Here we go again...I heard rumor of this a few months ago. St. Luke's in Bryn Mawr is struggling too. I wonder if St. Luke's will survive even if Narberth United moves in? And the Narberth Community Theater? Did they pay rent for using the church? Where will they go?
Main Line Times > News
Narberth United Methodist Church set to close next year
Published: Thursday, July 26, 2012
By John Beeler
Narberth United Methodist Church at Price and Essex avenues is set to close next year, its building for sale. Parishioners will go to St. Luke’s United Methodist Church at Montgomery Avenue and Pennswood Road in Bryn Mawr.
The Rev. David Tatgenhorst, pastor of St. Luke’s, is looking forward to the new parishioners.
“We’re very excited to welcome the folks from Narberth Church to St. Luke in Bryn Mawr. I understand that it’s going to happen in February of 2013, that they will come and start to worship up here. There’s two congregations that are affected in Narberth. One is Narberth United Methodist and the other is called PlumbLine Fellowship. Both of them will be coming to worship here. We’ll have our regular 10 o’clock traditional service at St. Luke, and there will be a second service with PlumbLine Fellowship. That will continue to be a separate congregation. We’re really looking forward to this chance to work together and to build the ministry in Bryn Mawr.”
....Muñoz thinks the house church started in “probably 1925.”
“Narberth is scheduled to close in 2013, and our hope is the sale and discontinuance of the congregation will be done by May of 2013....Of interest to the community, New Horizons Senior Center and a food pantry have been using the church building.....Narberth Community Theatre also is house in the church
That will really be a big loss. Not so much for the parishoners - I believe there are only 4 or 5 families left - but for the Narberth community who stand to lose the Narberth Community Theater, the Boy Scout meeting rooms, the Narberth Food Bank, the food bank's community garden, and the Senior Center. All are housed in that church.
If it's torn down there will be those who will be sad at the loss of the architecture. I can't say I'll be one of those people, but I sympathise with those who appreciate such things. I am hopeful that Narberth's new form zoning code will be in place by then to guide whatever may go up in its place.