Community Fellowship Cathedral

Community Fellowship Cathedral (CFC) is now in her 10th year of service to the Lehigh Valley community as a church with a mission, purpose and passion. Located at 518-26 N. 2nd St., Allentown, PA 18102, she sits in the heart of inner city, multicultural and minority social and economic issues. It is, therefore, an ideal location for the spiritual and humanitarian vision of the Pastor, Bishop Iris S. Smith.

The Pastor/CEO: This Church and Academy move forward on the wings of the Pastor’s energy and passion for serving the people of God everywhere. Bishop Iris S. Smith has over 30 years of experience in the Ministry and 24 years of residence in the Allentown municipality. She is well-known in the ecumenical community, being the first woman to hold the position of President of the local chapter of the Interfaith Council of Churches. She is a warm, caring person, who possesses a heart and mind open to the needs of others as well as what it takes to meet those needs. She is the Master of taking a little and making a lot out of it. She has come up through the ranks, having served in every possible capacity in both her Father’s church that she grew up in, and the two Churches she has pastured prior to this one. Not afraid of hard work, Dr. Smith is a seminary graduate, an administrator, a seasoned pastor, a Consecrated Bishop, a visionary and an awesome businesswoman. Click here to read an in-depth biography of Bishop Smith.

Due to her leadership, the Church has made substantial progress in the areas of membership, finance, recruitment and outreach. She has sponsored several Youth programs, which include a prison ministry entitled Books Beyond Bars, weekly teaching sessions at the prison, several feeding programs and annual contributions to established agencies geared to helping the homeless and the lost.

The School

The Children First Community Academy (CFCA) was launched in September, 1998. It has proved to be both a method of outreach and viable daily service to the community and the youth of our day. It must be stated, however, that this school is the only private school owned and operated by a double minority in the Lehigh Valley.

During the past 10 years, over 150 families and over 600 children have been served with quality education and childcare. The School also runs a summer camp program called Camp Excellence which provides supervised indoor and outdoor recreation, tutoring and arts and crafts.

CFCA provides alternative, but quality, education to children whose parents prefer a faith-based private school to public school influences. CFCA is also a licensed Day Care Center with an After-School Homework Clinic program. Therefore, the Academy serves children from the ages of 2 months to 16 years old. Targeting single mothers or fathers, single mothers coming off of welfare, low-income families and hurting children, Bishop Smith has been able to serve over 400 children of all races and nationalities. Again, in an effort to accommodate the schedule changes of the parents, Bishop Smith has established operating hours from 6 AM to 12:00 AM (midnight), 12 months a year.

The Mission

The CFC Mission statement is emboded in the phrase, “Presenting God’s love to everyone in every Community.” This phrase describes the purpose and operational behavior of each member of Community Fellowship Cathedral as the vision of the pastor is to reach out to everyone and anyone regardless of race, creed or color. The Vision also includes: quality educational and spiritual service to children and adults; establishing relationships which lead to the sharing of the faith; maintaining a standard of excellence which inspires and empowers; helping people believe and achieve life-changing experiences. In addition, the not-so-distant future plans include: the development of halfway houses, assisting families with affordable housing, media advertising, television and cable programs as well as the development of a community based health resource center. The Church, will, of course, continue her recruitment and deliverance efforts through revivals, fund-raisers and special concerns.