Covenant Fellowship Reformed Presbyterian (formerly Calvary Presbyterian Church)

At the present day site of Covenant Fellowship Reformed Presbyterian Church, at the corner of Hill and Swissvale Avenue, the Calvary Presbyterian Church was founded in 1903. In 1904 Calvary built a yellow brick church, but when Swissvale Avenue was widened in 1927 the church building had no set-back from the street. The congregation continued to worship in the old church while the new one was being built. The current red brick building was then erected in 1928 and the 1903 structure was deconstructed. The bricks, doors and stained glass windows were sold to the nearby St. Mark AME congregation so that they could finish building their church. The St. Mark AME church had built a usable foundation to worship in until the right opportunity arose to re-purpose the Calvary components into a church of their own design.

Covenant Fellowship has their roots at the Reformed Presbyterian Church where a church building was erected in 1845 at the corner of South Ave. and Center Street. The Reformed Presbyterian's historical roots are from the16th Century Covenanters in Scotland who were persecuted and killed by the thousands because they opposed the King being head of the church. Their fervent belief was that Christ is King over the Church, not a governmental official. The Reformed Presbyterian denomination was strongly abolitionist. Slaveholders were excommunicated and early members of the church at South and Center were active in the underground railroad.

In 1972 a group of the Reformed Presbyterian congregation planted another RP Church in Point Breeze. It was called Covenant Fellowship RP Church and met at the RP Theological Seminary on Penn Avenue. When the Wilkinsburg RP Church closed in 1979 or 1980 the Presbytery transferred the building to the Covenant Fellowship RP congregation which by then, had outgrown the chapel of the Theological Seminary. In the summer of 1983 Covenant Fellowship RP outgrew the South Ave/Center St. building and begin to rent from the Presbyterian Church at 1300 Swissvale Avenue. Within a few years they bought the building. Covenant Fellowship has worshipped and held extensive Bible study classes at this location for over 35 years.

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