News

Below you will find some of Advent's latest news.  If you came here by clicking on a banner on the Home Page, the article on which you clicked will be one of the top handful but possibly not the first.  You may need to scroll down a bit!  

  • BEAR CREEK CAMP 2026 SUMMER SESSION REGISTRATION IS OPEN

    Time to Register for Bear Creek Camp!


    Spring is almost here and registration for summer camp is open! Youth summer camp at Bear Creek is an AMAZING God-centered, fun-filled, outdoor time for personal growth and play on a 3,000-acre property just 80 minutes away in the Pocono Mountains. Sessions are weeklong, Sunday afternoon – Friday and are for children who have completed grades 1-12. Half-week sessions (Try Camp) are available for first-time campers who have completed grades 1-2. Advent supports all our campers through subsidies and full camp scholarships (see below). Register before March 31 and get a free T-shirt!

    Click HERE for more info and to register!


    Advent supports all our campers through our Bear Creek Camp Funds.


    The money in these funds comes from generous donations and fundraising efforts.

    1) Every Advent youth attending summer camp can receive $150 towards camp registration. Once your child is registered for camp, please email Carrie Ryan a copy of your registration. Advent will issue you a $150 reimbursement check per child.

    2) Every Advent youth who is a FIRST-TIME camper will receive an additional $150 towards camp registration.

    3) Advent families attending Family Camp can receive $300 towards camp registration.

    4) Advent has full camperships for either a full week or Try Camp. Please contact Pastor Mark for more information.

    5) Advent sends each of our campers a care package while they are at camp. Please let Carrie Ryan know what session your child is attending.


    Bear Creek Camp also provides its own discounts which you can receive.

    Sibling Discount: (First camper is full price, each additional camper from same household will receive a $50 discount)

    Bring-a-Friend Discount: For each new friend that signs up, you will get a $100 credit on your summer camp registration.


    NOW is the time to register for summer camp! Contact Pastor Mark or Karen Evans (chemkaren@verizon.net), Advent's Bear Creek Ambassador, with questions.


    If you are interested in sponsoring a full or partial campership for our Bear Creek Fund, please see Karen Evans or Pastor Mark. Thank you for your generosity!

  • ADVENT TO HOST ALL-BACH CONCERT MARCH 21, 2026

    On Saturday March 21, 2026 at 3:00 pm, several venues in the Philadelphia region will host "All-Bach" concerts, including Advent Lutheran Church, Harleysville, PA. Seven local musicians will share a variety Bach's music. The program includes works and arrangements for organ, flute, piano, trumpet and clarinet. The performers are Keith Christian, Philip Crush, Melissa Freilich, Lisa McColl, Mary Jean Purdy, Dr. Emily Rose, and Vincent M. Ryan. 


    The concerts are sponsored by the Philadelphia Chapter of The American Guild of Organists. The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is the national professional association serving the organ and choral music fields. The Guild serves approximately 250 chapters and 10,000 members throughout the United States and abroad. The mission of the American Guild of Organists is to foster a thriving community of musicians who share their knowledge and inspire passion for the organ. 


    One of the most influential musicians in the history of Western Music, Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685. He was a leading composer of keyboard, choral and instrumental music of the Baroque period. 


    For more information contact Advent Lutheran Church, 215.256.9941. A free-will offering will be collected. To learn more about the Philadelphia AGO, visit agophila.org.

  • LENTEN CONGREGATION SERVICE PROJECT:

    Bean Bag Food Program 100 Box Challenge

    The Bean Bag Food Program in Souderton serves students in local schools who have been identified as food insecure. Food at their homes may be limited or even non-existent. The program provides them with a backpack filled with breakfast, lunch, and snacks for the weekend, to stop hunger and help them focus and learn better when they return to school on Monday.


    100 Box Challenge: The Bean Bag Food Program is challenging the community to collect enough food donations to fill 100 boxes! We invite you to donate any of the food items listed below (shopping lists are also posted in the narthex), which are requested by March 31. Donations may be dropped off in the narthex or office vestibule. Thank you for generously sharing with neighborhood children!


