We will be worshiping in the sanctuary, for those seeking a brief in-person worship experience.


What to expect upon arrival:
- Please check in with Greeter/Deacon for a temperature screening upon arrival.
- A mask or face covering is required and must be worn at all times.
- Hand sanitizer stations will be provided.
- The service will last about 1 hour.

During service:
- Please keep a safe distance of at least 6 feet apart from other families.
- Please wear your mask at all times.

- We will not have our children's message, passing of the peace, and our sharing of joys and concerns will be conducted differently.

- Our offering will be received by inviting people to place donations in detonated baskets.

- We will sing during worship (masked) as we have found a protocol that provides a safe plan to conduct congregational singing.
- We ask that once service is over, all visitors disperse in a socially distant manner.

We will continue to abide by the guidelines provided by our local health officials, along with following best practices for indoor public gatherings. 


Here are some other things you need to know as we prepare to gather in person. 


Health & Safety Considerations. We ask that if you have a fever or any symptoms of illness that you participate in worship from home. We are following health and government guidelines, which call for face masks to be worn in indoor public spaces. 


Entering and Exiting. All worshippers will be asked to enter and exit the building from the Ridge Road building entrance nearest to E. Passaic Ave (the entrance by Rev. Pete’s office). Once you arrive, you will be asked to answer a series of health questions and your temperature will be taken. Once service is finished, you will be instructed to leave the building immediately. Please enter and exit only at designated locations. 


Physical Distancing. Ushers will show you to your seats when you arrive and will be seating you away from others so that we can appropriately distance, as is recommended by health guidelines. 


Nursery & Children’s Church. At this time, we will not have a nursery or children’s church. 


Access to Other Parts of the Building. Only the sanctuary, and restrooms around the sanctuary will be open to worshippers. There will be no access allowed to any other parts of the building. 


Other Information. We strongly encourage you to make a reservation to attend worship each Sunday. You may do so by either emailing the church (fpcorrecep@gmail.com) or go to our church’s website (www.fpcrutherford.org). 


If you have any questions, please contact the church, fpcorpastor@gmail.com. 

We work in a team environment, so the person needs to be comfortable working in this type of environment. For people who may be curious about working with the worship team, it would be helpful to have someone with some background and experience, but someone who is truly interested and open to learning and participating would be valued. If interested, please reach out to us via email at fpcortech@gmail.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

We need your help!

Each Sunday, our online service involves not only Rev. Pete and Shannon, but a team of people who work behind the scenes to essentially direct and produce each service. We are now searching for some additional help to assist us in the care and development of our weekly online worship services. We are searching for people who would be interested in the following areas:

  • Worship Team Intern

    Working directly with our Worship Team in the process of producing

    and directing our services. We are searching for people who would be willing to learn how we create, prepare, and then implement our services. We are searching for people who have a background or interest in streaming technology. They would participate in our weekly broadcast creation and distribution, both live and pre-pate, participate in weekly planning meetings and contribute to the ongoing planning discussions to expand our current platform. We are looking for someone who is a learner and go-getter, listens well, steps up when called upon to help and has a discerning eye for detail as to what will look good in a final production. If you have an empathy for how the community and the world will receive our message, have a background in technology, helping us to leverage the best technology for the job at hand, have skills and experience or are willing to learn about video streaming concepts, video streaming software such as Streamyard, have onland platform content delivery and management (e.g. Facebook, YouTube), experience with either Windows or Mac Platforms and experience in camera and microphone setups, we could really use your help!



  • Sound and Film Editor

    We are also searching for someone to assist the Team in the preparation of some portions of our services that involve the editing of sound and film. Having direct experience is needed at this time. The person would need to have experience using software such as Adobe Premiere Pro.




All Saints Day

All Saints Day is November 1. Our worship service on All Saints Day will provide the opportunity to give glory to God for the holy lives of believers of this and every age. At our worship experience, we will continue the tradition of giving thanks to members and friends (family) of our community of faith who have died since November 1, 2019. We will be utilizing this Service as an opportunity to lift up a unique, piece of music, Creed, that was created in honor of Thomas Gray.


