in the works at First Presbyterian Church Bethlehem for about a decade, as the majority of the 2,600 parishioners voted in June 2016 to leave the Presbyterian Church-USA (PC-USA) and ally with the related Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians (ECO).
PC-USA won a lawsuit in 2017, retaining for the remnant of the congregation both the use of the First Presbyterian Church name, and ownership of the 124,000-square foot building and the 31.5-acre campus at 2344 Center St. in Bethlehem. The ECO-allied congregation subsequently launched its own presence as Grace Church Bethlehem at 4301 Hecktown Road in Bethlehem Township.
As congregations across the Lehigh Valley and across denominations shrink, a church property that was already “aspirational” in size—as Pastor Rev. J.C. Austin told Lehigh Valley News reporter Ryan Gaylor in 2023—before the split has become even less suitable for the exclusive use of a substantially smaller congregation…