A MESSAGE FROM REV. LINDSEY ALTVATER CLIFTON: EXCITING RECOGNITION
Greetings, friends!
I’m thrilled to be able to share some exciting news with you this week –
Our Building Community: Housing Vision Plan – 
the final concept developed through our community-engaged work alongside our partners at COLLABO – has been recognized by the Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Planning Association with their 2025 Plan Award!
This was one of only four total awards this year recognizing plans or projects in the state, and ours was the only housing plan to be selected. (The other award-winning work focused on walking trails and improvements to public transit.)
We received powerful letters of support for award consideration from the Lehigh Conference of Churches, Lehigh University’s Small Cities Lab, Community Action Development Bethlehem, and two members of Bethlehem City Council: Kiera Wilhelm and Hillary Kwiatek.
On Monday, Oct. 13, an audience of more than 300 planning professionals from all over Pennsylvania gathered in Harrisburg as our Strategic Mission Steering Committee Co-Chairs, Don Robertson (left) and Donna Taggart (center), accepted the award on the church’s behalf, alongside Vanessa Alvarez Diaz from COLLABO.
(I was certainly there in spirit, but I had to be en route to Little Rock that morning to serve on the faculty for a recently ordained clergy cohort with the Board of Pensions’ CREDO program.)
Following the award ceremony and luncheon, multiple planning professionals approached our team to hear more about our process, which speaks to its innovation and potential impact elsewhere.
I continue to be so incredibly proud of our Steering Committee and our congregation! This award from the statewide organization of planning professionals is an honor, and it points to the exceptional quality of the faithful work we have done with and for our community.
That work continues to inspire our partnership with Foundry Commercial in seeking the right partners for redevelopment, and we are grateful for the congregation’s ongoing enthusiasm for bringing our physical resources into greater alignment with our community’s needs and living more fully into our values, mission, and ministry!
Fittingly, this week in worship we’ll be exploring how courage and risk-taking undergird our faithful past and give us momentum toward our hopeful future. Onward together, saints!
In Christ,
Lindsey