To walk into the building of the Presbyterian Church of Kennett Square today is to enter a story that is now over 150 years old. Ours is a story that has had its highs and its lows, but through it all we have seen God’s faithfulness in abundant measure. Those of us who count ourselves privileged to be part of this congregation recognize that we stand on the shoulders of countless followers of Jesus Christ who have gone before us. The story of this congregation began in the early 1860s when Kennett Square had a population of 500-600 people and only two religious groups in the area – the Methodist Church and the Hicksite Friends, a branch of the Quakers. The Rev. David Moore was the pastor of Lower Brandywine Presbyterian Church, just across the state line in Delaware. In May 1861 Moore began visiting Kennett Square on Sunday afternoons and holding services. At that time there was just one Presbyterian living in the town. Rev. Moore held these afternoon services for a year until the arrival of his friend Rev. John Gilmor in May 1862.

John Gilmor was invited to undertake pastoral work in the town which he agreed to do, however he did not expect to stay here beyond the summer. He preached his first sermon that May to a congregation of twenty in the Borough Hall. Soon after this, a Sunday School began and the numbers attending the services increased. At the fall meeting of the New Castle Presbytery a petition signed by fifty-eight people in Kennett Square requested that the presbytery organize a church in the town. That request was granted and the church was formally organized on 1 st November 1862 with twenty four charter members: Elizabeth Mendenhall, Mary Ann Clark, Thomas Roney, Elizabeth Roney, Edward Klair, Emeline Klair, James Roney, Cidney Roney, Maria Springer, Hamilton Graham, Mary Graham, Emeline Graham, Catherine Gilmore, Isabella Tunis,Eliza Pennock, Hannah Lamborn, Mary Lamborn, Rebecca Marvel, Mary Graham, Charles Shults, Asenath Shults, John Springer, Edwin Gibson, Clementine Gibson. Here are the names of twenty-four people who are far from famous, whose names are not memorialized on a plaque anywhere, but without whom we as a church would not exist today. Our church did recognize Rev. Gilmor’s contribution to the birth of our church by naming our fellowship hall below the sanctuary ‘The Gilmor Room.’

A church’s history can be traced along a number of differing threads –the pastors, the buildings, the development of the congregation, the ministries offered. Like most churches, our buildings hold importance to us here at PCKS – not because they constitute ‘the church’ (the people are the church) but because they serve the role of helping to facilitate community life and ministry. In 1864 Rev. Gilmor purchased the land on which our building is situated and in turn deeded the land to the church. The following year a brick church building was erected at a cost of $6,200, with further expansion in the early twentieth century. In 1941 the church worked to further enlarge and beautify the sanctuary, with the current stained-glass windows added later that same decade. In order to facilitate a growing Christian education program, the church then performed extensive renovations in the basement and added a new wing to the rear of the main building in 1954. Further work took place in 1967 with a new kitchen, renovated offices and the upgrading of the music room. In 1998 the church completely remodeled the sanctuary space, with the reconfiguration and expansion of the chancel area, the further spacing and padding of the pews, and the installation of central air conditioning. In 2015 in honor of our 150th anniversary we completed the expansion of the upstairs parlor to allow for a better gathering area before and after church services.

In addition to the main building, the church owns one other building on South Broad Street. In 1884 the church built a manse (a home for the pastor) next door to the church building – this red brick building is now called the Leukel House (named after our longest serving pastor, Rev. George Leukel who was here from 1921 1949). This building houses the pastor’s study, our church offices and a counseling center. PCKS has counted it a privilege and honor to serve the community of Kennett Square through congregational involvement and the offering of our facilities for a significant number of organizations over the years, e.g. the Kennett Area Joint Action Committee (dealing with the shortage of low-cost housing and racial unrest), the Rotary Senior Center (which became the Kennett Area Senior Center), Chester County Migrant Ministry, Boy Scouts Troop 24, Great Beginnings Preschool, Head Start, Study Buddies. At times the leadership has considered whether PCKS should relocate outside the borough in order to have more space (particularly for parking!) but each time we have had the strong sense that God has called us to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and serve the community right in the heart of the borough. So we are committed to stay here! And so, 150 years after God planted this congregation on South Broad Street, we continue by his grace to serve him and serve this community – to help all whom we encounter to ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’ (Psalm 34:8). To that end, 

• we gather every Sunday to worship God together, always praying that others will feel welcome to join us; 
• we meet in various community groups where we read the Bible, pray, eat and encourage one another;
• we seek to nurture youth and children in various ways. One example is ‘Arts Splash’, which coincides each month with the First Friday Arts Stroll, so the children can have a great evening while their parents enjoy strolling and eating;
• we continue to seek to serve this community through participation in organizations such as Good Neighbors, Together for Education, the Spanish Health Ministry, and to serve the world through national and international mission projects.

We are here because we love God – the God who loved us such that he gave up his Son Jesus Christ to forgive us and draw us into true Life – and we love this town. May God enable us to be ‘salt, light, and a city on a hill’ for Kennett Square in the years that lie ahead.