Faces of the Valley: Western Pennsylvania native returns home to lead Lutheran congregations in Harrison, Freeport

The Rev. Jeffrey Truscott has spent most of the more than three decades since his ordination as a Lutheran minister helping seminary students prepare for a life serving the church.

But when the opportunity arose to pastor a congregation that also happened to be less than an hour’s drive from his hometown of Chicora, it was a match made in heaven.

On Feb. 19, Truscott was installed as pastor of Faith Evangelical Lutheran Church on Broadview Boulevard in Harrison.

The church, which was established in 1927 as Calvary Lutheran, merged with United Lutheran Church in Tarentum in 1972 to form Faith Lutheran, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in November. Truscott also was hired to serve as the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Freeport.

But until Truscott’s recent installation, the church had been led by a series of interim pastors since 1992.

David Gilkey, 84, the church’s board president, said the congregation of about 200 people started an intensive search for a full-time pastor about four years ago.

“We are very thankful for all the people who helped us over the years by coming in and preaching on Sundays and helping out on an interim basis,” Gilkey said. “But it has been a longtime goal for us to have a pastor to provide us with Gospel guidance. Someone who knows us and relates to us.”

Gilkey’s wife, Marilyn, 83, agrees on the need for a pastor.

“I think it helps bring people in,” she said. “I’ve had people say to me: ‘You have a minister. Now I want to come to church.’ I think this is something we need.”

Truscott, who has spent the past 20 years teaching at seminaries in Japan and Singapore through the church’s global ministry program, most recently taught in Indonesia.

Truscott, 60, graduated with a degree in sociology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He attended Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio, and has a degree in Lutheran Reformation studies from Gettysburg College.

He earned his doctorate in liturgical studies from the University of Notre Dame.

Truscott said he was ready for a change that would bring him closer to his roots.

“There was a realization on my part that at some point I would have to come home (to the United States) because of retirement or health or family reasons,” he said. “So I felt that this was a good time for me to get reestablished here.”

Truscott, who is single, said he is happy for the chance to live close enough to regularly visit his aging mother in Chicora.

He also is looking forward to the challenges that will come with parish ministry at Faith Lutheran Church.

“Before I began teaching in seminaries, I served for about six years at churches in Maryland and Pennsylvania,” he said. “So while this will be very different from what I’ve been doing for a number of years, it’s not entirely new to me.”

Truscott said he already has begun using some of those experiences as he builds relationships with the congregation and the community.

“I want to help make this church’s ministries more visible,” he said. “One of the ways to do that is to simply get out and walk the neighborhood, knock on doors to introduce myself to people and let them know that I am here for them, that they are welcome in our church.”