Edna Rigg Brown writes in “ ‘I Remember’ South Ave. Methodist Church,”
During the 1920s, Fundamentalism became quite active all over the country. In our church it was keynoted by one man who was not such a Fundamentalist as he was a devotee of power. His attempt to rule our church could not be tolerated, so those he could sway formed the Callander Memorial Church. It was a sad day in our long life of peaceful existence, for many who left were long time friends, well loved members and earnest Christian men and women who felt they were championing a cause rather than backing a leader. The greatest eruption came in the Sunday School class which he taught, followed closely by the class where his wife was an officer.
The Callender Memorial Church records its beginning to be the Callender Bible School formed in the fall of 1928. The name changed to Callender Memorial Church when the church was incorporated. The congregation met at the Malta Temple until the new church building could be occuplied in June of 1937.
The article “Callender Congregation Will Dedicate Church Building On Ross Avenue,” tells,
The Church has no high-marks of stately, dignified, architecture but it is a place home-like, and neatly furnished, where believers may reverently worship God in Spirit and in Truth, without the fear of a heavy mortgage. A Hammond organ has been installed and, except for the pews, which have been delayed, the auditorium is completed.
Historic Wilkinsburg describes the church as “modest but sturdy.”
In 1976, the congregation changed the church name to the Maranatha Bible Baptist Church.
Before purchasing the next door former Callender Memorial Church building in 2015, the Bible Chapel met at the Pittsburgh Urban Christian School beginning in 2013. Wilkinsburg’s elementary band with musicians from Turner and Kelly Elementary Schools performed at the Bible Chapel for a community Give Thanks Lunch in November 2013.
Wilkinsburg Centennial Publication Committee, Historic Wilkinsburg 1887–1987, One Hundred Years of Pride, 1988, p. 91.
Wilkinsburg Public Library Digital Archives:
Edna Rigg Brown, “ ‘I Remember’ South Ave. Methodist Church,” June 19, 1961, at the Wilkinsburg Historical Society.
“Callender Congregation Will Dedicate Church Building On Ross Avenue,” June 25, 1937.