Collegiality. Togetherness. Friendship.
These are just a few of the words describing the purpose of the Presbytery of Carlisle’s upcoming “Many Voices, One Song” gathering that will occur at the end of August at Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle. Designed to unite the presbytery’s churches in a “family reunion” setting, the hope is that each of the mid council’s 41 congregations will be represented for a time of praise and, of course, food.
“At first glance, it’s an event,” described Jeff Gibelius, the pastor at Second Church. “Aug. 30, 4 p.m., worship service followed by a fellowship meal.
“This is a family reunion where you get to meet Presbyterians you didn’t even know were part of the family because what’s happened over the recent years in our presbytery – and I’m guessing a lot of others – is there’s maybe a third of the presbytery comes to most everything, a third shows up once in a while, and a third we never see.
“We set out here to say, ‘What if we designed something with that third we never see in mind? What would it take to get them to feel welcomed, wanted and needed?’”
Rose Jewell-Jordan, who along with Jeff is a member of the presbytery’s Coordinating Council, agreed that there is a disconnect between churches in the presbytery and that this gathering is a way of bringing everyone closer together.
“People don’t know who the presbytery is,” she said. “They think it’s some mysterious group of people. We try to tell them that the presbytery is you. It is you the church, you the members in the church. Yes, we talk to your pastors and your elders, but we don’t reach you, the people, in the pews. That’s what we want to do. We want to bring all the people together.
“I feel the purpose is to help people feel the joy of Jesus. By making this not such a solemn event, but a joyous event, it will bring people together and give us an opportunity to talk to one another, fellowship together and perhaps that will give people an idea of what the world could be like if we all talked to one another.
“It will give us an opportunity to try new things. Some of us are so stuck in our ways. ‘We’ve always done it this way.’ This will give people an opportunity to see that there is another way to worship, there’s other foods to eat, people are doing different things at their churches; not every church is the same.”
Discussions about a presbytery-wide gathering began in the summer of 2025 during Carlisle’s Coordinating Council meeting.
“A bunch of us were just being creative and said, ‘You know what would be fun is a worship service involving the entire presbytery,’” Jeff recalled. “Not a presbytery worship service, which is typically elders and pastors, but what we call people in the pews. What if we had an 80-voice choir? A lot of our congregations are eight voices, 10 voices. But if you get 39 congregations and two NWCs (New Worshiping Communities) together, you can have a massive choir.”
As planning began for the event, it was quickly realized that some of the contact information the presbytery had for pastors and choir directors in the region was out of date. It created some extra work for the planning team to acquire new emails and phone numbers but in the long run will help with communication going forward.
“Early on we made a commitment to say, ‘OK, this is not going to be one of these deals where we’re going to raise up the flag and see who salutes,’” Jeff said. “This is, we’re going to have to call people and reach out to people one congregation at a time and convince people that they are wanted, that they are valued, that we hope they will come.
“What began as planning an event became realizing that there were weaknesses and gaps in our connectionalism. We didn’t know each other. Pastors didn’t know each other, lay leaders certainly didn’t know each other. This is an event where the theme is unabashed celebration of how good God is in bringing us together.
“The only agenda is connectivity. And we’re doing it in some classic ways. One of the things that Presbyterians do well and feel good about is worship and food.”
The plan is for the worship service to last around 90 minutes. CeCe Armstrong, the co-moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and associate pastor at St. James Presbyterian Church in Charleston, SC, will be the guest preacher. She is bringing the 30-member choir from her church with her for the event as well. (To watch an invitation to the “Many Voices” event from CeCe, click here.)
Rose, a ruling elder at Faith Immanuel Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, heard CeCe speak at General Assembly in 2024 and knew that she would be a great fit for the event in Carlisle. Rose reached out to CeCe about attending the event, and CeCe agreed.
“I thought CeCe Armstrong would be the perfect person because she could bring all of these diverse people of Pennsylvania together with unity and joy and make them feel the Spirit,” Rose recalled. “She was so enthusiastic about our event and said, ‘Yes, I’ll come.’”
Aside from CeCe preaching, a Unity Choir that will consist of singers from congregations throughout the presbytery will also perform during worship, with accompaniment coming from the Derry Presbyterian Church Brass Ensemble. There will be a youth choir performing, too, and worship will close with everyone singing the “Hallelujah Chorus.”
