First Alliance Church has stood on Zimmerly Road in Erie, Pennsylvania for more than 125 years, part of the worldwide Christian & Missionary Alliance (C&MA) and the Western PA District of The Alliance. Just off the I-79 at the Interchange Road/Peach Street exit, the church sits in the heart of a city that has long served as a crossroads for refugees and immigrants, and the congregation has built its identity around three words: begin, belong, and believe. Two identical Sunday services at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. anchor a weekly rhythm that also includes a Wednesday night youth program, a monthnight prayer and worship gathering, age-specific Bible studies, a long-running ESL program, and one of the most far-reaching missionary portfolios of any church in the region.
Begin, Belong, Believe: The Shape of the Church
First Alliance Church states its vision plainly: that FAC would be a place for people to begin, belong, and believe. The mission that flows from it is to build, equip, and mobilize followers of Jesus so that all nations may know him, to God's glory.
Build is the work of helping believers grow into spiritual maturity through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The church pursues age-appropriate biblical literacy through expository preaching and teaching, and pairs that teaching with intentional discipling relationships. The fruit of building, in FAC's language, is Christlikeness: a gospel-shaped view of the world that turns everyday decisions into acts of worship.
Equip is the work of providing tools, training, and resources for ministry. Believers are encouraged to identify their God-given spiritual gifts and put them into practice, moving from being consumers of church to active participants. The fruit of equipping is servanthood.
Mobilize is the sending work of the Great Commission. FAC describes itself as a sending church, where members pursue intentional, sacrificial, and long-term relationships with unbelievers, both locally and globally. The fruit of mobilization is winning souls.
Sunday Mornings at 9:30 and 11:00
Two identical Sunday services meet at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m., giving families a choice of which hour to attend. The 9:30 a.m. service is livestreamed on YouTube so that members who are traveling, sick, or otherwise away can still follow along. Children's ministry (from birth through grade 5) operates during the 11:00 a.m. service, though children of all ages are welcome in either service.
First-time visitors are encouraged to arrive a few minutes early, park, grab a cup of coffee, and find a seat. The address is 2939 Zimmerly Road, Erie, PA 16506, just past the point where Interchange Road becomes Zimmerly Road.
Around the services, three adult discipleship classes meet on Sunday mornings. Journey With God meets at 9:30 a.m. in room B106 (the music room) and explores Scripture, experience, doctrine, and action, with class participation and questions welcomed. Planted, also at 9:30 in room C105, is geared toward adults roughly 25 to 55 and combines Bible study with coffee and conversation. The Senior Adult Bible Class meets at 11:00 a.m. in the Fireside Room (E215) for those 55 and better, with singing of hymns, prayer, and fellowship.
Encounter: Prayer and Worship Nights
On the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m., the FAC Worship Center opens for Encounter: Prayer and Worship Nights. The gathering is unhurried and focused, set aside for the congregation to slow down, listen, and seek God together. FAC describes itself as a praying church that depends on God and listens for his leading, and Encounter nights are the visible expression of that commitment. Music, prayer, and silence fill the room as the church family intercedes for one another, its ministries, and the surrounding community.
facKiDS: Birth Through Fifth Grade
The children's ministry at First Alliance Church is built around the same Begin, Belong, Believe vision that shapes the rest of the church. Amy DiStefano serves as Children's Ministry Director with Abbie Ream as Children's Ministry Assistant, and the team welcomes kids during the 11:00 a.m. service.
Elementary children in kindergarten through fifth grade gather in age-appropriate small groups before coming together for games, worship, and a Bible lesson with the facKids team leaders. Nursery and Pre-K classes, meanwhile, provide a safe place for the youngest children to explore and discover Jesus through age-appropriate activities and care.
Beyond Sunday mornings, FAC Kids Praise and Prayer Nights meet on the first Wednesday of each month from September through May, running alongside the Encounter Prayer and Worship Nights in the main sanctuary. Children begin the evening worshipping with their families before splitting into small groups where hands-on activities help them learn to praise and pray. FAC Kids Playdates take place on the third Thursday of each month during the school year, offering free play, organized activities, a short object lesson, and a craft for kids and parents or caregivers together.
