Following World War II, as Springfield Township (Montgomery County) experienced a booming influx of new residents, the Philadelphia Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A. made the decision to plant a new Presbyterian Church in Oreland, under the sponsorship of Carmel Presbyterian Church in Glenside. The first service of worship of the new Oreland Presbyterian Church was held on Palm Sunday, April 2, 1950. On June 26, 1951, Rev. James C. Caraher was installed as the first Pastor. The newly erected building at Church and Paper Mill Rds. was dedicated on June 24, 1951.
As the church and the community grew, new additions to the church building were made from time to time. Then in 1969 a new sanctuary building was erected and dedicated. The church’s nursery school was founded in 1965 and continues its strong ministry today. In 1971 the Senior Fellowship ministry was begun, and the annual Living Nativity program in the courtyard was first held in 1981.
Following Pastor Caraher’s departure in 1962, Rev. Charles K. Murray accepted a call to be Oreland’s second Pastor and was installed on January 13, 1963. After thirty years of dedicated ministry Pastor Murray retired in October of 1992, and was succeeded by Rev. Jim A. Farrell, who was installed on August 15, 1994.
Beginning in 1998 questions began to be raised regarding the doctrinal directions in which the Philadelphia Presbytery and the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. were going. After ten years of study, research, consideration, and prayer, the decision was made in 2008 to leave the mainline Presbyterian Church. On March 29, 2009, Oreland Presbyterian was received into the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, and became OEPC.
In the summer of 2017, Pastor Farrell submitted his resignation in order to accept a call to transitional ministry in the Presbytery of the East. Oreland was blessed by the interim ministry of Rev. Bob Cummings from 2019 through 2021, after which, on July 25, 2021, our new Pastor, Rev. Daniel Phelps, was installed. We praise the Lord that over the 75 years of the church’s history it has been served by only four Pastors. Now, as our 75th anniversary approaches in 2025, we rejoice in the goodness and provision of our God, Who has blessed us immeasurably, in good times and in bad, as we have sought to follow Jesus Christ through all the experiences of many lives. To Him be the glory!