FeatureNo. 02c.1811 – todayBlackburn Road
Our Story
More than two hundred years of faith in the Sewickley Valley — and it began long before there was a church building on Blackburn Road.
The long read
The people were the church
long before they had a building.
Around 1811 a Methodist preacher named Thomas McClelland began gathering local farming families for worship in their homes. McClelland was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, in 1767. He was converted through Methodist preaching as a young man and was licensed to preach in 1790.
Legend has it that McClelland was ordained by John Wesley himself. The surviving records do not prove that meeting, but the timing makes the tradition possible: McClelland entered the Methodist ministry during the final year of Wesley’s life. What is certain is that he carried the same message Wesley proclaimed — salvation through Jesus Christ, faith, holiness, prayer, fasting, and a life filled with love for God and for others.
Those who knew him described his preaching as “simple, yet dignified”, deeply rooted in Scripture and set on helping people truly live for Christ. Warned once that a particular mission field would be difficult, he is said to have answered: It is just the place for me.
The early believers met first in McClelland’s own home and in the home of Elizabeth Frazer. The meetings moved later to a schoolhouse on Jacob Fry’s farm, and then to the home of Thomas and Margaret Hamilton. The growing fellowship became known as the Hamilton Bible Class.
An original class book from 1829 still preserves the names of many of those early believers — the earliest written record of this congregation, kept two decades before it had a building of its own.
After roughly twenty-two years of meeting in homes and other gathering places, the congregation built its first permanent house of worship — a log church raised on this site in 1833.
In 1853, under the ministry of Rev. William Page Blackburn, the log meetinghouse was replaced by a brick church. The congregation was later named Blackburn Church in his honour, and in time the road took the name too.
Around 1890 the brick church was replaced in turn by the white-frame sanctuary that forms the heart of the church today. Three houses of worship have now stood on this same ground: a log meetinghouse, a brick chapel, and the present church.
“Logs from the original log church are now the beams that hold up the floor of the current church.” From Blackburn’s 200th anniversary, June 2011
Every new generation here has been built on the faith of the one before it. Through changing communities, changing denominations and changing generations, this ground has gone on bearing witness to the faithfulness of God.
The namesake
Rev. William
Page Blackburn.
More than a name over a door: a circuit preacher who spent forty years planting churches across three states.
Licensed to preach in 1838 and ordained a Methodist elder in 1844, Blackburn served churches and communities across western Pennsylvania, Ohio and what is now West Virginia for more than forty years. He preached on rural circuits, organised new congregations, and helped put permanent places of worship where there had been none.
In 1860 he organised the First Methodist Church of Irwin with twelve members. That congregation is still active more than 165 years later. He also organised Homewood Avenue Methodist Church in Pittsburgh, and donated land for another Methodist church in Westmoreland County.
His ministry left a mark across the whole region. At Blackburn it left a brick church in 1853 — and, once he was gone, a name the congregation chose to keep.
The record
Two hundred years, briefly
1767
Thomas McClelland is born
Born in County Monaghan, Ireland. Converted through Methodist preaching as a young man, and licensed to preach in 1790 — the final year of John Wesley’s life.
c.1811
Worship begins in homes
McClelland gathers local farming families in his own home and that of Elizabeth Frazer. The meetings move on to a schoolhouse on Jacob Fry’s farm, and then to Thomas and Margaret Hamilton’s home. The fellowship becomes the Hamilton Bible Class.
1829
The class book
A class book records the names of the early believers — the earliest written record of the congregation, two decades before it had a building of its own.
1833
The log church
After some twenty-two years of meeting in homes, the congregation raises its first permanent house of worship on this site.
1853
A brick church — and a name
Under Rev. William Page Blackburn the log meetinghouse is replaced in brick. The congregation is later named in his honour.
c.1890
The church you see today
The brick chapel gives way to the white-frame sanctuary that still forms the heart of the church. Timbers from the original log church are preserved beneath the floor.
2011
The bicentennial
A 200th anniversary service on 5 June, with former pastors returning, a restored photograph of William Blackburn on display, and a light meal afterwards.
Today
Revival and renewal
A new chapter under Pastor Jaryd Boyer: preaching the Word, calling people to faith in Jesus Christ, gathering families, making disciples and serving this community.
The pastor
Jaryd Boyer.
He leads Blackburn Church, preaches on Sunday mornings at ten, and is usually at the front doors before and after the service.
This is the new chapter the congregation is walking into — and it is the same mission that started in farmhouses around 1811. Preaching the Word, calling people to faith in Jesus Christ, gathering families, making disciples, and serving the people who live along this road.
The buildings have changed three times. The mission has not.
The easiest way to meet him is simply to come on a Sunday; nobody will process you at the door and nobody will ask you to sign anything. If you would rather talk before you visit — about a baptism, a funeral, a wedding, the cemetery, or something heavier — call the church and ask for him.
From Blackburn Church
What we
believe.
Blackburn Church is a Spirit-led, Bible-believing church established upon the authority of God’s Word and the saving power of Jesus Christ. Pastor Jaryd Boyer leads the congregation.
We believe in living under the direction of the Holy Spirit, walking by faith, loving God and people, praying for healing, practising biblical prosperity through faithful stewardship and generosity, and pursuing lives of holiness and honour.
We live with the blessed hope of the return of Jesus Christ. We carry a burden to reach the lost, to strengthen and awaken the Church, and to build unity throughout the Body of Christ.
Blackburn Church exists to proclaim Jesus, ignite revival and equip believers to walk in holiness, power, compassion and purpose — until the whole world knows the name of Christ.
Prayer · Scripture · Faith · Holiness · Love · Revival
The building & the ground
White clapboard,
coloured glass.
A plain gable-fronted country church, and everything inside it doing a job.
From the road it is about as unassuming as a church can be: white siding, a steep roof, two doors under a small porch. The one flourish is the round stained-glass window in the gable. Inside, the walls are cream, the beams are exposed and dark, brass lanterns hang the length of the room, and the side windows are leaded in yellow and rose. The pews are oak, worn pale on the ends.
The burial ground beside the church holds generations of this congregation. Families are welcome to visit; the gate is not locked. If you are researching a family line or looking for a particular stone, call the church and someone will help you find it.