Plan Your Visit

Our hearts and our doors are open to you.

Here's some help finding our doors and planning your visit.

We look forward to welcoming you!

Driving Directions

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Location, Parking, Accessibility

Location

352 Sycamore Ave., Shrewsbury, NJ 07702

Church Campus

The Church Campus has a Church House, Sanctuary, Cemetery, and Manse (pastor's residence).

The Church House is where the Church Office, Fellowship Hall, Sunday School classrooms, meeting rooms, and parking lot are located.

The Sanctuary is where we normally meet for worship. The Social Room behind the Sanctuary is where the music ministries rehearse. From the parking lot, follow the sidewalk out front to Sycamore Ave, turn left and head past the neighbor's house with the fancy hedges, to the white church with the red doors.

Parking

Our parking is all around the Church House at 352 Sycamore Ave., Shrewsbury, NJ 07702.

Additional Street Parking is on the road shoulder opposite the Sanctuary and in front of the Manse, where the shoulder begins past the hydrant.

Accessibility

Church House:

Accessible Parking is located in front of the Church House. The front doors provide level access without stairs. All but the 2nd floor Children's Sunday School rooms are accessible without stairs.

Sanctuary:

The side door has ramp access. There is limited parking in the driveway immediately west of the Sanctuary by the ramp. Please allow those who need accessibility and are not coming with someone able to drop them off and then go park to use those spaces.

Street parking on the shoulder opposite the Sanctuary is closer than walking over from our parking lot.

Restrooms:

The Sanctuary has two individual restrooms. One is larger, with grab bars and plenty of room for mobility aids.

The Church House has a larger, individual restroom with grab bars and a baby changing table. There are also men's and women's restrooms with stalls. Each has a larger accessible stall.

What should I expect on Sunday mornings?

When you arrive, after you park, there's a short stroll following the sidewalk out to the road, turning left past a private home to the red doors of the white Sanctuary. You will be greeted by an usher who will invite you to find any seat you like, let you know where the restrooms are, give you a worship bulletin, and answer any questions you may have.

Most people arrive for worship close to the start time of 10am. Wear whatever you feel comfortable in. You'll see both jeans and ties, sneakers and dress shoes.

Services are usually an hour. The first Sunday of month runs about an hour and fifteen, as we celebrate the Sacrament of Communion.

Following worship, all are invited to Coffee Hour in Fellowship Hall in the Church House. Stroll back over towards the parking lot, and Fellowship Hall is through the Church House front doors to your right. We serve coffee, tea, juice, and a variety of sweet and savory snacks. It's a time for making friends! We look forward to chatting with you.

In the Summer, we have lighter refreshments served after the service in the Social Room behind the Sanctuary.

What is your Worship Service like?

Our worship style is traditional, but relaxed. We follow the same order of worship each week. Within that order, some elements are always the same (i.e. Lord's Prayer), and some have new content each week. We usually sing three hymns out of a hymnal, but supplement at times with more contemporary texts and music. The service begins and ends with a piece of music which may be organ, piano, handbells, or other instrumentalists. Those pieces invite us to center ourselves, to reflect, and to shift our attention to the presence of God.

We value the congregation actively participating in worship. Our printed worship bulletin includes all of the spoken and sung responses and instructions that you need to be able to participate.

Our service always includes a time for sharing joys and concerns. No one need share, but if you have a specific prayer concern, you are welcome to briefly share it.

We do pass offering plates. As a visitor, you are our guests. We do not expect our guests to give. If you do so, do so according to your own desire to support the ministry of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper (Communion) is celebrated on the 1st Sunday of each month. We practice an open communion table. Gluten-free bread is always available. Everyone is welcome to partake. Catholic? Not a church member anywhere? Haven't been baptized? Children? Come to the table! You are welcome!

From September through June, the service includes a children's message on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month.

The Rev. Katja Gruening preaches most Sundays, and focuses on how we apply the love, compassion, and justice of God as evidenced in Scripture to our lives and the complex world in which we live.

Visiting with children?

We are happy to welcome children of all ages in worship. We don't mind if kids need to play with quiet toys, draw, or be wiggly during the service. We encourage parents to help their children of reading age follow the worship bulletin, speak the congregational responses, and find the hymns in the hymnal and follow the lyrics.

Babies are a blessing, and parents are welcome to bring babies into worship and tend to their needs. If you need to step out to do so, please then come back in! You are not interrupting. At present, we do not have a staffed nursery, but parents of infants and toddlers are welcome to use the nursery in the education wing of the Church House if they need a break from a church activity. The Church House family restroom on the 1st floor has a baby changing table.

Between September and June, there are children's Christian Education classes (Sunday School) on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month. If you call ahead, we will be happy to arrange for you to meet our teachers on Sunday before church begins, tour our Christian Education wing, and prepare to welcome your child in Sunday School as a guest. Visiting parents may accompany their children in Sunday School to observe the lessons and activities, and get to know our programming.

Because Worship and Sunday School are in different buildings, we find most parents prefer to familiarize themselves with the place, the teachers, and our Safe Child Policy before they're comfortable sending their children out of the service to Sunday School with the class and the teachers.

In July and August, our Sunday School is on summer vacation! We encourage families to attend worship together.