A new pastor has been installed at the recently formed St. John’s - Jerusalem Lutheran Parish in Palmerton.

On Feb. 27, the Rev. Kenneth Todd Melber Jr. became the pastor of the parish at Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church in Palmerton.

The service was presided over by Bishop Christopher deForest, Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod, said Resa Hall, a 22-year member of Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Melber is the new pastor of the parish, which Hall said consists of St. John’s Lutheran Church, 2915 Fireline Road, and Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church, 500 Church Drive.

Hall said this “newly formed” parish is actually the re-establishment of a partnership between the two congregations, said Resa Hall, a 22-year member of Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church.

A past council member, past Sunday school superintendent, and Sunday school teacher, Hall most recently served on the Call Committee that was responsible for finding a new pastor.

Hall said that the Rev. Carl D. Shankweiler “was our guide through the process of calling a new pastor and forming our new parish.”

She said that according to Shankweiler, from 1934 to 1974, the Rev. Martin Luther Wahrmann presided over a parish formed by these two congregations.

In 1974, the congregations decided to call their own pastors, Pastor Bob vonFrisch, who was called as a pastor to St. John’s in 1974, while Jerusalem called the Rev. John Light to be their pastor.

“Now, 46 years later, the congregations have again become a parish,” Hall said.