For the first 150 years of its history, Tree of Life Church was known as Princeton Presbyterian Church. The church was originally located in Philadelphia near 39th and Powellton and moved to its current location on Baltimore Pike in Springfield in the early 1950’s. The current building was dedicated in 1953.
In 2008, the congregation began a shared ministry with Chambers Memorial Presbyterian Church in Rutledge. As a result of a conversation with a neighbor who has an adult daughter with autism, Our Community Cup Coffeehouse was launched at Chambers in partnership with the New Avenue Foundation in 2015 as a safe community for those with differing abilities and their family members and caregivers to relax, eat, and enjoy great music. The shared ministry ended in 2016, but as a result of conversations between the two congregations, the current vision and mission of Tree of Life Church came into being .Our Community Cup Coffeehouse moved to Tree of Life Church (then Princeton) at the beginning of 2017.
In 2017, the congregation began to live into its new identity as a congregation that is intentionally in ministry with people with differing abilities and those who care for them. Because of the new direction, renewed energy and new members, it seemed like it was time to take on a new name: Tree of Life Church, a name that reflects God’s life-giving power, rooted in God’s love, with a variety of fruit representing the diversity of the family of God.
Bit by bit, we are being transformed into a congregation that is inclusive in many ways, recognizing that each person is made in God’s image and has a gift worth sharing. In addition to Our Community Cup, we have made changes to our worship service to make it more accessible to all, and host a support group for parents of children with ASD/ADHD. We are curious and excited to see what God will do here next!