Throughout the year facKids also hosts events such as Popsicles in the Park, Vacation Bible School, movie nights, and Christmas parties, and offers child dedications for families wishing to mark that milestone. A roster of volunteer roles (small group leader, small group helper, greeter/tech, large group leader, and nursery/infant room leader) keeps the ministry running, with all volunteers required to maintain background clearances.
facYOUTH: Grades 6 Through 12
facYOUTH, led by Youth Pastor Mark Angelotti, exists for students in grades 6 through 12 and centers on three core values: Belong, Grow, and Share. The Wednesday night Youth Group, which meets from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the FAC Youth Center, is the heartbeat of the ministry. Doors open at 5:45 p.m. and lock at 6:45 p.m. The evening includes hangout time, snacks, group games, worship, and impactful Bible teaching, followed by small groups split by age and gender for deeper conversation.
On Sunday mornings, students gather for Refresh from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in the Youth Center (F200), a time of worship, prayer, and Scripture memorization that introduces a new verse tailored to the season of life a teen is in. Refresh runs September through May during the school year. In August, the youth ministry moves outside for Wednesday evening bonfires on the East Field, with s'mores, hotdogs, volleyball, 9-Square, and trail walks.
The annual Fall Getaway is a marquee event. Students head to Laurelville Camp outside Pittsburgh for a weekend of games, team challenges, worship, teaching, and friendship-building. The 2026 retreat runs October 9 to 11 and costs $99, including lodging, meals, transportation, activities, and a T-shirt.
Pastor Mark came to FAC after graduating from Mercyhurst University in 2024 and from Toccoa Falls College of the C&MA in 2026, with much of his ministry shaped under the mentoring of Pastor Chen Vue.
facYA: Young Adults, 18 to 29
Meghan Angelotti oversees facYA, the Young Adults ministry for ages 18 through 29, whether in college, graduate school, established in a career, or still figuring things out. The Tuesday night Bible study runs from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in the Fireside Room (E215), following an expository style that aims to make Tuesday nights a relaxing place to come and encounter the Lord through his Word and join in fellowship with one another. New believers, non-believers, and lifelong Christ-followers all gather in the same room.
facSENIORS: An Active 55-Plus Community
First Alliance Church's senior adult ministry, led by Pastor of Care and Seniors Scott Shuffield, serves a large and active population of adults 55 and better. Many of those seniors actively serve in the church's food pantry, children's ministry, shut-in visitation, music programs, and prayer ministries.
The Sunday morning Senior Adult Bible Class at 11:00 a.m. in the Fireside Room draws an average of 75 or more each week. The class sings hymns, studies God's Word together, and prays for one another. The current study is A Harmony of the Gospels, a chronological blend of the four gospel accounts of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
On Monday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (March through June and September through December), the FAC Gym hosts the Seniors 55+ Game and Fellowship Night. The evening opens with prayer and sharing, then moves into board games, shuffleboard, snacks, and birthday celebrations. Janice Anderson leads this gathering.
On the third Friday of each month from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m., Anna's Sisters brings together widows of all ages for a community of encouragement, comfort, and empathy, supporting one another through the difficult season following the death of a husband.
Throughout the year, facSENIORS also hosts a celebratory song service with hymns and gospel songs, pizza-and-a-movie nights, birthday parties, and other gatherings. Non-perishable food donations for the church's food pantry are collected at many of these events.
facCARE: Recovery and Support Ministries
FAC's care ministries include several nationally known, biblically based, non-denominational support programs that have helped more than a million people worldwide. Scott Shuffield oversees this work, and Cindy Shuffield serves as his ministry assistant.
GriefShare meets on Wednesday evenings from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in room B106 during 13-week cycles. The program supports people navigating the grieving process with a workbook ($25), and the next session runs September 9 through December 9.
DivorceCare meets on Thursdays from 6:30 to 8:15 p.m., offering a structured path forward for those experiencing separation or divorce.
Pure Desire offers two tracks: Compassionate Warrior (Monday evenings) and Seven Pillars of Freedom (Wednesday evenings), both from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Anna's Sisters, described above under facSENIORS, serves widows with community, encouragement, and care.
The church also maintains a Food Pantry that receives ongoing donations from FAC members, particularly through the seniors' ministry.
facWORSHIP: Musicians, Vocalists, and Production
The facWORSHIP team includes the musicians, vocalists, and production volunteers who lead the church in worship each week. Worship Pastor Isaiah Ream (who goes by Zay) oversees the team. Ream grew up leading worship at Somerset Alliance Church in Pennsylvania, graduated from Liberty University in 2024 with a Bachelor's Degree in Music and Worship, and interned at Thomas Road Baptist Church during his time in Lynchburg.
FAC holds a high view of what it means to be a worship leader. As the team describes it, every member (bass player, percussionist, vocalist, or tech operator) is a worship leader whose role is to skillfully combine biblical truth with music to magnify the worth of God and bless his name. The team holds itself to five commitments: represent the church, prepare to lead, seek excellence, serve others, and live as a family.
