Mission Statement

The Flemington Presbyterian Church is called by God to proclaim the Good News of God's love as demonstrated by Jesus Christ. We will share our God-given gifts, nurture God's people and strive for justice, fairness, and equal opportunity in our church family, community and the world - (adopted by Session July 22, 1995)

History of the Church

We embrace our history as a church of Jesus Christ in Flemington, New Jersey. The Flemington Presbyterian Church is part of the Presbyterian Church (USA) which has approximately 2.3 million members, more than 11,000 congregations and 21,000 ordained and active ministers.

Presbyterians trace their history to the 16th century and the Protestant Reformation. Presbyterian describes the system by which a church is governed; namely by "presbyters" the biblical word for elders. Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed Faith which refers to the church?s beliefs, or doctrine. The Presbyterian Church, which to some degree served James Madison as a model for the American Constitution, also has four levels of government: session, presbytery, synod, and General Assembly, with the same right of appeal. It was the Presbytery of New Brunswick which had to consider the petition of the ?Flemington Fifty-Five? to establish a congregation here.

While buildings may come and go, the life and spirit of the church is a reflection of the congregation that serves Jesus Christ in ministry to the world.

The Early Years

The following excerpts are from "The Presbyterian Church in Flemington, New Jersey 1791-1991" written by Dr. Linn Creighton. Th.D and Elder Robert Danziger, Esq.
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1791

Fifty-five men and women petition the New Brunswick Presbytery on November 1, 1791 wanting their own church in Flemington. Some had been worshipping at Amwell First in Reaville, a distance of six miles or about two hours by ox and cart. George Washington was then President. As many in the area at the time were from Europe and spoke many languages, the legal entity name it took was the Flemington English Presbyterian Church in Amwell, with English being the language used in worship but not necessarily the national origin of its members. A few more than half of the first fifty-five families had distinctly English names; the rest were Dutch, German, Irish, Scottish and French. The petition did not come without controversy as the Amwell First and Amwell Second churches were concerned a Flemington church would draw from its membership. The Presbytery developed a compromise of sorts by allowing the Flemington church to organize and share the Rev. Thomas Grant as pastor with the Amwell churches, preaching one Sunday a month in Flemington. None of the churches, on their own, could afford a full time pastor.

1793

The congregation purchased more than an acre of land to the north of a line running east and west about where the War monument now stands, this line marking the northern limit of William Penn?s holdings in New Jersey. There, in the part of the present graveyard lying nearest to the church, they broke ground for their own meeting house in the spring of 1793. The original structure was 55 feet by 45 feet.

1797

Still without a full-time pastor, the first two elders were elected by the congregation and ordained, with the Rev. Thomas Grant giving them a ?lengthy charge? on their own responsibility. One of the two was Thomas Reading, son of one of the last royal governors of New Jersey. The other was Jaspar Smith, a graduate of the college of Princeton in 1758, an ardent patriot during the Revolution and the president of the board of trustees of Amwell First. It was he who circulated the proposition of relocating the church in Flemington. Failing to achieve this, he signed the petition to Presbytery to establish a separate congregation here, acting as spokesman for the Flemington Fifty-Five. For the first twenty years or so, the Presbyterian Church in Flemington had been little more than a preaching post. The Rev. Thomas Grant led worship, at most one Sunday in three. From 1791 until 1809, when he resigned, he lived near Reaville, too far by the travel time of that day for the congregation to see him very often.

Growth in the early 19th Century

1810

The interior of the church was completed, sixteen years after the exterior was finished. Migration was not to but through Hunterdon County for the West, as the land beyond the Appalachians was called in those days. The result was that the congregation was not growing. Enthusiasm was beginning to wane. Faith was at a low ebb. Unable now to have even a part-time minister and with Jaspar Smith no longer around to bail them out, the congregation elected to go for broke, to call their own full-time minister and to hope that they could support him. They called the Rev. Jacob TenEyck Field, who came to live in Flemington, thus making him readily available to the congregation. However he remained only three years with the sincere regrets so the people.

1811

The ruling body of our congregation, the session, resolved to invite Christians of other denominations ?who were in good standing and in full communion in their own societies? to take part in the Lord?s Supper with us. The minutes go on to say: ?Session was induced to adopt this measure hoping that it would have a tendency to remove some disagreeable prejudices and that charge of uncharitableness which is frequently made against those who pursue a contrary practice?. No session since has ever rescinded their action.

1816-1836

The county experiences a depression with frost and ice destroying crops and extensive migration to Ohio occurs. The congregation which had so enthusiastically called its own full-time minister, found itself in arrearage of salary to the Rev. John Flavel Clark by $580, more than a year?s pay in the dollars of those days. The result of this financial bind was a new arrangement whereby the Rev. Clark became the pastor of both Flemington and of Amwell First, preaching in each place on alternate Sundays. The compromise lasted with considerable success for sixteen years. Relations all around were cordial before, during and after the union, but then Amwell First came to the conclusion that each church would be better served by its own pastor. Given the choice which parish he would take, Mr. Clark chose Amwell First, for reasons unspecified, but perhaps having something to do with the regular payment of his salary, an advantage over his experience in Flemington.

