A Montgomery Township Baptist church on Bethlehem Pike at Richardson Road that has been around for nearly two centuries — and whose cemetery is the final resting place for members of Lansdale’s founding Jenkins family — now has an uncertain future as it searches for a new owner, according to The Reporter.
Crossroads Church at Montgomery, which merged with Montgomery Baptist Church in 2016-17, held its final church service Nov. 6 and needs a new owner. Crossroads Church has chosen to join up with the Manheim-based Lives Changed by Christ (LCBC) Church, founded in 1986, per the report.
In the report, Haub said the best option is to sell the Crossroads church property and “redeploy these assets elsewhere in Montgomery or Bucks County.”
According to Crossroads Pastor Mike Haub in the article, Crossroads Church faced unique challenges — namely due to the pandemic.
“Over these last few years, Crossroads Church at Montgomery has faced some unique challenges. We endured a very turbulent season following our merger with MBC. In the midst of that, we also had a difficult staff transition. As a result of all this, many of our people became discouraged,” wrote Haub in a letter to the congregation obtained by The Reporter. “On the heels of those challenges, we experienced the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting disruption to worship and fellowship. In the wake of these challenges, we find ourselves at a point where we must make some difficult, yet important, decisions.”
Haub wrote that, as a result of five months of conversation with LCBC Church, it was in Crossroads’ best interest to “join forces” with LCBC Church and use “our combined resources to advance the Gospel in our region. This decision received a unanimous affirmation by our members in a recent congregational meetings,” Haub wrote.
Montgomery Baptist/Crossroads Church would not be a suitable location for an LCBC campus, Haub wrote. To do so would mean interfering with the close location of another LCBC Church and raising capital for overdue renovations.
“Steps will be taken to provide for the care and funding of the cemetery in perpetuity. There are several ways to accomplish this goal, and all of them are being studied closely,” said Haub in the letter.
The news is cause for concern for Montgomery Township Historical Society.
“We have a list of people who are buried in that cemetery, and there are so many. It was one of the only churches around that far back,” said historical society President Lisa Knapp Siegel.
Read more on the history and uncertain future of the church here.
See also:
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