"Large rivers are the result of the coming together of many different streams, creeks, and smaller rivers and, once joined, it is an impossible task to separate the different streams. So too, the river of history is the result of many different streams, each with its own “feeder” streams, that come together. The history of our congregation is one such example.
Our history is the result of many influences, decisions, and circumstances that have combined to make us who we are.
This is not just any story; this is our story, our heritage. It is a heritage rich with God’s many blessings and with the faithfulness, vision, dedication, and sacrifice of many people.
Enjoy the story; it is a good one because it is a God one."
Pastor Alan
House on corner of Louther and Bedford Streets: A Humble Home
It all began in a house on the corner of Louther and Bedford Streets. Although 1892 marks the year that the first Brethren in Christ service was held in Carlisle, March 1912 serves as the official start of regular meetings of what will eventually be known as the Carlisle Brethren in Christ (BIC) Church.
This house served as the church’s meeting place until April 1, 1920 when with an average attendance of 34 and average offerings at $127.58, the group found itself without a home. The owner of the house on the corner of Louther and Bedford died, and the building was sold, forcing the faithful gatherers to move on to find new accommodations.
A Street: A Borrowed Home
The story continues from the corner of Louther and Bedford to A Street. Renting a building from a United Brethren Church, the small and fledgling Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church held services on Sunday mornings while the United Brethren Church occupied it Sunday afternoons. This communal arrangement lasted until 1923 at which point the BIC group moved to an old 
Reformed church on West Louther Street and service times changed to Sunday afternoons.
All this drifting and homelessness did not discourage the church. (And aren’t we glad as we look back eighty plus years later?) This small but faithful congregation must have known and understood the idea that they, the people, were the body of Christ, not the building in which they met. They kept meeting regularly at the Reformed church until January 2, 1924.
A Street Revisited: A Permanent Home (at last)
The United Brethren Church sold its building on A Street to the same family that had rented from them for several years prior. For $1500, the Carlisle BIC Church bought their first permanent home, one they could finally call their own. Because of steady growth in the congregation, by 1931, the District Council of which the church was apart gave permission to build an addition to the existing A Street facility once 75% of the expense was raised. On June 17, 1934, the church dedicated the completed Sunday School wing, which was built at a cost of $4,250.
Between 1924 when the church first bought the A Street building and 1940, membership grew to 101 people, and attendance each Sunday was more than double that. Even with the expansion from 1934, the building was bursting at the seams to contain those who were being added to their number. Something obviously needed to be done, so a 10-foot, $1800 extension was planned, and on March 17, 1940, they held a dedication ceremony for the second addition. The church together declared that the addition was “erected and dedicated to serve the community of which she is a part.” And that it did.
Another big step was taken on November 23, 1945. Just five years after a second addition was added to the A Street church, expansion was in the minds of the people again. The church bought some land on the corner of College and Louther Streets for $20,000, sensing that in the next few years they would need even more space to minister and impact the community. Sure enough, by 1948, enrollment in Sunday school was at 269, the second largest attendance in any United States and Canadian Brethren in Christ Church.
The church, recognizing the need for a building with more space to accommodate the ever-growing congregation, began to plan and step forward in the building of the church at College and Louther Streets. Never having gone through the process of building before, the people of the church nevertheless showed the determination and unity of spirit to see this crucial commitment through. The sale of the A Street church provided $23,250 for the future fortification of the body known as the Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church.
College/Louther St. Church – A Brand-New Home
The church on College and Louther was the first new church 
for Carlisle BIC. What an exciting time in the life of a church! Construction on the new building began after 50% of the money was raised, which was no small feat for that time as the building cost $151,099.56. The dedication and commitment of the people were evidenced as they broke ground on October 4, 1950 and laid the cornerstone on December 10, 1950, just five years after purchasing the land.
Finally, on March 30, 1952, after week-long services in celebration of the completion of the new facility, the church dedicated its new building to God’s service. C.N. Hostetter, president of Messiah College at that time, preached the dedication day sermon on Easter Sunday. Seating for up to 400 in the sanctuary and 100 for children’s church reflects the forward-thinking vision of the church at that time. (Just eleven years later, the church celebrated the freedom from outstanding debts with a mortgage burning ceremony on October 27, 1963.)
