On July 26, 2026, the UCC Facebook page featured this story on Rev. Harold Wilke. “A United Church of Christ minister whose life and witness helped break barriers for people with disabilities. On July 26, 1990, Rev. Wilke accepted a pen from President George H. W. Bush at the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act, grasping it with his toes. Born without arms, Rev. Wilke offered the Invocation at the White House, calling the ADA ‘the breaking of the chains which have held back millions of Americans with disabilities.’”

What makes this a St. John’s story? In the comments under the July 26 Facebook post was this note from St. John’s friend Rev. Martha Bean Kriebel. “Met him when a child and he and his family were members at St. John’s in Lansdale. Fascinated to watch him open doors on the train.” My interest piqued, I searched our archives for more about Rev. Harold Wilke.

In our June column we told you about the origins of the St. John’s parsonage that was built attached to the original church building in 1891 and remained standing when the church building was razed in 1965. The old parsonage was used for Sunday School classes, the Associate Pastor’s study and storage, renamed as “the Parish House.”

The Herald of March 4, 1973, included a special message from Interim Pastor William E. Cameron, Jr. The congregation was asked to remain after worship for a meeting. The church council recommended leasing the Parish House to an agency of the Lutheran Church to renovate it and use it to house a program for teenagers referred by the county Juvenile Court, with funds from the federal and state governments, on a year-to-year basis. The April 1973 Enlightener said the meeting “was a healthy give and take of questions and answers, doubts and assurances, reluctance and enthusiasm” which resulted in a ‘yes’ vote to allow the Parish House to be used as a group foster home.

A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer noted how people in the Philadelphia region hang on to the old names of things long changed. I was reminded of this when I heard a recent church announcement for an event at “the old Anchor House lot.” Since that building was razed 10 years ago, and the Anchor House began over 50 years ago, let’s look back at the long history of that building in the story of St. John’s.

In January, we wrote about the pastors who established St. John’s Reformed Church in 1876. As we prepare for the final events this month for our 150th anniversary, we want to remember and honor those members who established and led our congregation for generations. A 50th anniversary booklet from 1926 lists the original officers and members present at the official founding of the church on January 30, 1876. George F. Gerhart and Wm. H. Harlacker were elected as the Elders and Trustees, and Seth L. Scholl and Jacob Reed as Deacons. The booklet said, “nine other names of original members can be found”, implying there may have been others not remembered by 1926. The nine names are Atarah Gerhart, Amanda Gerhart, Lydia Godshall, Susan Harlacher, Hannah Moyer, Annie C. Scholl, Magdalena Reck, Michael Reck, and (first name missing) Clifton. The booklet also notes that three people, not yet members, formed a Building Committee: Samuel Effrig, A. C. Godshall and C.D. Loch. We know of one connection to these names from 150 years ago – Lydia Godshall and A. C. (Abraham Clemens) Godshall were the great-grandparents of member Barb Fretz!

“What is the Kingdom of God Like?”

150  Years of Service, Outreach, and Witness

When Jesus was teaching he asked, “‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what should I compare it?’

He went on, ‘It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in the garden; it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.’ And again he said, ‘To what should I compare the kingdom of God? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’” (Luke 13:18-21)

“And the kingdom of God is like 1,000 teeny tiny onion plants, lovingly placed in the soil by the young ones that people with limited access to fresh food can be fed.”

Okay, that part is not actually in the gospels. But I do think that Jesus would agree that what our Youth Group and their faithful adult co-laborers did recently when they spent a day planting a thousand onions and weeding at the Garden of Health to make fresh food available to those who are food insecure is Kingdom (or “Kin-dom”) work.

Read the Full Enlightener