In an era when many churches across all religions fight tooth and nail to keep its doors open, Bethany Wesleyan Church, based in Cherryville, is bucking the trend.

Lehighton Area School District’s board of directors approved a long-term lease last week that will allow the church to use Lehighton Area Middle School as a satellite location beginning on Easter Sunday in 2018.

Lead Pastor Kevin Fetterhoff said the church’s wide region of service, up to 35 or 40 miles away, led it to be begin looking for additional ways to serve its congregation.

“Our church has really grown and we have about 300 residents who are attending or associated with us from on the other side of the Blue Mountain,” Fetterhoff said. “That includes Palmerton, Lehighton, Jim Thorpe and other areas. We have 150 people traveling from the Lehighton area alone.”

Lehighton’s middle school, located along Beaver Run Road, will be Bethany’s first satellite location.

With the school mostly sitting idle on a Sunday morning, it was a perfect fit.

“We liked the centrality of it and it’s a well-known building that checked all of the boxes we needed for our accommodations,” Fetterhoff said.

District officials called the relationship a “win-win” for both parties and noted that the lease would net over $30,000 in income a year for Lehighton.

“This is a great opportunity for our facility to be utilized by an outside organization,” Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. “It’s one of the things we are really trying to promote with our upcoming elementary center is that we want the community to use these buildings. We’ve been fortunate at our stadium to host several district and state playoff soccer games and football games. That generates revenue for our students and our booster clubs who run the concession stands at those events.”

During a Nov. 26 service, church officials played a video and then dropped balloons from the ceiling with “BWC Lehighton” on them revealing the additional location.

The reveal video was posted on social media and drew instant excitement from local residents.

“I feel committed to staying at the Cherryville campus, but one of the Sundays I might try the Lehighton campus since it’s a bit closer,” posted Palmerton’s Jeff Miller.

“How exciting, right by my house,” added Selena Carreras Hanson.

Multiple studies reported around 4,000 churches close each year in the United States. Fetterhoff feels fortunate that Bethany Wesleyan Church is gaining support.

“We try to be very aware of people’s needs and present hope,” Fetterhoff said. “Our mission is to present Jesus Christ to people in a relevant way and we’ll continue to do that. Our church has really experienced a growth both locally and nationally.”

The church plans to start with one service each Sunday morning, starting on Easter.

“We’re super excited and welcome everyone to attend,” Fetterhoff said. “We plan to continue this relationship for a long time.”