    100 Box Challenge Food Collection List:

    *Hormel Compleats 10 oz Microwave Meals

    *Ready to eat Tuna Salad pouch or box

    *Instant Oatmeal Packets

    *Deodorant for personal care bags

    *60 Second Pasta 7 oz pouch

    *Microwave Popcorn

    *Canned Pasta, Chunky Soups, & Veggies

  • Lenten Hunger Tree

    Advent is participating in the ELCA 40 Days of Giving program, which helps ELCA World Hunger reach communities in need and develop strategies to reduce the impact of hunger and poverty. You may select items from the Hunger Tree in the narthex to donate to ELCA Good Gifts. Donations are requested by Easter, April 5th and allow the ELCA to connect those in need with resources to produce food and gain access to clean water, education, health care, and sources of income. Please consider sharing your blessings with those experiencing hunger. Thank you for supporting our mission to help others!

  • JAZZ CAFE CONCERT

    On Sunday, November 16 at 3:00 pm, Advent played host to a Jazz Cafe concert featuring the music of Pete Smyser on guitar, Ted Lis on saxophone, and Madison Rast on bass, along with great food and coffee. They performed to a full house in Fellowship Hall.


    Pete Smyser is a professional guitarist/ composer/ arranger/ educator residing in Harleysville, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. His influences and performing styles are diverse, including classic jazz of the 1920s - 1960s, classical guitar, contemporary popular music (1950s - 1980s & some newer songs), blues & folk. He performs over 200 concerts & events annually.

    Pete specializes in playing 7-string guitars which are 6-string guitars with an added bass string to extend the range of the instrument. For more information, visit smyser.com

  • MEMMONITES CELEBRATE 500 YEARS - SPECIAL FOCUS AT ADVENT LUTHERAN

    On Sunday, September 21, 2025, Advent Lutheran hosted the Executive Director of the Mennonite Heritage Center for a special gathering.


    We had the opportunity to go deeper into the Anabaptist/Mennonite story. The Heritage Center Executive Director, Joel Nofziger, was our guest preacher at 8:30 and 11:00 am, and also led an Adult Forum session at 9:45 to provide more insight into Mennonite history.


    Our worship that Sunday included prayers and hymns reflective of the Mennonite tradition. Mr. Nofziger’s preaching text featured excerpts from the Sermon on the Mount – a key scriptural passage for Mennonites.


    Just 7 years ago, Lutherans worldwide celebrated the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 Theses in Wittenberg, Germany in 1517 that became the catalyst for a movement in the Church that we now call the Reformation. Calls for reform within the church had existed, almost from the beginning, but the monk who became the Professor who became reformer set many things in motion, including other voices calling for reform – other Reformers would follow.


    On January, 21, 1525, a group of Christian Reformers including George Blaurock and Conrad Grebel gathered for a secret service in Zurich, Switzerland. They were protesting the state church and infant baptism which seemed to be more of a secular moment than spiritual decision. At the service, they baptized one another.


    This was the beginning of the Anabaptist Movement from which Mennonite and Amish believers stem. ‘Ana’ means ‘again’ – these first Anabaptists were ‘baptized again.’ It was a rebellious action that led to consternation in the Church – Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed - and the persecution of many Anabaptists.


    Of course, there is much more to these stories of reform and reformers. It took almost 500 years, but there have been acts of reconciliation between Lutherans and Mennonites. Internationally, the Lutherans publicly apologized to the Mennonites at the Lutheran World Assembly in Stuttgart in 2010. Locally, the Lutherans of the SE PA Synod publicly apologized to local Mennonites at their Synod Assembly in Franconia in 2011.


    Congregationally, Advent Lutheran and Salford Mennonite have forged a relationship that has led to sharing work in a community garden, combining for outreach projects and joining for a Thanksgiving Eve service annually.