Worshippers at St. John's United Church of Christ in Fullerton have no doubt noticed the quiet.

Recently the church celebrated the completion of extensive renovations, some of which came through a Lehigh Northampton Airport Authority Sound Insulation Grant.

"Sound was measured before the project began and after it was completed," said St. John's Pastor Becky Beckwith. "The sound of aircraft at St. John's was decreased considerably."

But the sound abatement grant covered only a portion of extensive renovations begun long before the grant became a reality.

"St. John's wants to be a mission outreach to the Whitehall community and beyond," said Beckwith. "The building needs to be safe for our members and the use of community."

The church's initial application for the sound insulation grant in 2006 was rejected because the church is somewhat outside the program's target area, said Beckwith.

The church applied again in 2007, stressing the importance of the building to the community.

Even without the grant, the church leaders knew repairs were needed. As such, the church began fundraising for the St. John's Makeover Campaign in 2008. Work began soon after.

"The concern for building deterioration was ongoing. The fear was the cost. Faith got us started – faith in God and in our congregation," she said.

A list of needed repairs had been in process for years. It was finalized by the church's Renovations Task Force, who also prioritized the items on the list.

The church hired a capital campaign specialist who did a study and presented goals at different cost levels. At minimum, the church needed $400,000. However, the congregation surpassed its goal reaching $600,000, the highest level set by the specialist.

These funds were raised for structural repairs, primarily outside of the building. This exterior work was researched and overseen by the Renovations Task Force, chaired by Charlie Apple, Beckwith said.

"Charlie has worked long and hard for many years to improve the overall property of St. John's," she said.

Among the goals set were five "high-priority" masonry restoration areas. These included the bell tower, the rear tower, the northwest corner of the church, the church exterior walls and buttresses and the stone cheek walls of the outside steps to the sanctuary.

Masonry work of the rear tower was completed in late 2008 with masonry work of the bell tower completed in early 2011. Masonry work on the northwest corner of the church, the church walls and buttresses and cheek walls of the outside steps was completed in November, 2012.

The work also involved the complete dismantling of the parapet wall above the roof and rebuilding it, constructing a concrete curb to properly extend the original concrete roof deck into the tower wall, providing a ladder and hatch to access the tower roof, repairing cracked cast stones and the flue liner on the chimney assembly, rebuilding unsound sections of the corner walls below the roofline, pinning together of the 96 individual concrete elements of the bell-level arches, repairing the exposed and rusted rebar in the ceiling of the belfry, repairing and replacing cast stone and repointing of the joints on the entire tower including the chimney, belfry interior and main entrance stair cheek walls.

In the meantime, Beckwith said, the church learned its sound abatement grant application had been approved. But it was not until January of 2009 that the church signed an agreement to participate. A construction agreement was signed in 2011 and construction begun in the fall 2011 was completed in 2012.

The airport grant covered work specifically to reduce noise including a new roof on the sanctuary, more than 150 new windows throughout the building and central air conditioning in the social hall and throughout the classrooms and offices.

"The work was all done through ... the airport," said Beckwith. "We did not oversee the work. The construction agreement was clear and we agreed to all that was being done but no monies came through our books from the airport. We were never told an exact amount of monies spent."

The congregation had paid to install air conditioning in the sanctuary in 2005.

"The entire church is now air-conditioned. We have a large building and putting in central air was an extensive project," said Beckwith.

During the capital campaign, a church member made a gift of $50,000 for some interior work. Additional donations allowed the church to make renovations above and beyond the scope of the original campaign, Beckwith said.

The interior work included the painting and wallpapering of hallways, new flooring, carpeting in the sanctuary and carpeting and painting in the offices. The social hall was repainted and shades were purchased and installed on most windows.

This interior work was often completed by church membership under the direction of Beth Erney and Stacy Dunbar, who chaired the Interior Task Force.

Other projects that have been done along the way include acid washing the entire church exterior, minor restoration of the southwest corner gable and restoration of the stained glass casement windows in the rear tower and bell tower.

Beckwith said the church has high hopes for how the building can serve people of all ages in the community and one hope has already been realized – Valley Youth House is offering respite care on Fridays this summer for parents of autistic children.