Location: Carnegie, Pa.

Presbytery: Allegheny

Organization: 2000

Membership: 95 communicant; 45 baptized

Pastor: Steve Bradley

Website: www.providencerpchurch.com

Providence RPC has been established, protected, and provided for by God for almost 25 years in the communities just south of Pittsburgh, Pa. We began as a Bible study and then were established as a mission church in 1998 by Presbytery of the Alleghenies for ministry in the South Hills. Organized as a congregation two years later, Providence has been served by pastors C. J. Williams, Rut Etheridge, and Steve Bradley. We started worshiping with just a small group in a hotel conference room, then in a funeral home. Our first church building was in the Brookline neighborhood of Pittsburgh, from which we recently moved after 21 years.

The Lord blessed Providence RPC last year with a new building, located in Carnegie. The new property was purchased through a combination of long-saved building funds, proceeds from our old building in Brookline, and a generous financing package from the RPCNA Trust. The new meetinghouse, built in 2006, was purchased from a PCUSA congregation and is located on a wooded 23.6-acre lot just a couple miles off Interstate 79. We give thanks to the Lord for His gracious provision of a new facility, and we trust that He will use it for His glory and our growth.

Our weekly schedule consists of worship each Lord’s Day at 10 a.m. with lunch to follow at noon. On first and third Lord’s Days, we have Sabbath school after lunch. We offer classes for various ages, beginning with the Children’s Catechism, then the Shorter Catechism, the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Larger Catechism. The adult Sabbath school class is working through “Biblical Issues in Church History,” which started with the church fathers and now is addressing Arminianism and the Synod of Dort. On second and fourth Lord’s Days, we have a second worship service after lunch in which we observe the Lord’s supper. The first Wednesday of the month, the saints of Providence gather online for a prayer meeting led by the officers of the church. On other Wednesday evenings, Pastor Bradley hosts the saints in his home for a fellowship meal followed by a study. Elder Randy Johovich continues to lead the Thursday online Bible study, which began over 30 years ago as a means for saints to gather during their lunch break while working in downtown Pittsburgh.

On the first Lord’s Day of each month, we either hold a psalm sing at the church building or alternatively have a Dinner and Doctrine meeting (typically held at the pastor’s home). We also have monthly women’s prayer group and youth meetings. Whenever there’s a fifth Lord’s Day in a month, we gather for morning worship with nothing scheduled for the afternoon to give folks an opportunity to practice hospitality in their homes.

Providence RPC is conveniently located near the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and we are grateful for the long line of former members who worshiped with us while attending classes there. We have seen several families and dozens of college and seminary students come and go. Throughout its short history, God has used Providence RPC to provide faithful preaching and teaching to many. Although we regularly lose those who move away to accept a call to fill a pulpit, the Lord continues to add to our overall numbers. We received five new families to our congregation over the past year, requiring Pastor Bradley to perform the sacrament of baptism no less than 16 times.

Looking forward, we hope to leverage our new larger building and property for the spread of the gospel in Carnegie and throughout the region south of the Three Rivers. Please pray for the Lord to do a great work through Providence RPC in our new location, that we will have a fruitful ministry, and that our many covenant children would continue to grow in their faith and improve their baptisms. Pray with us that we would one day soon be able to plant a church further south along the I-79 corridor.

Though we are a young congregation, the Lord has been bountifully generous, blessing us with steady growth and sacrificial giving by God’s people. May He be pleased to continue to cause His face to shine upon us as we seek to serve Him in those ways that would bring glory and honor to His holy name.