Faith Alive Church History
Faith Alive is a United Methodist Congregation which has grown out of the ministries of four churches from Bowmanstown, Parryville, 
Weissport and Lehighton. These churches officially merged together in 1993 in an effort to expand opportunities for ministry to meet the needs of the coming century. The churches worshipped separately at first during the beginning days of construction of the new facility. As properties were sold, the congregations joined together in the remaining churches for worship until Faith Alive held its first service in September of 1997.
The history of the local churches is quite interesting. The Weissport church actually held worship at the local saw mill back in the 1840's. The platform was constructed of slabs of wood and logs, where preachers and evangelists came from across the region to speak. The earliest documents in reference to what was then called the "Weissport Station" were dated 1840 to 1863. They were all written in German calligraphy. In January of 1874 a petition was filed in the court of Common Pleas of Carbon County to enter into a Charter of Incorporation under the title of Ebenezer's Church of the Evangeilical Association of Weissport, PA. Also documented and here on record is the original bill of sale for the stained glass windows purchased on May 30, 1934 at the cost of $580.00. Incidentally, those are the same stained glass windows that line the Chancel area and the Sanctuary here at Faith Alive today.
By 1848 growth was such that the Methodists decided to build their first church in the Lehighton proper. It was erected on a donated lot, at what is now 161 South 3rd Street, Lehighton. In 1862 the property was sold to Stephen Kistler who converted the building into a dwelling place. The church people moved back to Weissport to worship in the school building. The flood of 1862 carried the school building down river which forced the church to look for a more permanent location. They chose 226 South 1st Street, Lehighton, known as Wesley United Methodist Church, where they remained until the merger sale of the property. The last worship was a service of De-consecration on March 19, 1995 as per historians Bob and Jane McCombs. Furnishings also were brought from the Wesley Church including the rich oak railing that lines the choir loft here at Faith Alive.
At one point in her history, Wesley was aligned with her sister churches in the area - St. John's, Bowmanstown and Covenant, Parryville. At another time, Ebenezer and Wesley were yoked together as a two-point charge. Still operating as small membership churches, they began to look at the possibilities of working together toward a common ministry. On October 17, 1993, St. John's, Wesley, Ebenezer and a group of people from Parryville met to vote on a merger document for the four congregations to become one - known today as Faith Alive United Methodist Church. Little did anyone realize what it would mean for hundreds of years of combined history to be birthed into a new creation in one monumental moment in time!
