FOREST CITY, PA — The Right Rev. Kevin Nichols, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, will visit Christ Church on Sunday, June 15. The service will begin at 9 a.m.

Christ Church is located at 700 Delaware St. 

Each year, the bishop visits the church congregations in the diocese to meet the congregants, review programs and understand the concerns of the congregation. The bishop will welcome two new congregants into the Episcopal church while at Forest City.   

Rev. Nichols was ordained and consecrated as the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem on September 15, 2018.  Prior to his election, he was chief operating officer and canon for mission resources in the Diocese of New Hampshire. 

A former Roman Catholic priest who received his master’s degree in divinity from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Nichols was received into the Episcopal priesthood  in 1999 and has served as rector of St. Stephen’s in Pittsfield, NH, and St. Andrew’s in Hopkinton, NH. He is married to Patti, a licensed clinical social worker. They have four adult children: Graham, Lindsay, Bryan and Keaton, and three grandchildren. 

Nichols succeeds the Rt. Rev. Sean W. Rowe, who had served as bishop provisional from March 2014 to September 15, 2018.  The Diocese of Bethlehem includes more than 9,000 Episcopalians in 58 congregations across northeastern and central eastern Pennsylvania. 

The bishop and the diocese prioritize vibrant and stable congregations, racial justice and advocacy for the most vulnerable, lay and clergy formation, creating new faith communities, and diocesan partnerships. 

Christ Church, the “Little Stone Church,” is made of native quarried stone. It broke ground in August 1891 and has never looked back, a church member wrote.  Christ Church welcomes the community to discover the church and its community outreach. Following each Sunday Mass, the congregants share coffee hour.