Michael Simons serves as assistant to the Worship Pastor and in other creative and digital aspects of the church. He is a senior at Penn State Behrend studying Digital Media, Arts, and Technology, and supports Sunday morning services, manages digital media, and runs the technology behind worship services and other events.
Anyone interested in joining facWORSHIP can fill out the team's application form online.
HOPE: English as a Second Language
First Alliance Church's HOPE (Helping Others Practice English) ESL program reflects FAC's view of Erie as a resettlement city now home to many immigrants and refugees. The church's mission for the program is transforming communities by introducing people to a transformational relationship with Jesus through ESL ministry. As Erie has welcomed thousands of refugees over the years, HOPE offers English classes as both a practical service and a doorway into friendship and, ultimately, the gospel.
Classes run at multiple times and locations around Erie and are free, with a $10 workbook covering 15 weeks of instruction. Students can show up to any class for a free evaluation. Amy McCullough serves as ESL Administrator and can be contacted for applications or more information.
Small Groups: Belonging, Formation, Care, Mission
FAC is in the early stages of building a Small Groups ministry that extends the Begin, Belong, Believe vision into the community. Groups are designed to be places of Belonging (where people are seen and known by name), Formation (where Scripture opens up Christ-centered conversation), Care (where group members look out for one another in practical ways), and Mission (where groups live out their faith together in their neighborhoods and networks).
Groups gather throughout the week for Bible study, discussion, prayer, fellowship, and discipleship. Pamphlets with information about current groups are available in the lobby, and Pastor Chen Vue can help anyone interested in finding a group or leading one.
facMISSIONS: A Global Portfolio
First Alliance Church's missions program is built on Romans 10:14-15 ("How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!") and is anchored by a long roster of international workers supported through the C&MA and other agencies. Pastor Scott Shuffield connects interested people with missions involvement, and the church maintains three giving funds: the Great Commission Fund (supporting C&MA missionaries), the FAC Missions Fund (for missionaries serving with other agencies), and the Short-Term Missions Fund.
FAC's international workers include:
- Chris and Liz, serving in a creative access country in the 10-40 window, involved in Bible translation (currently working on Psalms) and church planting, with four children.
- David and Brenda Aderholdt, serving in Macedonia with New International, focused on developing leaders and addressing social challenges like orphan care, human trafficking, and economic development.
- Jim and LuAnn Eaton, serving in Spain since 2023 in pastoring roles, mentoring, and training leaders in prayer ministry.
- Bob and Cheryl Fugate, serving in Guadalajara, Mexico with Project Southpointe, church planting with multiple campuses around the city and surrounding states. Cheryl directs Circle of Hope, a ministry to women and children who have been abandoned, abused, or left in extreme poverty.
- Oscar and Charlotte García-Maltes, serving in Montevideo, Uruguay, where Oscar is a professor and academic coordinator for the Alliance seminary, Charlotte teaches as a professor, and they develop student care materials and serve at a local church.
- David and Evangeline Kindervater, Crown College graduates who served 25 years as church planters in Tokyo and recently relocated to Ishinomaki City to lead a church plant operating out of a disaster relief center rebuilt by The Alliance (CAMA) after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
- Rob and Barbara Quiring, serving with Reach Beyond in Nebraska, where Rob works with the Spotlight English program and teaches ESL to refugees locally.
- Steve and Christy Volstad, serving with Inca Link in Latin America. Steve oversees pastoral care for American missionaries, while Christy serves as Director of Member Care for Alliance Missions, caring for more than 700 international workers in over 70 countries.
- Holly Woodworth, serving with Envision Miami, where the local neighborhood is 75 percent Haitian and 25 percent Hispanic. Holly grew up in western New York, moved to Erie for her career as a Physical Therapist, volunteered with facYOUTH for 24 years, and was called to missions in 2022.
In March 2015, the FAC family began partnering with Remember Nhu to prevent child sex slavery. FAC sponsors multiple homes through the program: one in Mae Chaem, Thailand (six boys); two in Nairobi, Kenya (eighteen girls); one in Myanmar (eleven boys and one girl); one in Tanzania (thirteen girls); and one in Laos (seventeen girls). Sponsorship levels include Parent Sponsorship at $60 per month, Cousin Sponsors at $40, and Sibling Sponsors at $20.
Through Meeting God in Missions (MGM), FAC members also participate in short-term trips to the Dominican Republic, where ministry areas include prayer, construction, medical, dental, optical, children's ministry, and gardening.
