A community open house, featuring church tours, snacks and children's activities, will be held on Saturday, Aug. 16, from 9 a.m. to noon at Faith Community United Methodist Church (UMC), 332 Chester St., Atglen.

According to Noreen Stanomir and Kimberly Gray, co-chairs of the event, it has been more than 10 years since the church has held an open house. "It is an outreach to the community so they are aware of the presence of the church and what we have to offer," said Gray.

Children will enjoy activities in the church's downstairs fellowship hall while parents tour the sanctuary. "(Congregation member) Joann Hume will be taking care of the crafts with the children, which will free up the adults so they can ask questions," said Stanomir. "We will take them upstairs for the tour."

Visitors will note the church's stained-glass windows, custom woodwork and a traditional choir loft. "(The church is) not very big, but it's lovely," said pastor Rebecca Brown.

The Sunday service at Faith Community UMC is at 9:30 a.m. Sunday school for children meets at the same time. "Currently our services are mostly a traditional worship style," said Brown. "On a quarterly basis, we have guests musicians come, and we do a blended service - contemporary and traditional. During traditional days, we use the piano and sometimes the organ. When our guests are here, we use guitar and piano. We are working on having more blended-style worship services."

"There is a time of fellowship with light refreshments on the first Sunday of the month," added Gray.

The church is currently offering a Bible study for adults based on "The Chosen" television series. It meets on Thursdays from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. " 'The Chosen' is a series that is about the life of Christ," said Brown. "It's the best series on the Bible and the New Testament that I have ever seen. It was created especially for people who don't know anything about Christianity."

The church is also an active member of Parkesburg Churches Community Outreach (PCCO). "Being part of PCCO, we have ongoing fundraising and contributions that we make throughout the year," said Stanomir.

"We just completed the backpack program (collecting items for youths) at The POINT, and next we will be doing the warm winter coat drive," Gray added.

Brown noted that Faith Community UMC originally began as Penningtonville Methodist Episcopal (ME) Church. "The building has been here since 1853," she said. "(The fellowship) hall) was put on in 1970 or 1971. This church has not continuously operated. It was closed for awhile until this congregation moved into the building. It was called Penningtonville ME Church, and later it was Asbury Community UMC."

According to the Philadelphia Area Archives of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the UMC, Asbury Community UMC was discontinued in 2002. The remaining congregants merged with Grace UMC of Coatesville, establishing the current active Faith Community UMC.

For more information about the church, join the "Faith Community United Methodist Church" Facebook group. The church's Sunday service is livestreamed on the Facebook page.

Those with questions about the open house may contact Gray at kimg23@comcast.net.