Church rising at former roller rink in Lower Macungie

If congregants at the future Lifechurch in Lower Macungie start slipping, it might have nothing to do with sin. The church is being constructed at a former roller-skating rink, and they are keeping the old rink floor.

Renovation of the former Rollermotion on Trexlertown Road is about 80 percent complete, according to Mark Bahnick, branch manager of Van Cleef Engineering Associates in Bethlehem. Bahnick came before the Lower Macungie Planning Commission on Tuesday to get approvals for plans for the church parking lot.

The church, which will be called Lifechurch Macungie, is a branch of the Lifechurch that started in Allentown in 1990 as Church on the Move and now also has a congregation in Pocono Pines, Monroe County.

The Lower Macungie congregation has been meeting at the Macungie Church of the Nazarene on Brookside Road in the township on Saturday nights for about 15 years, Bahnick said.

Lifechurch, on 4.7 acres, will be about 20,000 square feet and will seat 400 people. The congregation bought an adjacent lot, which will help it expand parking to accommodate 186 cars.

Bahnick told the township planners that the church would agree to the planners' request that it put in a walking path on the grounds.

The church plans to open in the fall, Bahnick said.

It will make do with the current water and sewage systems but hopes to connect to public water and sewers when the Trexler Senior Living Center is built across the street at 1500 Trexlertown Road, according to Sara Paindl, Lower Macungie director of planning and community development. The senior living project is seeking permits, she said.

Concordia Evangelical Lutheran Church on Brookside Road is also proposing a renovation project, but the work is still in the planning stages.

Concordia seeks to construct four classrooms for its pre-school connected to the church. Representing Concordia at the planners' meeting, Warren Riggins with Rigel Engineers & Consultants in Fogelsville said the church plans to tear down 700 square feet of office space and build an 11,000-square-foot addition with the new classrooms and a larger office space.

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Church rising at former roller rink in Lower Macungie