Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church

Today we worshiped at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, 670 Pleasant Hills Road, Wexford, PA 15090, www.mtpleasantchurch.org.


Bob’s thoughts:

The recently renovated kitchen seemed equipped for service and uncluttered; some thought had obviously gone into storage needs.

We were welcomed and greeted by the small congregation. Warm modern building, comfortable pews with good spacing.

I missed having a church family light the Advent candle, and with four blue candles I thought the meaning in the colors was lost. It seemed less personal. Perhaps I was just remembering being blessed to serve with my family to light a candle and share the reading and prayer.

We were blessed to hear the bell choir, which was very good. My only critique was a lack of passion. “Joy to the World” needs to be performed with joy, and only one member smiled. When you feel the joy, it can’t help but be on your face and then is it reflected in the music.

I enjoyed the children and their participation in the children’s message.

There seemed to be an overall lack of passion; I felt like I was only viewing worship. Perhaps the pastor would be helped by having a liturgist or other involvement by laity. Unless the earlier service is contemporary in style, I’m not sure why there would be two services.

Good, easy-to-follow bulletin. The back of the bulletin has a list of supplies needed for military care packages. I see many of these types of lists, and on most the first half dozen items are tobacco products. This one had no tobacco products listed at all, so I liked this list much better.

Signage was okay, and the restrooms were pointed out to us.

There did not seem to be a lot of external mission, so I pray there’s more going on than I saw.

There is a cross hanging predominately on the wall of the chancel, and the offering was taken after the sermon. Both made me smile.

Jan’s thoughts:

Upon arriving, it was easy to see how the church got its name. This time of year, looking out from the parking lot, I could see quite a distance. Still, the church seemed like it was nestled along the side of the road.

Upon entering we encountered a young lady on her way up the stairs with a cup of tea, so we surmised there must be refreshments downstairs. Alas, there were none, but the young lady, who turned out to be the daughter of the pastor, was kind enough to lead us on a tour of the building.

The building is not old, but has a recently updated Fellowship Hall and a very nice kitchen (it seemed to me, anyway, as I don’t spend a lot of time in kitchens). Mt. Pleasant also hosts a preschool, and those rooms were painted the bright colors you’d expect. Signage was excellent – no problem finding any restrooms or questions about what was behind doors.

The people were quite friendly – one woman actually crossed the aisle to greet us prior to the service, and the greetings extended during the service made us feel very welcome. Much of the congregation was older but there were plenty of children.

It was a treat to hear the bell choir – not a very large group, but very talented, and they sounded marvelous.

There were several unique aspects to this church:
> Blue Advent candles (never saw them before);
> Wooden collection plates (nor them);
> The Pastor lit the Advent candles (also a first for me);
> The bulletin referred to “Our Stewardship of Self and Substance Before God” in listing attendance and giving for the last two weeks (thought that was a great way to word it).

The bulletin contained the Order of Worship on the inside of an 8 ½ x 11 cover, then all the announcements and scheduled events for the week were listed on a Christmas Joy Offering bulletin cover, also 8 ½ x 11. It was unique and worked well.

The sermon was Biblically-based and theologically correct, but felt cerebral.