For Visitors

Welcome to First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg!

We believe God is calling us to work for a church and a world where all are included and God’s grace is made known.

On Sunday mornings, our worship service averages about 40 people in person and on Zoom. We are working professionals and retired travelers, and seek to be a home away from home for college students.

On Sundays some of us wear suits, some jeans, and sometimes the pastor wears a robe. With each service we try to remember that God’s word speaks to all of us and yet speaks to each of us differently. Therefore, when it comes to music, prayer, and leadership, we depend upon more than one type.

As a Presbyterian Church (USA) church in the Presbytery of Northumberland, we believe that in Jesus, God shows us how to welcome diversity and to work for unity, and that we have something valuable to learn from other traditions and faiths. We seek to be an active witness for social justice, a friend to our neighbors, and a sign of peace to all. 

We are a member of More Light Presbyterians, a non-profit organization dedicated to allowing the full participation of LGBTQIA+ people in life, ministry, and witness of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and in society. 

Our current pastor is Rev. Tormod Svensson. Pastor Tormod is ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and serves First Presbyterian Church of Bloomsburg in a shared ministry covenant with The Table, an ELCA congregation. ELCA pastors can serve PC(USA) congregations under the ecumenical Formula of Agreement (1997), which states:

"In 1997 four churches of Reformation heritage will act on an ecumenical proposal of historic importance. The timing reflects a doctrinal consensus which has been developing over the past thirty-two years coupled with an increasing urgency for the church to proclaim a gospel of unity in contemporary society. In light of identified doctrinal consensus, desiring to bear visible witness to the unity of the Church, and hearing the call to engage together in God's mission, it is recommended:

That the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Reformed Church in America, and the United Church of Christ declare on the basis of A Common Calling and their adoption of this A Formula of Agreement that they are in full communion with one another. Thus, each church is entering into or affirming full communion with three other churches."

Source: pcusa.org