Each summer, First Alliance Church hosts the NWPA Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Packing Party, where volunteers pack more than 22,000 shoeboxes for global distribution.
What First Alliance Church Believes
As an accredited church of the Christian & Missionary Alliance, First Alliance Church holds to the historic C&MA statement of faith. There is one God, infinitely perfect, existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is true God and true man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He died upon the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice, and all who believe in him are justified on the ground of his shed blood. He arose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Majesty on high as our great High Priest, and will come again to establish his kingdom of righteousness and peace.
The Holy Spirit is a divine Person sent to indwell, guide, teach, and empower believers, and to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement. The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are the complete revelation of his will for the salvation of men.
Humanity was created in the image and likeness of God but fell through disobedience, incurring physical and spiritual death. All people are born with a sinful nature and separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The impenitent and unbelieving will exist forever in conscious torment; believers will exist in everlasting joy and bliss.
Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all, and those who repent and believe are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive eternal life, and become children of God. It is the will of God that each believer be filled with the Holy Spirit and sanctified wholly, being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, receiving power for holy living and effective service.
Provision is made in the redemptive work of Christ for the healing of the mortal body, and prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures as privileges for the Church today. The Church consists of all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through his blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit, with Christ as its Head and the local church as a body joined together for worship, edification, prayer, fellowship, proclamation of the gospel, and observance of Baptism and the Lord's Supper. There will be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust, and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent, personal, visible, and premillennial.
A Debt-Free Building
First Alliance Church owns its building outright. In 2020, the congregation celebrated paying off the mortgage on its current facility, a seminal moment in the life of the church. The leadership team has continued the practice of operating without a debt burden, spending roughly $200,000 per year from cash reserves on capital improvements and building maintenance to keep the facility in good condition.
The building is large enough to host Sunday worship, midweek programs, the gym, the Youth Center, multiple classrooms, and the church office. Office hours run Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., and the office entrance is on the west side of the building.
Leadership
FAC is led by Lead Pastor Ben DiStefano, who preaches most weeks and chairs the Elder Board. Executive Director Michael Lawson oversees operations. Pastor of Care and Seniors Scott Shuffield oversees the care ministries, the seniors' ministry, and the missions portfolio. Pastor of Spiritual Formation and Discipleship Chenzong Vue oversees small groups and the Sunday morning adult discipleship classes. Worship Pastor Isaiah Ream leads facWORSHIP. Youth Pastor Mark Angelotti leads facYOUTH. Children's Ministry Director Amy DiStefano oversees facKiDS. Young Adults' Ministry Director Meghan Angelotti oversees facYA.
Ten lay elders serve alongside the pastors: Doug Watt (Vice Chairman), Wes Palmer (Secretary), Dan Barnett (Treasurer), Herb Gilroy, Cole Myers, Bill Lorei, Paul Wheeler, Clay Bannister, Ken Rohler, and Jeff Lynch.
Giving and Generosity
Rather than passing an offering plate during Sunday services, FAC has installed secure giving boxes throughout all levels of the building, where gifts can be dropped anytime during the morning or week. Midweek gifts can also be dropped with the receptionist at the office entrance during office hours, or mailed to 2939 Zimmerly Road.
Online giving is available through FAC's secure giving platform, with options for one-time or recurring gifts via debit card, credit card, or bank transfer. Designated giving options include the Capital Fund, Great Commission Fund, Parachurch Fund, FAC Missions Fund, Short-Term Missions Fund, Food Pantry Fund, and Benevolence Fund.
For planned giving, FAC partners with Orchard Alliance, a stewardship and generosity ministry of The Alliance since 1959. Planned giving helps donors accomplish their giving goals, increase the impact of their gift, and may reduce taxes. More information is available through FAC's planned giving module with Orchard Alliance.
The church publishes a weekly and year-to-date financial update in the FAC Weekly newsletter every Friday, and the Annual Meeting is held during the final Sunday service in October.
Staying Connected
The FAC Weekly newsletter is published every Friday with the latest information about what is happening at First Alliance Church. It is available through email signup. YouVersion integration allows members and visitors to follow along with the sermon slides and take notes on their phones during Sunday services. Sermon audio is also archived online, and past sermon series include recent studies such as Daniel: Stand Firm, Jesus Encounters, In Power, A View to the Cross, Five Prayers, Heaven and Nature Sing, Titus: Faith for Generations, and Grace Upon Grace.
FAC's social channels include a Facebook page, an Instagram feed, a YouTube channel, and a youth ministry Instagram and Facebook group.