Tusca Area RPC

Location: Beaver, Pa.

Membership: 37 communicant, 16 baptized

Organized: 1965

Pastor: Dr. Jonathan Watt

Tusca Area RP Church is an oddball. There’s no denying that. Upon his first viewing of a congregational meeting, now-pastor Jonathan Watt said it “reminded him of a Saturday Night Live sketch.” Meeting in a small white church, set in a green hollow deep in the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania (only a handful of miles from Ohio), it is easily overlooked by transitioning students and churchgoers.

Tusca Church, initially named Four Mile Reformed Presbyterian Church, was formed in 1965, meeting in the fire hall in nearby Vanport. A local Associate Presbyterian Church joined the congregation in 1970. They donated their decrepit building, which stood at the corner of Darlington and Church Roads, just off Tuscarawas Road, outside of the town of Beaver. The building was badly in need of repair and the combined congregations, with help from members of other churches, rose to the task of salvaging the structure. Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and plastering work were all completed by members as a gift to the congregation. When you enter the building, you will still see not only the woodwork and plasterwork, but also the actual congregants who worked on them and still worship here.

The congregation is small, yet God has brought us missionaries for support, young pastors for internships, experience and encouragement, and many young families who know that they and their children will be recognized and loved. There are no barriers at Tusca, through God’s grace and to His glory. We’ve seen both very traditional and very nontraditional people make Tusca their church home. Many find, at Tusca, a place where they can participate without fear of being stared at. A worldly onlooker might try to attribute this to simple country living or some such homily, but God is to be praised. He gives us the blessing to be a home for the square peg drowning in a sea of round holes.

Student attendance is chiefly transitory, and Tusca has many families who attend with extended relatives. It is a sanctuary to both old and young, bachelors and families. What is going on at Tusca church? It’s not so hard to figure out: Jesus loves an oddball. He always has. A handful of His children meet to pray and read, teach and be taught at a small, patch-white painted church.

Our current ministries include giving to the City Rescue Mission of New Castle, Pa., yearly participation in Operation Christmas Child, and continued support of a Compassion child. Over the past several years, we have supported our Elder Dale Carothers as he has traveled to Philippi, W.V., to rebuild damaged homes with World Vision. Congregants also send personal donations of food and clothing to this cause. Our church ministries have included work days at the church as well as in individual homes.

The directory for Tusca RPC contains a simple, unadorned invitation from its present pastor:

Welcome to Tusca RP Church!

We include children and seniors, and others in between. We are teachers, machine operators, homemakers, students and medical and office workers. Many of us live in communities neatly tucked into the Pennsylvania hills, but there are city people among us too. Some of us are new to the exploration of faith while others cannot remember a time before faith. What brings us together is life in Jesus Christ, and our intention to find ways to live out that relationship wherever we are. Welcome to the Tusca congregation.

Prayer Requests

• Give thanks for the unity we have within our church, though we are geographically spread.

• Pray that the Lord will show us how to connect with the ex-urban Brighton Township community in which we are located. Pray that we can meet needs and bear witness.