ANDERSON, Ind. — Pastor V.J. Stover likes to use the word “adventure.”

Planning community events is an adventure. Finding ways to reach new congregants is an adventure. Exploring faith together is an adventure.

“After a while, certain things get in your congregational DNA and I think that spirit of adventure, of starting out and trying to figure out things all over again if you have to is within this congregation's DNA,” he said.

Adventures — big and small — are woven into the fabric of East Lynn Christian Church, and it's reaching its biggest milestone yet — 125 years.

But for the Disciples of Christ church, the major anniversary is more than a day of celebration. It's an opportunity to celebrate the church's rich history, which includes three building moves over the years.

To commemorate, a portion of the congregation took a tour Nov. 6 to learn about and visit East Lynn's previous sites, including its birthplace at the corner of 28th and East Lynn streets.

Dan Bair, president of the congregation, said East Lynn's willingness and outreach efforts have sustained the church for more than a century.

“That's one of the things, as a Christian, you're called to do, is get involved and serve,” he said. “And I see a lot of that here.”

Its community outreach includes a food pantry that serves an average of 500 families a month, preparing and serving meals at the Christian Center every few months, playing music at Harter House and Vermillion Place, planning family events and working with Friends of Phoenix, a sanctuary for rejected and abused animals.

Stover said the varied projects offers opportunities for more inclusion among the congregation.

“The more things you have means the more things people can get tied to and discipline their faith with,” he said. “Not everybody will get tied to Phoenix in the way (church secretary) Cindy (Hart) is, or the food pantry the way Patty (Ingham) is, or the youth group the way (leader) Laura (Gordon) is.

“So the more things we provide, there's just more spots for people to come and be anchored in to explore their faith.”

George Harris joined the church as a child when his father served as pastor from 1949 to 1964. He remembers his father asking how much the congregation gave to other people. Harris learned it was one of the biggest givers of Disciple churches in the U.S.

“I think that's an important thing and I think we're no less than what we were in 1949,” he said.

Harris said the church is just part of him — his need for East Lynn is like breathing and exhaling.

He and other members — like head of the pantry Patty Ingham, whose mother used to run the operation — grew up in East Lynn, but many have been members for less than a decade.

Bair served as a pastor at Maple Grove Community Church when leaders decided the congregation was too small to serve anyone or anything beyond itself. With a desire to stay together, a core group searched for a new place of worship to join.

Stover said East Lynn will accept any church or any person looking to connect and learn from each other.

“Everyone here has their own personal faith and has agreed to be together. Not necessarily to agree with that personal faith, but to come down to the core that Jesus Christ is our lord and savior, the son of the living god.” he said. “And that's true for everybody.

“This is a place, I think, that can be allowed to let that happen.”