OUR HISTORY

 

Usually you hear the history of a church planting a ministry on a college campus. Our story is a little different. BigWoods Bible Church actually grew out of what began as a small Bible study that met on the campus of Lock Haven University back in the 1970s. The young believers would gather together in dorms and meeting places across campus to study the Word of God. As they grew, they would move around from place to place, often worshipping in the town parks during the summer. The saying was, "BigWoods: if you can find us, you can worship with us". 

 

Though "the church" is the gathering of believers, and not merely the building in which they meet, eventually, the Bible study which had blossomed into a church had grown large enough to require a building. By the grace of God, an old school was purchased, and slowly transformed into the church in which we worshipped. Since then, BigWoods has moved to a larger building that used to be an old warehouse. Through much work, the building has been renovated to accommodate the services each week. What started as a few students, has now grown into a church hundreds call home.

 

NewLife has changed a lot since those early years, but with support from the university and BigWoods, the college ministry has had a consistent presence on the campus for years. More recently, the ministry has grown significantly, and now has opportunities for leadership, mission trips, community service, and deep involvement with it's supporting church. But even though it might look different, the mission of reaching college students still remains its main purpose. So now that you know our history, come check us out! We'd love to see you at our next gathering whether it be on campus in PUB Room 2 at 7pm Tuesday nights, or at BigWoods on a Sunday morning at 9am. We look forward to seeing you soon!