The Trenton Times published the following article on October 19, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Pastoral exchange offers greater connection among Mercer County Presbyterian churches
By Wendy Plump/For The Times
on October 19, 2013 at 6:40 AMTRENTON — On Sunday, everything should return to normalcy at the pulpits of Mercer County’s Presbyterian churches.
Last weekend, a case of liturgical musical chairs, which played out among many area Presbyterian churches, had pastors from urban and suburban churches trading lecterns for the morning in their first-ever pastoral exchange.
The exchange was undertaken to encourage more connection between the Presbyterian congregations in Central New Jersey. It was so successful, organizers said, that the presbytery will consider continuing the practice.
“All too often we hear that ‘The Church’ is dead or dying,” said the Rev. William Henderson Shurley, of the First Presbyterian Church of Titusville, an event coordinator.
“But in every instance I know of, the exchanges helped the participants to see, and be encouraged by, the fact that our churches are doing their best to be faithful and vibrant Christian communities.
“Our congregations are located in rural hamlets and inner city neighborhoods, and are made up of people from widely varying socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.
“However, we are united in our Christian faith, and in all the ways we express it. Those who participated in the exchange,” he added, “now know those host churches, their members and their ministries better, which was the goal of the clergy exchange to begin with.”
Planning for the event began last spring, as the governing Presbytery of New Brunswick, which oversees some 40 congregations from Trenton to Milford to New Brunswick, began seeking out ways to unite its far-flung and culturally disparate parishioners.