Our History

Locust Valley Chapel —
A Faithful Journey with Jesus…

Locust Valley Chapel is built on a foundation of fervent prayer, purposeful Bible study, God-honoring worship, loving support and encouragement, and active obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Visitors to the Chapel will notice that those qualities are the same today as when the Chapel first began more than 50 years ago.

Sunday worship today is marked by powerful Bible-based preaching and teaching, and a talented worship team that inspires with a variety of praise-filled music. Disciplemaking classes offer practical, scriptural teaching for adults, youth and children. Frequent fellowship luncheons strengthen the bonds of Christian love that tie us together.

Every Wednesday is Family Night with discipleship classes, a prayer meeting, and fellowship opportunities for all ages, from first grade to junior and senior high to adult.

Additional fellowship groups for men, women and youth also help deepen faith-filled relationships and foster service opportunities. Small group ministries offer additional support and learning opportunities. Outreach events—from mission teams to youth soccer clinics, special concerts, free community car washes, and more—help us witness to the love of Christ in many ways. Our focus on missions is shown with mission trips and an annual local church missions conference featuring a C&MA missionary.

From our early years through today, God has blessed Locust Valley Chapel with godly men and women of great faith, wisdom and talent, which have been faithfully applied as we minister to each other, the community and the world.

Our Humble Beginnings …

Locust Valley Chapel began in January, 1954 with cottage prayer meetings and Sunday School led by Frank Wilcox in a garage of a home in the Locust Valley area of Coopersburg. In that same year, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Kennedy purchased five acres of land on Locust Valley Road, and donated some of it to the group for a church building.

Work on the Chapel building began that same summer, with a handful of dedicated men working evenings mixing concrete and laying block donated by the Kennedy’s block company. Timbers for the floor were hauled from a church in Philadelphia.

Frank Wilcox became the first pastor of Locust Valley Chapel, then an independent, non-denominational church. Incorporation papers were signed on February 17, 1955 and the building dedicated October 31, 1955.

Desiring to be a part of a denomination, the church was sold to the Christian and Missionary Alliance in the summer of 1956, with the Rev. Howard Bowers being the first Christian and Missionary Alliance pastor. The Chapel was organized as Locust Valley Chapel of the Christian and Missionary Alliance on November 3, 1957.


Over the years, the Chapel continued to grow as its members remained faithful to our mission to “strengthen believers in Christ and fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.”


As the church and its ministries grew, additional room was needed for Sunday School and fellowship activities. So a Fellowship Hall with room for 6 classrooms and a kitchen were built and dedicated in June, 1983.


Just over 10 years later, a new sanctuary with seating for 300—plus a baptismal pool, a music room, a large lobby, an infant nursery and restrooms—were built and were dedicated June 23, 1996. At the same time, the former sanctuary was renovated for classrooms, offices and a library.

In 2008, in response to a growing number of youth and young adults, the Chapel hired a Youth Pastor to help meet the spiritual needs of our young people.

A Faith-Filled Walk to the Future

Today, as our membership and ministry opportunities continue to grow, plans for a third expansion—a new gymnasium, additional classrooms, and a larger kitchen—are in the works. Considerable groundwork has already been laid, as we seek the Lord’s will for our next step in our ministry to the community.

We invite you to be part of this loving, faith-filled congregation as we seek to honor Jesus Christ in everything we say and do.