“We were talking about bringing people together and we wanted to have music,” Rose said. “I suggested that we do the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ as a group, that it would be a singalong. It’s such an exuberant piece of music, and it fills people with joy.”
“The blessing of this is,” Jeff added, “so many of our congregations have eight or 10 people in the choir, and this is a chance to sing with many voices, to feel that power. How many congregations on their own can pull off the ‘Hallelujah Chorus?’ Probably none, but we’re going to do that together.”
There is no advanced registration for anyone wanting to sing in the Unity Choir. However, by signing up in advance, singers can receive the music ahead of time and rehearse on their own. An optional practice has been scheduled for Aug. 22 for those who would like to gather ahead of time and go over the music. (More information is available on the Presbytery of Carlisle website by clicking here.)
“We’ve designed this whole event to be low barrier to entry,” Jeff said. “We want people to just plain come. Even the food part – we’re doing this loaves-and-fishes style in that we’re planning to feed everybody who comes. If that means we have leftover food, so be it. Jesus had leftovers, too.”
A grant from the Synod of Trinity will help offset the cost of food for the evening meal. Donations from a nearby grocery store and local snack companies will fill the boxed meals that will be provided.
While Second Church in Carlisle is centrally located and has the technology available to house such a large gathering, hosting “Many Voices, One Song” is also part of the church’s outreach ministry.
“This kind of hospitality, bringing people together, is part of Second Church’s particular calling,” Jeff said. “It’s something we can do and we like to do.”
The sanctuary and adjoining rooms at Second Church will house as many as 450 attendees for worship, with an outside tent set up for the overflow crowd to watch the livestream. Jeff is hoping all that space is needed in late August.
“It all depends on can we capture people’s imagination to see the potential in Presbyterians coming together?” Jeff said. “It’s a Sunday afternoon where many people will have already been to worship that morning. That’s why this needs to be different, powerful, exciting and unforgettable. It’s just so unique.”
“As we get closer to it,” Rose said, “the enthusiasm is there. Jeff is such a great cheerleader for this. Whenever we have a presbytery meeting or a Coordinating Council meeting, he is exciting people about this. I believe that we are going to get a lot of people. I think that with our urging people are going to come out.
“I think most of the churches will be represented by one or two people. I think they’re going to be surprised and overjoyed with the feeling that they get of knowing other Presbyterians who may not think exactly like they do, may not worship exactly like they do, but they’ll get the general sense, and they’ll feel that we’re not in this alone. We are all here to worship the Lord and there are just different ways of doing it. I want people to feel free when they come.”
The goal is that this “Many Voices, One Song” gathering will be a steppingstone to other similar events throughout the presbytery.
“At the event we’re going to invite every congregation, every participant to then in turn plan before the end of the year to join with at least one other congregation in a partnership event,” Jeff explained. “Another worship event, a fellowship event, a mission event – it does not matter. But the idea is, while we’re together feeling that unity, to say, ‘Let’s do this together.’
“The event is the excuse to have all these wonderful connecting conversations and to lead to deeper community within the presbytery.”
As for future presbytery-wide events, Jeff envisions that this reunion will also lead to other opportunities for congregations in the region to come together.
“I hope it leads to other gatherings that bring local Presbyterians together, whether it’s for worship or for a combined mission project of some kind or for fellowship and study,” he said. “We’ll see what God does.”
Rose and Jeff are counting down the days until the “Many Voices, One Song” event is here. They can’t wait to see the turnout and to watch people mingling about, having conversations and getting to know one another in a new way.
“I think we’ll have a good time with whatever number of people come out,” Rose said. “No matter how many people come out, they are going to have a good time. They’re going to leave that event feeling uplifted and take that enthusiasm back to their churches and pass it on.”
“After we’ve had the Lord’s Supper together,” Jeff added, “I suspect that there’s going to be another holy meal over sandwiches outside where people are just getting to know each other, introducing themselves, talking about what God is doing in their congregations. That’s where I’m expecting God to show up.
“I am excited about the prospect of Presbyterians of all ages – kids, adults – all different political persuasions, rural, urban, coming together in one place praising God with full hearts, loud voices and expectation of the Holy Spirit showing up. That’s what it’s all about.”