The Presbyterian Church of Basking Ridge

We WELCOME everyone, regardless of race, gender, creed, sexual orientation, heritage, age, or disability. We are a congregation that is progressive in thought and action. We seek God’s will; we do not presume to know it. We encourage those to join us who desire a life of greater spiritual depth and meaning, and we embrace the uniqueness of each person’s faith journey. We strive to offer multiple entrance points into our church family, recognizing that different people have different needs and interests. We communicate our programs and resources to the community at large and invite the participation of all.

We CARE for each other, loving each other because God first loved us. We treasure each individual as a child of God. We celebrate our joys together and comfort each other in times of sorrow. God calls some of us as deacons and Stephen Ministers to specific caring ministries, working with our professional staff to assure that all those in need receive special attention. We also care for our staff as we care for each other by giving them the opportunity to follow God’s call in our midst while compensating them fairly.

We WORSHIP enthusiastically in praise of God and in gratitude for God’s blessings. Worship is at the center of our life together: in Word and Sacrament, prayers and song, we celebrate that nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord! Although rooted in traditional Reformed worship styles, we seek to be creative in crafting worship that is relevant, spiritual, welcoming, vibrant, mysterious, and majestic. In our worship, we strive for powerful proclamation, faithful prayers, and inspirational music. The Bible is the most important book we have, and it is the center for development of our worship life and spiritual growth. Music is a vital component of our worship together, and we provide multiple opportunities for children, youth, and adults to participate in our music program.

We PREPARE each other for the journey of faith, equipping each other, children through seniors, to glorify God and to grow spiritually. We recognize the Bible to be the inspired Word of God, written by humans, understood through the working of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we honor every question as we work to follow Jesus Christ faithfully and respect the life of the mind in the service of God. We offer a Sunday School program that is grounded in Scripture and the Reformed tradition, encompasses a variety of teaching methods, and is designed to build a strong foundation in Christian theology. We are committed to supporting the youth of our congregation and community with strong middle- and high-school education and fellowship groups. We believe that Christian education is a lifelong endeavor and provide small groups, forums, Bible studies, interfaith symposia, and book studies to help adults cultivate a mature faith.

We SERVE the Lord Jesus Christ as disciples in ministry to the world both locally and globally. We affirm the Reformed tradition of shared lay and professional ministry. We strive to attract and retain excellent ordained and lay staff and value them as important assets of the church. We also view discipleship as part of the life of every member, and God calls many of us to special ministries in service to the church as trustees and as ordained elders and deacons. Throughout the year we offer a variety of special giving and ‘hands-on’ service opportunities for adults and youth to provide help to people who are without adequate shelter, food, education or care, regardless of their faith tradition. We count our beautiful,  historic campus as a blessing that is a visible reminder of our long history of service to God, and we provide resources and labor to assure its preservation.

We SHARE our wealth, our time, our talents, and our faith with the world. Once each year we request that our members make a written financial commitment to our church through our annual Stewardship Campaign, which supports our operating budget as well as part of our mission giving. Our goal is that our total mission giving will comprise a significant amount of our total annual giving. We also take seriously God’s call to share our faith with others, including seeking dialogue in our multi-cultural world with those of other faith traditions in a spirit of openness to God’s presence with us in all its many forms.