If you have had a family member who has passed since November 1, of 2019, would you please contact the church office. If you have a photo of the person who has passed, we would like to utilize the photo within the context of the service. Because of the time needed to prepare and integrate this into our online service, we would ask if you would please share this information to

the church office by October 15, 2020. Please share the information with Linda Walker, (FPCorrecep@gmail.com).




Church Country Picnic

A perfect sunny day for our Church Country Picnic. Members, families, neighbors and children all enjoyed a wonderful day in the sun, together. 

Thanks to the Membership Committee members Akua Yeboah-Asuamah,  Kavita Joseph and Babs McGill for planning and serving, James Vermeulen and Vivian Joseph for setting up and especially Bill Rood with Toby Gentile for all the shopping and grilling! 
Great teamwork!

St Patrick's Day Dinner

The blessings of Saint Patrick were definitely upon us at our dinner gathering Saturday night!  Special thanks go to our hosting Deacons, our cook Bill Rood, our baker Mary Buckley – Hadrava and Toby Gentile. It was an outstanding effort and a very fun evening!


Boiling Springs Savings Bank, a long-time neighbor and friend of FPC, has provided us for a number of years with an unprecedented opportunity for fundraising. Through the Community Alliance Banking Program, Boiling Springs will make a quarterly donation, without cost to you, to FPC. The donation is based on the average balances in the participating member’s/friend’s designated accounts. Eligible accounts include checking, savings, CD’s, Premium Checking, Money Markets and Individual Retirement accounts. Both new and existing accounts are eligible.


When you open your new account at Boiling Springs, simply tell the customer service rep that you would like this account to be included as part of the Community Alliance Banking Program for First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford. If you already have an existing account with Boiling Springs, just visit one of their branches to fill out an enrollment form designating the account to be included in the Community Alliance Banking Program for FPC. It is very important to note that all of your account information is kept strictly confidential within Boiling Springs. No one from FPC will have any knowledge of the donor’s account information or account balance. To ensure complete privacy, when Boiling Springs makes their quarterly donation, they do not even provide a list of those who have named FPC for receipt of the funds. We encourage all members and friends of FPC to enroll because, to put is simply, the more members and friends that enroll the larger the quarterly bank donation becomes. For more information, please contact the Church office.

We are inviting you to partner with us in 2020, by financially supporting the church. Your financial gifts provide ways for us to worship God, engage in mission projects, participate in the faith development of people young and old, and keeps our facilities in good shape. We appreciate how you have financially supported us in the past, and we are seeking people to complete Estimates of Giving Cards so we can anticipate how to financially plan for our future. If you have questions, please contact Rev Pete or Bill Rood.

CORONAVIRUS UPDATE


Dear FPC Family, Friends, and Neighbors,


As we are all aware, the Coronavirus pandemic is a rapidly-evolving reality in our communities. As a result of our ongoing communication with one another and our PC(USA) colleagues in Palisades Presbytery and across the country, we take the advice of the CDC and government leaders very seriously. 


Effective Sunday March 15th, we will begin to worship remotely and live stream service via Facebook at 10am. Beginning Monday March 16th, Rev Wilkinson will have a live meditation at 4pm daily. 

Click here to join us. 


Please check back on our website and Facebook page often for further updates. Alternatively, you can also email Pastor Pete directly at fpcorpastor@gmail.com or call/text via mobile phone at (201) 655-5429.


May we hold one another, our nation and the world in good, safe care … ever mindful of the Gospel words found in Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.”


Courage and Serenity in Christ,
Pete

Partners in Ministry 2019

We are inviting you to partner with us in 2019, by financially supporting the church. Your financial gifts provide ways for us to worship God, engage in mission projects, participate in the faith development of people young and old, and keeps our facilities in good shape. We appreciate how you have financially supported us in the past, and we are seeking people to complete Estimates of Giving Cards so we can anticipate how to financially plan for our future. If you have questions, please contact Rev Pete or Bill Rood (fpcorfa@gmail.com).

Upcoming Events

You are welcome to all events below.  Please see individual pages throughout our website for past events.  Thank you!

  • Hymnsing

    Tuesday, August 27

    6:00 - 8:00 PM

    in the Chapel

    - Families encouraged and welcome to attend.