1837

Once more this congregation was on the search for a pastor all its own, but this time the circumstances were more favorable. People were now moving into the area. The Baptists built a new sanctuary. The Methodists established their church. Streets and sidewalks were paved. The Hunterdon County Democrat was founded. The congregation became more and more active in its support of redeeming causes. By the time that the Rev. James Munson Olmstead succeeded Mr. Clark in 1837, the church, now with 101 communicants, was moving steadily forward. During Mr. Clark?s pastorate of 21 years, only 127 new members were received. In the eleven year ministry of Mr. Olmstead the figure was 141. The difference was probably due to the increase in population in the county, up by about a third in the next twenty years. Rev. Olmstead petitioned presbytery for retirement for reasons of health in 1849.

The Church and the Civil War

1850-1857

All during the decade of the 1850?s the town was continuing to develop. A railroad opened up in Lambertville. Gas lighting was introduced. Municipal water now came through pipes. With a growing church and a growing community, the original meeting house was becoming crowded. Despite many years of improvements, the time had come for a larger church. The old one was torn down, and some of its timbers were used in the new construction, from which again they were taken when the third sanctuary was built and incorporated into its structure. The second church which stood on the same spot as the present sanctuary, measured 56 feet by 90 feet, twice the size of the original. It was dedicated on May 14, 1857.

1861

In April 1861, the Civil War brings the acceleration of the growth in the cities and away from farming villages. The trend was not reversed until the rapid expansion of suburbs after World War II when Flemington began to grow rapidly again. President Lincoln issued a first call for troops, Governor Olden of New Jersey appealed for volunteers. The first offer in this State was made by the 1st Regiment of the Hunterdon Brigrade on the day following the Governor?s proclamation. Before the month was out, farewell services were held for troops in the Presbyterian Church. From this small congregation of around 200 members, four men died; two of them, Lambert Boemen and Paul Kuhl, lie buried in our churchyard along with five Revolutionary War soldiers. The pastor himself, the Rev. John L. Janeway, D.D., was given leave of absence on his own request to serve as chaplain in the local regiment.

1869

The Civil War is regarded as the watershed of American history, not simply because it stamped out slavery and secession, but because it marked the beginning of the change from what had been a primarily agricultural to an industrial nation. In 1869 when the Presbytery of New Brunswick installed Dr. Mott as the sixth pastor of the church, membership stood at 210. During the 25-years that followed, 751 new members were added to the roll, 431 by confession of faith and 320 by letter of transfer from other churches. Total membership was 551 net of departures by 1894. One reason for this increase was the leadership of Dr. Mott himself. Small in stature and dynamic in drive, he was very popular. His whole pastorate was marked by growth, not only in membership but in every area of the church?s life. With the doubling of membership, the second sanctuary built in 1837 was becoming overcrowded.

A New Sanctuary

1882-1883

Construction begins in 1882 on the present sanctuary and was dedicated on November 1, 1883, the 107th anniversary of the Church at a cost of $33,000 furnished. The sanctuary is a distinctly period piece, an excellent example of the Akron plan, the church architecture of its time. The stained glass windows, some of them by Tiffany given in memory of church members and Dr. Mott, create an aura of dignity and reverence. It was designed originally for a central pulpit with the communion table standing below it in the pit. Later generations have to some extent divided the chancel by placing the ornate pulpit, a memorial to Dr. Mott, on one side of the platform and the lectern on the other. A great cross, twelve feet high, illuminated by a spot light, floats clear of the organ screen. The form of the cross was suggested by the seal of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church as it was then. It is a Celtic cross with a circle behind it, signifying the rising sun of Easter, the emblem of resurrection to eternal life.

1896

Norman Landis, a young man from Carlisle Pennsylvania, settles in Flemington to become the church organist and choir director, a position which he held until his death in 1956, a total of sixty-one years. Organist, composer, choirmaster, he lived for the music of this church. He was elected an elder in 1914 and served as clerk of session until 1949. The graciousness of his personality and the high standards of his music are both part of the rich heritage of this congregation. Dr. Mott also retires this year. Dr. Mott was succeeded by the Rev. James Rogan who expressed his belief in short pastorates. He was succeeded upon his resignation in 1908 by the Rev. August Whitman Sonne, D.D.

1923-1931

Dr. Sonne was of German descent and the only one of the first twelve pastors to leave without expressed appreciation in the minutes of session. His sympathy lay with Germany during World War I and he left nearly five years after the Armistice that ended the war. He was followed in 1924 by the Rev. James C. McConnell, during whose pastorate a second floor was added to what was then called the Chapel, and which has since been named Fellowship Hall.

The Trial of the Century

1934-1935

The most spectacular event in the history of the county took place with the Lindbergh kidnapping trial. Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh was an aviator and the first person to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. His son, only twenty months old, was killed in the course of abduction. Dr. Barclay S. Fuhrmann, a member of the Flemington Church, was the county physician at the time. It was his duty to visit the accused, Bruno Richard Hauptmann in his cell every day. Another church member, George K. Large, Esq., a former county judge and prosecutor, was appointed deputy attorney general for the trial under George Wilentz. The trial was held in the county courthouse in Flemington, and it is still referred to by old Flemingtonians, as ?the trial?. To them there could be no other.

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