{"id":4902,"date":"2025-10-16T23:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/4902\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T23:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T23:57:10","slug":"st-lukes-buys-former-bethlehem-church-for-community-health-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/4902\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s buys former Bethlehem church for community health services"},"content":{"rendered":"

St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network <\/a>has purchased a former South Bethlehem<\/a> church with a plan to use the space for expanded community health services.<\/p>\n

Health network representatives made the announcement Monday morning about the purchase of the St. John\u2019s Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church, 617 E. Fourth St. <\/p>\n

The network bought the property from Lehigh University, <\/a>which purchased that church and two others in 2023 as part of a multi-property deal. The deal also allowed three congregations to consolidate into a new church, Blessed Trinity Lutheran Church at Rosemont, with a new home on Broad Street in Bethlehem.<\/a><\/p>\n

Before the most recent sale, Lehigh University used the building as a temporary polling place for elections and site for the Boys & Girls Club of Bethlehem\u2019s summer camp. Those temporary uses came after discussions with city officials and the Bethlehem Area School District, <\/a>network representatives said.<\/p>\n

Rajika E. Reed, St. Luke\u2019s vice president of community health, said in a statement the health network plans to build upon its partnership with the Hispanic Center and Star Community Health centers, and to promote community health initiatives.<\/p>\n

Christine E. Cook, Lehigh University\u2019s vice president for administration and finance, praised the change of hands with the health network.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sale to St. Luke\u2019s ensures that this location will continue to serve the South Bethlehem community in a meaningful way, allowing us to fulfill our initial vision for these properties,\u201d Cook said.<\/p>\n

Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds said the property remaining a community space has always been important to the city and its residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough collaboration and conversation among community partners, we are happy that Lehigh and St. Luke\u2019s were able to ensure the preservation of this building that is an important part of South Bethlehem\u2019s history while also addressing a community need by committing to its future use as a health services center,\u201d the mayor said.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network has purchased a former South Bethlehem church with a plan to use the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-4902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}