    - We will explore the history of various popular hymns and the reasons why they still appeal to us today

    - We will learn more about singing, specifically singing in worship and choir

    - We will go into town and share well-known beloved and modern hymns with those in our community


  • bible study: The Gospel of Thomas

    sundays, September 15

    The First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford will begin an eight-week study of the Gospel of Thomas beginning Sunday, Sept. 15, 11:40 a.m. Unlike the other gospels we are familiar with, the Gospel of Thomas does not tell the story of the life and death of Jesus, but offers the reader his 'secret teachings' about the Kingdom of God. This book opens with the lines, "These are the hidden words which the living Jesus spoke, and the twin, Didymos Judas Thomas wrote them down." These 114 verses of Jesus are extremely enlightening and special, and applicable for us as Christians today. We will study Jesus' teaching written by Thomas and how to put them into daily practice using Ron Miller's The Gospel of Thomas: A guidebook for spiritual practice which will be supplied to you by the church. We will meet at the Karen Kaiser House across from the church on West Passaic Avenue. The study is open to all in the community, but registration is asked by calling (201) 438-3569 so we can order you a book. 


  • PIZZA WITH PETE

    WEDNESDAY AUGUST 14


    6:30PM AT PARK TAVERN

    Pastor Rev. Pete Wilkinson welcomes all to sit down with him at the Top That! Donuts on Highland Cross in Rutherford at 10:00 am and at The New Park Tavern in East Rutherford at 6:30pm. "I will be at a table or a booth enjoying the opportunity to meet and talk with anyone who would join me. I have no agenda for these gatherings. I simply want to make myself available. If you would like for me to meet you (and a friend) please come and join me," says Rev. Pete.


    Click here for Pastor Pete's bio.


  • Visit to Chuang Yen Monastery

    saturday, september 28

    10:30am

    The First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford is sponsoring a trip to Chuang Yen Monastery, a Buddhist temple situated on 225 acres in Kent, Putnam County, New York. The tour will take place on on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 10:30 a.m. The temple is home to the largest indoor statue of a Buddha (Vairocana) in the Western Hemisphere. The name "Chuang Yen" means "Majestically Adorned." 

    The monastery is home to the Buddhist Association of the United States. Much of the temple buildings are built in the architectural style of China’s Tang Dynasty, and designed by architect Edward A Valeri RA. We will visit Kuan Yin Hall, the Thousand Lotus Memorial Terrace which overlooks a Koi pond, the Tai Hsu Hall, the Yin Kuang Hall, the Woo Ju Memorial Library and the Great Buddha Hall. The Great Buddha Hall's opening was presided over by the 14th Dalai Lama. 

    There will be a vegetarian meal served at noon in the dining hall. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own cutlery, chopsticks, cup,  and soup bowl. 

    Our group members must be there at 10:20 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28. Visitors must be dressed with all limbs covered and take off shoes upon entering the temple. No food is allowed on the site. The visit will require walking and climbing stairs. Visitors must provide their own transportation to the monastery which is about an hour and a half away. The trip is open to all members of the community and is free, but registration is required by calling the First Presbyterian Church of Rutherford (201) 438-3569.


  • Partners in Ministry 2019

    We are inviting you to partner with us in 2019, by financially supporting the church. Your financial gifts provide ways for us to worship God, engage in mission projects, participate in the faith development of people young and old, and keeps our facilities in good shape. We appreciate how you have financially supported us in the past, and we are seeking people to complete Estimates of Giving Cards so we can anticipate how to financially plan for our future. If you have questions, please contact Rev Pete or Bill Rood (fpcorfa@gmail.com).


  • Coffee with PETE

    TUESDAY AUGUST 13


    10:00am at Top That! Donuts

    8 Highland Cross, Rutherford

    Pastor Rev. Pete Wilkinson welcomes all to sit down with him at the Top That! Donuts on Highland Cross in Rutherford at 10:00 am and at The New Park Tavern in East Rutherford at 6:30pm. "I will be at a table or a booth enjoying the opportunity to meet and talk with anyone who would join me. I have no agenda for these gatherings. I simply want to make myself available. If you would like for me to meet you (and a friend) please come and join me," says Rev. Pete.


    Click here for Pastor Pete's bio.