About Us

About Us

At Park Avenue United Methodist Church, we strive to live the love and compassion of God.

Our Mission...

To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

We do that through:

Our Vision...

Serving, Sharing life, and Worshipping with our neighbors.

Our Values...

In our desire to live the love and compassion of God,

we will do the work of Christ with the qualities we most value:


Hospitality - Inclusivity - Community - Service

Our Staff


Church

Pastor Layne Miller Vizthum

Pastor Layne Miller Vizthum has served Park Avenue UMC since 2018. Raised in Warren, PA, she is the youngest of four children and a graduate of Eastern Nazarene College (1979 BA in Christian Education). In her adult years, she has been a full-time homemaker, childcare teacher, lien searcher, and customer service representative for both Danskin and Pfaltzgraff. In 1999, Layne joined the staff of Otterbein UMC, Mount Wolf as Church Growth and Ministry Coordinator, where she served seven years. From there, the Lord called her to seminary and she received her Masters of Arts in Ministry Management from Multnomah University, Portland, Oregon. After four years in the Pacific Northwest, Layne accepted the role of Director of Connectional Ministry at Aldersgate UMC York, where she served eight years.


Following the loss of her husband, Gary, to pancreatic cancer in 2017, the Spirit of God called Layne to a new path. She began the journey toward full-time pastoring in 2018 and was assigned to Park Avenue UMC, Chambersburg. In 2019, Park Avenue was partnered with St. John’s UMC (Warm Spring Rd, Cburg) to form the Chambersburg Circuit.

The two churches share a pastor, but gather and worship in their own facilities. Also in 2019, the Lord brought a wonderful man into Layne’s life, and on April 24, 2020, they were united in marriage. Rev. Bob Vizthum is an elder in the United Methodist Church and serves as pastor of Messiah UMC, Shippensburg. 

 

Pastors Bob and Layne are blessed with five adult married children and eight delightful grands. Layne likes stamps, houseplants, construction sites, thunderstorms, crafts, and quilts. Bob likes clocks, weather, research, sports, travel, and Motown. They both enjoy table games, crossword puzzles, watching birds at our feeders, neighborhood walks and lake hikes ~ anything they can do together! The Vizthums live in the Park Avenue parsonage in Kensington Heights with their two dogs, Chloe and Molly.

Office Manager:

Meghan Davis

Organist:

Darlene Clippinger

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