Church leverages its assets to serve children in the community

If you were to ask the Rev. Dr. Gregory James Edwards what’s behind the steady rate of church closures across denominations, chances are he wouldn’t cite statistical findings.

Rather, the founder and senior pastor of Resurrected Life Community Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania, would move beyond the numerical woes of dwindling members and church bank accounts and point to scripture’s reminder that “where there is no vision, the people perish.”

“Many times, our churches are not experiencing poverty of pocketbook, but poverty of creativity and vision,” said Edwards.

A community-minded mission portfolio

In June, Resurrected Life gave the world of organized religion — and the secular community it resides in — a glimpse as to what “vision” can accomplish.

On Juneteenth, the Black-led, diverse congregation celebrated its official move into a sprawling, 25,000-square-foot stone building in the heart of Allentown. The historic property was home to Zion Reformed United Church of Christ. The all-white congregation, though, couldn’t rebound after the pandemic and passed ownership to Resurrected Life in 2023.

This was more than a brick-and-mortar acquisition to house a flourishing congregation and ministry. The purchase of Zion Reformed enlarged Resurrected Life’s mission-portfolio along with its real-estate portfolio, which already included a campus housing programs for early childhood education.

In 2011, Resurrected Life created a sibling nonprofit, Resurrected Community Development Corporation (RCDC), to address educational inequities and provide learning enrichment for inner-city children and youth, as well as support for their families.

In addition to the Resurrected Life Children’s Academy for children aged six-weeks through kindergarten is the James Lawson Freedom School, which was created to stem summer reading lost, said Edwards. The James Lawson Freedom School is also intentionally taught by college students of color, the pastor added.

“What better mentors and role models for the children than instructors that look like them?” said Edwards. “When they might often feel invisible, we are saying they are not. They are seen.”

A prophetic call for liberty

In an era where books are being written about the “great dechurching” of America, Resurrected Life is bucking the trend, seeing its property as mission fields for the community. Fueling this vision is the advice Edwards was given as he was beginning his journey as pastor, activist and community organizer.

“A mentor once told me that our churches were to leverage our assets for the community — for the good of others,” said Edwards. “Our ministries only grow when we see our church as being inseparable from the community.”

With the Zion Reformed acquisition behind Resurrected Life — along with the million dollar rehab and renovation — Edwards said the congregation will now update the RCDC campus. The pastor expects work to begin this fall at a cost of around $7 million. The funding is coming from various channels including the United Church of Christ Church Building and Loan Fund.

As Resurrected Life embarks on the next stage of creating spaces to serve Allentown’s must vulnerable — its children — it has not gone unnoticed by the pastor that in the basement of its newest building, Zion Reformed UCC, is a replica of the Liberty Bell.  

Following World War II, the United States government made replicas of the famous bell, to be given to each state to display. Pennsylvania’s bell found its way to the Zion Reformed building. Edwards said the bell is owned by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission.

“They have let us keep it, but not in perpetuity,” Edwards said.

And that’s okay with the pastor. For whether the bell remains in the church or not, Edwards and his congregation embrace the message of liberty for all and continue working to ensure that that message is rung throughout Allentown — and beyond.

“We’re painting a story of what liberty and freedom looks like,” said Edwards.

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