Zelienople Churches Come Together for 9/11 Service

Even though and in Zelienople began sharing a pastor in August they still retain separate worship services.

That will all change on Sunday.

With the Rev. Bob Keplinger leading, the churches plan to unite to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America, with a parade to the grassy area on Zelienople’s Main Street where the town’s war memorials are found.

“We’re going to do a 9/11 observance,” Keplinger said.

Keplinger, who spent 25 years at English Lutheran before entering a cooperative ministry with St. Paul’s after the retirement of that church’s longtime pastor, said he is looking at the day as a way to show unification of the churches.

“We wanted something that would combine the two churches together,” he said.

Keplinger will lead interested churchgoers to the park during the 9 a.m. service at English Lutheran. For those who would rather not make the walk, a service will be continued at the church with another pastor.

Front and center at the parade will be a banner that says “Celebrate What’s Right With the World.” The church’s children will plant Christian pennants they made at the park, and Keplinger said he also would have American flags for adults to carry.

“The theme is moving beyond fear and embracing that there are a lot of good things we need to lift up here and elsewhere and around the world,” he said.

After the gathering at the park, the congregation will move to St. Paul’s on Main Street for the 10:30 a.m. service.

Keplinger said this year’s “Rally Day,” the day the church’s children head back to Sunday school, happened to fall on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

“Rather than separate programs at each church, we thought we would try to do something that would start at one church and end at the other,” he said. "That's how this all came together."

After Sunday’s event, services will return to what is usual for the churches.