Advent Lutheran Church began as a mission church of the Calvary Lutheran Church January 27, 1929 with the name Wilkinsburg Manor Evangelical Lutheran Church. On March 10 of that year the congregation changed the name to Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Advent. The congregation is generally known as the Advent Lutheran Church.
The congregation intended to move to a nearby location on Robinson Blvd. A newspaper story told of the forthcoming service at the church to bless the new site and then a procession, including the bearing of an American flag and a Christian flag, to the ground breaking ceremony at the new location. The ground breaking took place in April of 1951 but before long the congregation learned that the particular ground was filled ground. Filled ground is ground raised with earth and stones as fill, and not solid enough for the proposed building.
Later in 1951, the church acquired a location at 2824 Graham Blvd., toward Frankstown Road. Arthur N. Steinmark is the architect of the new church building. It is described as a modernistic design on the exterior and design from the Gothic tradition on the interior.
On Ash Wednesday, Febraury 27, 1952, the congregation held the last service before moving. The congregation held the first service in the new building on Palm Sunday, April 6, 1952.
Dedication services took place on May 18, 19, and 20, 1952. On May 19, a music festival presented selections on the new pipe organ and from the Advent Choir.
The Woman’s Club of Wilkinsburg bought the church building.
The Pentecostal Temple, founded by Rev. Loran Mann, is in a Wilkinsburg Church listing for 1977 and for 1983 at 1675 Laketon Road. Rev. Loran Mann, an outstanding radio and television journalist, came from a family with deep roots in the Christian faith. His father Rev. William Mann, working as the assistant pastor, joined Rev. Loran Mann at the Pentecostal Temple.
Church membership grew. The congregation built a new church at 6300 East Liberty Blvd. at the corner with Larimer Avenue. In 1992 the church acquired a radio station and began offering 24 hour, 7 day a week Gospel music and programs.
God’s Re-creation Christian Center is present in a 2007 and 2011 Google street view. The congregation moved to McKeesport.
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“Advent Lutheran”, The Gem, 75 Years Of Wilkinsburg History In Review, October 1962, “Our Churches” p. 2.
“Celebrating 40 years of Pentecostal Temple” Pittsburgh Courier,
September 10, 2009.
https://newpittsburghcourier.com/2009/09/10/celebrating-40-years-of-pentecostal-temple/
Rev. William Mann, Obituaries, The Pittsburgh Press, March 30, 1984, p. 20.
Rob Taylor Jr., “Bishop Loran Mann, a trailblazer and Pittsburgh icon, dies at 74,” Pittsburgh Courier, May 6, 2021.
https://newpittsburghcourier.com/2021/05/06/bishop-loran-mann-a-trailblazer-and-pittsburgh-icon-dies-at-74/
Wilkinsburg Public Library Digital Archives:
“Advent Congregation to Break Ground for New Church Sunday Afternoon,” April 12, 1951.
“Advent Lutheran Church Dedication Service Planned for Sunday, Organ Recital, Community Night Part of Dedication,” May 15, 1952.
“Advent Lutheran Plans 30th Year Observance,” December 5, 1957.
“Churches in Wilkinsburg Area,” 1977.
“Churches in Wilkinsburg Area,” 1983.