Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Amid changes, Church on the Mall a constant
Place of worship at Plymouth Meeting Mall has survived through years of changing tastes – as well as a fire in 1970
Place of worship at Plymouth Meeting Mall has survived through years of changing tastes, and a fire.
PLYMOUTH » One longtime Plymouth Meeting Mall patron remembers buying cream doughnuts and crumb buns at the full- service bakery near Strawbridge’s. Another recalls grocery shopping at the in- mall Pantry Pride and Saturday nights at Cinema on the Mall. Other locals reminisce about getting together at Woolworth’s lunch counter or pushing a tray through the cafeteria line at adjacent Harvest House — a favorite meeting spot for area retirees. York Steak House? Bain’s Deli? People’s Drug? All one- time mall fixtures.
No question, there’s been plenty of coming and going at PMM since its construction by the Rouse Co. on the former Meehan Nursery tract in 1966. And on Thursday, the Germantown Pike retail complex’s evolution to the entertainment
“Even as people’s church- going habits have changed we’ve been able to remain true to our core principles by being flexible.” – Pastor Sarah Colwill
center imagined by current owners PREIT ( Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust) continues with the grand opening of Legoland Discovery Center.
But through all the change — including the fire that ravaged the complex in 1970 — the Church on the Mall has been a quiet constant at the Germantown Pike property. Tucked away on the east side of the center adjacent to the
new Legoland, its members recently marked their 50th anniversary and reason their commitment to “welcoming all” ( despite its Presbyterian roots) has been a key to its longevity.
To that end, the church’s tiny chapel is almost always open to anyone who needs a quick or not- so- quick break. Its gluten- free food pantry — Rachel’s Way — is gratis to anyone who visits. Ditto its monthly First Friday dinners ( open to the public with no pre- registration and no questions asked).
“The church went to the mall because it was the center of the universe in Plymouth Meeting after it opened — the first mall in this area… even before King of Prussia,” says Church on the Mall Elder Pete Scattergood. “That was important because it put the church where the people were, and that was vital to the congregations’ feeling that it had — and continues to have — a role to play in the community. That’s why we do our First Friday dinners and have Rachel’s Way and support organizations like Colonial Neighborhood Council … and believe that our main job is not just to go to church every Sunday but to serve others. That commitment to service is what drives us.”
Pastor Sarah Colwill puts it this way: “This church was founded on a commitment to be among the people … to be relevant to the people, so even as people’s church- going habits have changed we’ve been able to remain true to our core principles by being flexible … acknowledging that fulfilling that commitment goes beyond showing up for church on Sunday by reaching out to people and being welcoming and hospitable.”
Colwill points to the congregation’s Sunday morning coffee receptions.
“Often, churches will have coffee hour after worship… almost like a reward for going to church. Here, they set it up an hour before the service, and we often get people from the mall who aren’t going to stay for worship. They get their coffee and leave. Even with dwindling numbers, which is common for many churches today, our members have the same strong sense of purpose. They realize we can’t just base our ‘ success’ as a church on numbers,” she says.
The local congregation traces its genesis to the Rev. Allan Kinloch Jr., who pitched his vision of “a ministry in the marketplace” to both the Presbytery of Philadelphia and developer James Rouse in the mid- 1960s. The new church merged members of Conshohocken Presbyterian Church, Norristown’s Holy Redeemer Church ( Kinloch’s home church) and Ambler Chapel. Kinloch shared pastoral duty with the Rev. Daniel Rinaldi from Ambler Chapel before his eventual appointment as solo pastor. When he retired in 1999, he was named pastor emeritus. Col will was installed in early 2016.
The fledgling church’s Sunday services were held in the mall’s community room — which later became PMM’s management offices— and Sunday school took place in various storefronts and eateries, including the Cork and Crown bar and around themall’s signature fountain ( also used for some baptisms). Members’ outreach during these early years ranged from counseling and discussion sessions for area youths to popular Christmas Eve services in PMM’s Grand Court.
The church’s lower level storefront offices, near what was then Lit Brothers department store ( followed by Hess’s and Boscov’s), were lost in the fire that destroyed roughly half of the complex in 1970. They were relocated as “makeshift offices … in the ‘ catacombs’ behind the shops on the second level in the middle of the mall.” Church members eventually hired the architectural firm of Hassinger & Schwam to design a permanent house of worship, and the new structure was completed in 1972.
“As part of the agreement with the mall, we had to provide community service space for groups within our facility,” the history notes. “A lease was arranged to pay $ 1 per year for 50 years for the land use.”
“We’ve already begun very preliminary conversations with the mall about what will happen then,” Scattergood says.
In the meantime, the church’s current 89 members continue “to provide community service space.” The Montgomery County Intermediate Unit and Family Services of Montgomery County were early beneficiaries, and — over the years — the church calendar has included everything from benefit rock concerts to senior luncheons, Red Cross blood drives and numerous self- help group meetings. Peppermint Dance Club attendees are Saturday night regulars.
The congregation has also hosted and assisted refugees from Vietnam, Poland and Belarus as well as controversial Radical Plowshares 8 activists Philip and Daniel Berrigan.
“The Session, after much heated discussion, agreed to allow the Berrigan brothers to sleep at the church during the first time they were protesting at the G. E. plant in King of Prussia,” the anniversary history states. “This was a period of some dissension, and several of our members left.”
Last year, the church hired seminary interns Andrew McGibbon and Anders Edstrom “to increase our ministry and outreach.”
“This renewed energy around mission and hospitality has confirmed our sense that God is still at work in this place,” the anniversary history notes. “Legoland is moving into the former food court, right outside our doors. We wonder with faith and hope — where might God be calling us next?”
Regardless, Church on the Mall members welcome the community to join them at their next First Friday dinner on April 7 beginning at 6 p. m.
“These dinners are unique, a combination of all sorts of people — church members, their friends, people who come to themall on a bus — and we serve food you would feed your own family,” Colwill says. “We average about 80 people, and we get repeats, but there are always newfaces. We do this year- round, and all you need to do is show up.”