• •
That ministry reached far and wide back in 1707 as well. That year, Pennepack Baptist joined with a handful of other area churches to form PBA. The group originally reached congregations in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas, but reduced its span as other regional associations emerged around the country.
PBA now encompasses churches in the city and suburbs and in Delaware.
It didn’t take long for PBA to become entwined with the folk and fabric of Philadelphia. The group commissioned Benjamin Franklin, a young printer at the time, to make copies of its theological guide, the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. When the First Continental Congress met, PBA urged its members to consider religious freedom. After the Revolution, PBA plunged into public issues like the temperance movement, slavery, women’s equality and fair wages.
Meanwhile, members of its Northeast churches helped found neighborhoods, businesses and institutions. Visitors to both Pennepack and Holmesburg Baptist can find the namesakes of local roads like Unruh, Dungan, Solly, Rowland and Holme in their graveyards.
Both churches carry remnants of the times in which they were founded. At Pennepack, formed in 1688, a decrepit outhouse still peeks out from the back of the property, and the pastor’s house dates back longer than the church building. A metal shoe scrape and stepping stone to ease dismounts from horses still jut above the ground near the front steps of Holmesburg Baptist, which formed in 1828.
A weathered green bench recently appeared at Pennepack, along the walkway that takes congregants from the driveway behind the pastor’s house through the graveyard to the church. Pastor Tony Tilford hopes it invites people to come and sit awhile.
It would be better, though, if they stayed. Like many churches, Pennepack grapples with ways to keep its membership from dwindling to nothing.
Pat Stopper joined the church in 1934. A local historian, she has written about the church’s past and understands what’s responsible for its changing composition.
"Life has changed. Your life back in the thirties and the forties was around the churches and your lodge halls," she said.
Ida Francis, 81, remembers giving up the shore for a sermon as a youth, something unheard of today.
"I used to make my parents drive me up from the shore for Pennepack Sunday," she said of the church’s tradition of honoring its anniversary in June. "I don’t think my parents were too happy about it."
• •
Since the church sold its more frequently used worship site on Bustleton Avenue in 2006, the Tilfords have undertaken renovations at the Krewstown Road location. The current building dates to 1805, but its original structure is as old as the PBA — prior to its construction, members met in one another’s homes.
The upgrade brings a sense of modernity to the historic church. Updated electrical service and heating and air-conditioning add more comfort to the sanctuary, and a video screen sits high above the pulpit. The interior walls now shine a peppermint green, and a back entryway has been partially walled to create a lobby area.
The Tilfords hope that their improved home draws more members from the diverse communities surrounding it. The church even went so far as to conduct a study on the area’s demographics, which include Chinese, Indian, Russian and Brazilian immigrants.
"It’s in its fifth different century," explained Tony Tilford. "This is a radically different neighborhood from 1688."
PBA has been helpful in guiding Pennepack’s future. Its "Empowered" program allows groups of churches to collaborate under a guided curriculum aimed at bringing positive change to their memberships. Some plans that Pennepack has formulated through the program include building a multi-purpose center on the parking area across the street from the church, implementing grief counseling and holding an open house.
"Our goal is not to be the historical church," Tony Tilford said. "We want to be a church that ministers to the community here now."
• •
In John Tafel’s day, Holmesburg Baptist employed an unconventional method of baptism.
"People used to get baptized right here in the Pennypack Creek," said Tafel, 85, who got married at the church in 1942.
Seniors like Tafel represent a good portion of the church’s current membership, but five-year Pastor Ed Johnson sees younger families showing an interest. The congregation, about 70 members of which show up for Sunday Mass, is also becoming more diverse, with Hispanic and African residents joining.
"I don’t think the seniors have stopped it. They’ve welcomed it," said Johnson, a former police officer and the first African-American pastor at the church.
The Frankford Avenue church, which at one point boasted as many as 700 members, continues to pay tribute to its roots. The first members of Holmesburg came from Pennepack, considered the congregation’s "mother" church. The two congregations remained close — a photograph dating to 1907 shows a Sunday school picnic at Pennepack Church.
"This church has been very closely aligned to the churches that started the PBA," Johnson said.
In pondering its place in a changing community, the church has explored PBA’s discipleship program, which includes workshops, discussions, retreats and training events.
One congregant started her own outreach group, Community Care Center, on the 8000 block of Frankford Ave. Johnson also strives to bolster Bible study classes and hopes to expand the church’s 30-year-old grade school to include a high school.
"We have to come along with programs that reach out to people," Johnson said. "I preach, ‘Get beyond that stone wall.’"
Both Pennepack and Holmesburg see the light in planning for their futures as part of PBA.
"To make three-hundred years is a very significant thing," Tafel said. ••
PBA will hold a weekend of commemoration from Sept. 6 to 9. For more information, visit www.philadelphiabaptist.org
Reporter Lauren Fritsky can be reached at 215-354-3038 or lfritsky@phillynews.com