During this time in the life of the Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church came a marked influence in the community as well as changes within the church itself. The Church Board, rather than the District Council, began to have greater influence, and worship evolved into a more ritualistic experience - with a prescribed order of worship and some of the icons we associate with a traditional approach - as opposed to a more “free” style. In 1969, alterations were added to the front of the sanctuary, which created a choir loft and an area for the pastor and choir members to move about discreetly during services. An organ was also added to the sounds of worship, one of the first organs in a Brethren in Christ Church anywhere. (Yes, our predecessors worshiped without the hallowed harmonies of an organ!)
Again, in 1971, the church started discussions regarding long-range development plans as they realized a membership increase of 160% over the past 10 years. The “A Big Step Forward” campaign went underway in 1972, aimed at expanding the narthex and renovating the fellowship hall at a cost of $175,000. That vision came to fruition in 1974, and by 1976, the church implemented two services in order to solve the space issues that confronted them once again.
At the turn of the decade, committees met to discuss options for further change for Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church. The church decided at that time that relocation was God’s leading, and in 1983 a 25% increase in giving from the congregation supported that decision. This group of people again demonstrated a commitment and faithfulness to God through their giving and generosity.
Dickinson College bid to purchase the College and Louther property for $1,250,000, which was also added to the cost of a new building on Walnut Bottom Road for $2,444,346.
Walnut Bottom Road: A Relevant Home
Excitement and anticipation must have surged through the congregation as they looked back on what God had already done through their number in order to look ahead to what God still planned to do. It was obvious He was not done yet! Groundbreaking for the new building on Walnut Bottom Road took place on April 8, 1984.
Just over a year later, June 2, 1985, the people of the church participated in a ceremony they 
called “Carrying the Cross”. Two hundred people, young and old alike, gathered at the corner of College and Louther Streets to walk the streets of Carlisle together to the church’s new location at Walnut Bottom Road. The two-mile trek symbolized the transition from the old building, the history of the congregation, to the new building, the future horizon of God’s plan for Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church. One church member fashioned a wooden cross out of some of the pews from the sanctuary at College and Louther, and walkers took turns carrying the cross down the streets of town to the site of the new church. Once the group reached their destination, they laid the cornerstone as they remembered the past and thought of the future. The first service at the Walnut Bottom Road location took place on July 28, 1985, and October 5-6, 1985 marked the dedication weekend.
Within the new church’s design was an integration of the old and the new, a way of acknowledging the church’s solid history while still looking ahead to a renewed vision of God’s direction. When the narthex was added at the College and Louther church home, the design left
the outside stone façade intact while enclosing the remaining area so that the now inner wall of the church was, in fact, the former outside wall. The plans for the sanctuary at the church home at Walnut Bottom Road included the same outside stone façade at the front on which hangs the cross that was carried from the old location to the new. One year after the building’s completion, 1986, membership grew to 733 for the year, and giving increased to an annual average of $418,000.
The congregation journeyed through a pastoral transition in 1987, and within eight years of that and ten years of the building of the facility at Walnut Bottom Road, the church was able to pay of its mortgage. A mortgage-burning celebration in January 1996 signified the Carlisle congregation’s freedom from property and building debt, the second time in the church’s history this has happened.
Space issues over the past six years prompted the addition of several new services. In 2002, two contemporary services and two traditional (or classic) services occurring in different venues simultaneously (classic in the sanctuary and contemporary in the multi-purpose auditorium [MPA]) became the format but with that came the challenge of unifying the body known as the Carlisle Brethren in Christ Church. Because of that, Pastor Robinson and the Church Board 
decided that it was important for the same sermon to be preached at all four services, which led to the idea of broadcasting the sermon to the MPA from the sanctuary where Pastor Alan preached live. This approach came with some risk as it was a bold, new concept for this relatively conservative, and Carlisle was not aware of other church bodies taking a similar approach. However, the risk paid off as another, fifth service was added in 2004.