Multiple churches in Irwin, Pennsylvania, including Norwin Church of the Nazarene, have teamed up for a local nonprofit ministry called The Carpenter’s Apprentice to provide free housing repairs for the surrounding community.

Mark Smith, lead pastor of Norwin Church of the Nazarene, says many of his congregants — even a few irregular attendees — have expressed a desire to be a part of this ministry.

“We can see the need,” Smith said. “We can go touch it. Now we can get out there be able to be a community that truly shows love and compassion.”

Smith is the president of the Norwin Ministerium, a group of local ministers in the central Pennsylvania area. While most of the churches are located in a well-to-do area, just outside of these communities is a less “well off” area. Houses worth nearly half a million dollars are down the street from houses that may cost $18,000. 

“It’s been really good to really show people that there are others around us that are in great need,” Smith said. “And we can go help them.”
Smith and a few others from the Ministerium serve as board members of The Carpenter’s Apprentice. He works together with church members on some of the projects. While working on a project, they share the love of God with those who they are helping.

Community members in need of home repairs fill out an application. All projects are fully funded by donations from the community. Smith says a lot of the home construction projects include adding new decks and patios, as well as repairing stairs.

Recently, Smith and others from his church worked on a project for a man named Mr. Brown, whose deck and stairs were unsafe and in desperate need of repair. After the completion of the project, Mr. Brown stood in his driveway and cried.

“He didn’t have the money to do the project himself and had nobody who could have helped him,” Smith said. “He was just so thankful that God would send somebody to him, and it was an amazing conversation to have with him and to be able to pray with him.”

In addition to the impact that churches like Norwin Church of the Nazarene are having on the community through these projects, Smith sees the unity it’s brought among the churches and congregants involved.

“Now I feel — and the other pastors feel — like there’s something we can grasp on to…we’re actually going out and being the church together and taking the denominational lines down [to] be the church,” Smith said. “And it’s not only the pastors but also into the people in the churches. The unity that has happened — standing arm-in-arm with Presbyterians, Methodists, Assemblies of God, and Catholics — it’s been really cool to see.”