Pipe Organ Transplant for Lancaster

Want to join me in making a difference?  So far $232,500 has been raised, and we need to raise the final $7,500 to complete the Pipe Organ Transplant Fund for The First Reformed Church UCC of Lancaster PA, and any donation will help make an impact. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

Every week since Sunday, July 20, 1958, worshippers at First Reformed Church of Lancaster have been led by organists at the console of the Allen organ in our balcony. That vintage organ cost us $34,655 in 1958. Adjusted for inflation, that same organ today would cost $337,231. Its sounds are a source of comfort, encouragement and inspiration to us each week.

More recently, our organ has been the main attraction for our First Friday concerts, a gift to the whole community, which has become a vibrant source of outreach and inspiration.

Unfortunately, our mighty vintage analog Allen organ is failing. Some notes are missing entirely, others have grown faint or the sound distorted. Some would marvel that we have a 64 year-old analog instrument (that means before transistors, before 8-track, cassettes, CD's or streaming music) that is being held together with bubble gum and bobby pins.

Church leaders have commissioned Organist Larry Hershey to form a committee to help determine the future of the organ at First Reformed. The committee has purchased a vintage Sebastian Gundling pipe organ, and secured a contract to have the organ restored and enhanced and transplanted in place of our failing Allen organ.

Returning a pipe organ to the sanctuary of First Reformed Church will be consistent wi the history of our 1854 building and congregation. Funding is needed to restore and enhance the Sebastian Gundling organ, build a new organ chamber behind the historic David Tannenberg facade, and install the restored and enhanced Sebastian Gundling organ, providing worshippers and our community with a true pipe organ for the next 100 years.

The sounds of the newly restored and enhanced organ will be 100% generated by historical, air-driven pipes, and played on a state-of-the-art digital console. The combination of these two streams means historically accurate, live pipe organ sounds played with the convenience of the latest console technology.

The cost to rebuild, restore, enhance, and transplant the Sebastian Gundling organ is $240,000.  We only need $7,500 to complete the project. 

What part would you like to have in providing First Reformed Church and the greater Lancaster community with a historically significant pipe organ to lead worship and outreach for the next 100 years?

Join us as we work together to restore historical and musical integrity at First Reformed Church of Lancaster.