Crossing Boundaries, Forging Friendships: Area Pastors to Exchange Pulpits October 13

Trenton, NJ, October 02, 2013 --(PR.com)-- Twelve Presbyterian churches from across Central New Jersey will welcome visiting pastors into their pulpits October 13 as part of the first-ever Presbytery Communion Sunday Clergy Exchange.

“The churches of the Presbytery of New Brunswick, which covers a triangular area roughly from Trenton to Milford to New Brunswick, represent a wide swath of culture,” said the Rev. William Henderson Shurley, a Presbyterian pastor in Titusville and a coordinator of the exchange. “Our congregations are located in rural hamlets and inner city neighborhoods, and are made up of people from widely-varied socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. However, we are united in our Christian faith, in all the ways we express it, and as our 13 pastors cross various boundaries on October 13 to visit with congregations in other contexts, we look forward to seeing our common Christian life strengthened and broadened.”

The Presbytery Communion Sunday Clergy Exchange will fall the Sunday after World Communion Sunday, which since 1933 has encouraged churches of all Christian traditions to promote Christian unity and cross-denominational cooperation.

“We see the Presbytery Communion Sunday Clergy Exchange being a natural outgrowth of World Communion Sunday,” said Shurley. “We hope the exchange, a time of face-to-face interaction with people that may not normally interact, will allow our congregations here in Central New Jersey to form new partnerships that will lead to our better serving God and neighbor.”

Planning for the exchange began in the spring, as a result of multiple clergypersons and congregations considering how their congregations might engage one another better.

“I have often spoken to my church family about how we hold the connectional nature of the Presbyterian church as a value,” said the Rev. Wendi Warner, pastor of the Dayton Presbyterian Church and a participant in the exchange. “But how can we be connectional if the people who fill our pews never have a real way to connect? Our church will be part of the clergy exchange so we can know others and be known in return, and through worship celebrate that God has connected us in ways we may not have imagined.”

The schedule for the Presbyterian Communion Sunday Clergy Exchange will be as follows:
· Alexandria First Presbyterian Church will host the Rev. Mark Spildooren of the Larison’s Corner Presbyterian Church at 10 a.m.
· Community Presbyterian Church of Kendall Park will host the Rev. Patrick Johnson of the Frenchtown Presbyterian Church at 9:30 a.m.
· Dayton Presbyterian Church will host the Rev. Tara Woodard-Lehman, chaplain of Princeton Presbyterians at Princeton University, at 10 a.m.
· The First Presbyterian Church of Trenton will host the Rev. David Prince, honorably retired pastor and presbytery executive, at 11 a.m.
· Frenchtown Presbyterian Church will host the Rev. Beth Scibienski of Community Presbyterian Church of Kendall Park at 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
· Hillsborough Presbyterian Church will host the Rev. Sharon Culley of Somerset Presbyterian Church at 9:30 a.m.
· Larison’s Corner Presbyterian Church will host the Rev. Nicholas Hatch of the Alexandria First Presbyterian Church at 11 a.m.
· Nassau Presbyterian Church of Princeton will host the Rev. Wendi Warner of the Dayton Presbyterian Church at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.
· Slackwood Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville will host the Rev. William Shurley of the First Presbyterian Church of Titusville at 10:30 a.m.
· Somerset Presbyterian Church will host the Rev. Karen Hernandez-Granzen of Westminster Presbyterian Church of Trenton at 9:30 a.m.
· The First Presbyterian Church of Titusville will host the Rev. Dawn Flippin of Slackwood Presbyterian Church of Lawrencville at 10:30 a.m., along with Mr. Aaron Twitchell, a candidate for ordination in the Presbyterian Church (USA) and chaplain at the Pennington School.
· Westminster Presbyterian Church of Trenton will host the Rev. Sandra Larson, parish associate at the Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church in Princeton, at 11 a.m.

For more information about the Presbytery Communion Sunday Clergy Exchange, contact the churches above directly, or email presbyterycommunion@gmail.com.