BMPC
625 Montgomery
Avenue
Bryn Mawr PA 19010
Welcome
History
Members of Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church are part of a church family with a rich heritage and tradition of worship, service, and fellowship. BMPC was organized in 1873 and its first chapel completed in 1874. Influential leadership by 6 senior pastors in ministry with a talented congregation has challenged and nurtured this community of faith over 120 years. The pastoral staff has provided for strong programs and activities in ministry shared with a talented congregation.
BMPC has been committed to mission and outreach since the late 1800's when the first Presbyterian missionary, Dr. William Wanlass, was sent to Miraj, India. BMPC established a hospital there that we still support over 100 years later. Members of our congregation have volunteered their medical skills there in recent years.
BMPC's first youth minister arrived in the early 1960's. Retreats, summer camps, fellowships, and Sunday classes have influenced the growth and nurture of a generation of teenagers since then. The first full-time Director of Music and Fine Arts was hired in the early 1970's. Building on a long tradition of excellence in worship music, an expanded program of music, art, and drama now enriches our spiritual lives and expresses our faith.
Our Education Building, built in 1931 and renovated in 1999, houses an enrollment of over 500 children for Sunday church school. Its 7-day-a-week use attests to the many varied education-related programs we offer: our Weekday Nursery School, and the weeknight Tutoring Program, which pairs suburban youth and North Philadelphia elementary school children. Each of these programs has more than a 30 year history at BMPC.
Our church Chapel, built in 1940, houses four treasured Tiffany windows as well as bas relief reredos ( chancel panels) by Tony Visco that were installed in 1989. The Tiffany windows were memorials in the original church built in 1886, and the foundation and three walls of that church are the framework of the Chapel. In 1996, a new pipe organ was added, using many of the pipes from the church's first organ, built in 1876.
Converse House was originally built in 1883 as the manse, and was used as the senior pastor's home until 1958. It housed the church offices until 1990, and now houses the Fine Arts offices, Church library and reading room, small meeting spaces, youth offices, offices of the Parish Nurse and Care Manager, and The Middleton Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling. Converse House is accessible from the Ministries Center, which was expanded to include new staff offices and Congregational Hall and a kitchen in 1990. At this same time, the rooms under the sanctuary were converted to a Fine Arts Center and include three rehearsal rooms, a kitchen, and a music library.
In 2004, a project to renovate the Sanctuary, improve Sanctuary acoustics and sound system, install air conditioning in the Sanctuary, and obtain a new Rieger pipe organ, were undertaken. As part of this capital project, 2 million dollars was raised for mission and outreach projects.
A vision and plan for our future took shape in 1927, when the
present sanctuary was built to seat 1200 - double the congregation
of that time. Today, we look to 
the 21st century with a continuing program to update and repair
all our buildings, ensuring that the investment of those who founded
our church in Bryn Mawr is preserved and updated for future Christian
ministry.
- 1873 BMPC organized
- 1874 First Chapel completed
- 1886 Brownstone Church dedicated
- 1894 First Sunday School Building completed
- 1927 Present Sanctuary built
- 1931 Education Building dedicated
- 1941 Present Chapel completed
- 1967 Activities Building dedicated
- 1975 Rieger Organ dedicated
- 1988 Chapel renovated
- 1990 Dedication of Ministries Center
- 1991 Completion of Capital Campaign
- 1996 New chapel organ dedicated
- 1999 The Middleton Center for Pastoral Care and Counseling opened
- 2004 Fund for Worship, Music, and Mission reaches its goal
- 2004 Renovation of Sanctuary
- 2005 Installation of new Rieger Organ
- 2005 Installation of carillon