In 1864, a group was sent out from Salem German Reformed Church located on Chestnut Street in Harrisburg, to start the Second Reformed Church in the city of Harrisburg. The common name of the church was eventually shortened to Second Church. As the city expanded and membership grew, Second Church built our current church building in 1905.

Over a century later – in 1997 – a group from Trinity Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg and a group from New Covenant Presbyterian in Mechanicsburg began meeting for prayer and Bible study. These prayer groups grew and grew and eventually became City’s Gate Church. The goal of City’s Gate Church was to extend the love of Jesus to the people of Harrisburg, and its founding documents required the church to meet within city limits. However, City’s Gate did not have a permanent home so it moved from space to space throughout the city of Harrisburg for over a decade.

In 2009, Second Church and City’s Gate Church joined together as Second City Church – two separate communities becoming one new one around a common love for God and desire to serve our neighbors in Jesus’ name. The name Second City Church itself is a testament to God’s work in the city through these two church bodies for more than the last century and a half. It is also a reference to St. Augustine’s great work, ‘The City of God.’