A Family of Faith on Bartley Road
Tucked into a wooded stretch of Bartley Road in Long Valley, Long Valley Presbyterian Church is the kind of multigenerational congregation where the same building that hosts Vacation Bible School in midsummer also anchors Scout meetings year-round and welcomes a medical team home from the Dominican Republic each July. The motto that frames everything the church does is simple: Walking With God, Walking With One Another. Members describe themselves as a body of people stretched across generations and gifted in many ways, committed to sharing and showing the love of Jesus Christ through worship, fellowship, discipleship, and service.
The church sits within the Presbytery system of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a Protestant denomination in the Reformed tradition. The congregation believes in God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that God reveals himself through Jesus Christ, and that salvation is a gift of grace received through faith rather than something earned. Sharing that good news, ministers and laypeople together, is part of what binds the church family together.
Two Sunday Services, One Open Table
Worship is at the heart of the week at LVPC, and there are two Sunday services from which to choose. An 8:30 a.m. service offers an early start for those who like to begin their Sunday quietly. The 10:00 a.m. service is the larger gathering, blending traditional and contemporary elements, and it includes a Children's Message before young worshipers are dismissed to FaithQuest, the Sunday school program for pre-K through fifth grade. The 10:00 a.m. service also includes a Choral Anthem sung most weeks by the church choir.
On the first Sunday of every month, both services celebrate the Lord's Supper. The congregation practices an open table, meaning anyone who wishes to participate in Communion is welcome to do so. Communion is also observed during online worship.
After the 10:00 a.m. service, the Fellowship Hall fills with coffee, snacks, and conversation. The coffee hour is taken seriously as family time, and volunteers from the Fellowship ministry keep it running each week.
What a First-Time Guest Will Find
Visitors are encouraged to come as they are. There is no dress code at LVPC, and no expectation about how to participate. A typical Sunday morning service flows through welcome and announcements, several kinds of prayer (adoration and illumination, confession, joys and concerns, and offering prayers), a mix of traditional hymns and contemporary songs, a choral anthem, and a sermon of about 12 to 15 minutes given by the pastor. Previous sermons remain available online through the church's YouTube channel.
Offering plates are placed at the front and back of the sanctuary. Visitors are under no pressure to give; tithes and offerings are a grateful response to what God has provided. Online giving and bank bill-pay options are also available for those who prefer to support the church that way.
For those who cannot be in the sanctuary, services are livestreamed on YouTube at 10:00 a.m. and remain available on the channel at any time afterward.
Children, Youth, and Vacation Bible School
Children have a visible place in worship and a full program of their own. The FaithQuest program runs during the 10:00 a.m. service for children from pre-K through fifth grade, and a separate Youth Program serves students in grades 6 through 12. The church describes its investment in youth as central to its life, with opportunities for small groups, Bible studies, retreats, community service, mission trips, and plain old fun. Junior High youth ministry is led by Emma VanKooy.
Each summer, Vacation Bible School brings dozens of children to the church for a week of games, songs, Bible stories, and service projects. The mornings run from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and recent themes have ranged from "Road Trip: On the Go with God" to "Rainforest Falls," which explored five foundational truths about God's nature.
Bible Studies for Men and Women
The church hosts ongoing Bible study groups that meet throughout the week. A Women's Monday Morning Bible Study gathers at 10:00 a.m., rotating among locations but usually meeting in the Fellowship Hall. Everyone is welcome, and participants are encouraged to drop in as their schedules allow.
For men, a Monday Evening Bible Study meets biweekly from 7:30 to 8:15 p.m. The group is built around scripture and how it speaks to everyday life, and no advanced Bible knowledge is expected, only a willingness to share and participate. A Men's Fellowship Breakfast and Book Study gathers on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month from 8:00 to 8:45 a.m. in the Fellowship Hall, sharing a meal around a chosen book.
A Choir That Lifts the Worship
Music is a real cornerstone of LVPC worship. The church choir, directed by Rob Walters, rehearses on Thursday evenings and sings a Choral Anthem most Sundays. Choir members describe the anthem as a highlight that sets the tone for the rest of the service. The 10:00 a.m. service mixes hymns old and new, so anyone who likes to sing out, or who simply prefers to listen, can find a comfortable place.
Presbyterian Women in Mission
The Presbyterian Women of LVPC meet, study, and put their faith into action. Twice a year they host a major rummage sale that has become a community tradition; donations of small household items, linens, books, clothes, shoes, and children's toys and games are accepted in the days leading up to each sale, while bikes, electronics, and furniture are not accepted. Proceeds have supported young women pursuing further education in the Dominican Republic, as well as Johnsonburg Camp and Conference Center, Presbyterian Disaster Relief, local women's causes, and improvements around the church itself, including new blinds in the sanctuary and fellowship hall. The group's leadership includes Moderator Cyndy Scheffler.
Scouting at LVPC for More Than Eighty Years
Long Valley Presbyterian Church has chartered Scouting for more than eighty years, making it one of the congregation's longest-running outreach ministries. Three units of the Skylands District, Patriot Path Council, are chartered to the church: Cub Pack 36, Boy Troop 36, and Girl Troop 336. The troops meet weekly at the church, camp and hike monthly, and take on high-adventure trips. Recent projects have included a tree pickup fundraiser that delivered more than 150 trees to the local DPW for mulching, a Klondike Derby test of scouting skills, and an Eagle Scout service project by Luke Heim that built bat houses for churches around town to keep bats out of belfries. Each spring the Cub Pack holds its Pinewood Derby in the Fellowship Hall.
Two Decades in the Dominican Republic
Each summer since 2003, LVPC has sent a mission team to the Dominican Republic for about ten days of construction, medical care, and Christian fellowship. The team has built churches and water treatment facilities, held medical and dental clinics, run Vacation Bible Schools for local children, and built lasting relationships with neighbors. Recent trip journals describe pouring foundations in the heat, registering nearly 300 people at a free medical clinic staffed by doctors, dentists, and barbers, and distributing donated medications, glucose meters, and hygiene supplies to families who otherwise have little access to care. Meghan De La Rosa coordinates the trip, with 2026 dates set for late June into early July.
Feeding the Community Through LVCAP
LVPC was instrumental in founding what is now the Long Valley Community Assistance Program, an interfaith effort that grew out of the Interfaith Community Outreach of the Washington Township Area in 1996. Today LVCAP is supported by nine area churches and runs the community food pantry that is housed right at LVPC. Volunteers staff the pantry, sort donations, and assemble holiday gift baskets each year. A detailed list of needed pantry items is published regularly and includes staples like canned fruits and meats, peanut butter, cereal, pasta, rice, cooking oil, hygiene products, and cleaning supplies. Dented cans and out-of-date items are respectfully declined.
The Long Valley Clergy Association and Camp Johnsonburg
Two long-standing ministry partners round out LVPC's wider reach. The Long Valley Clergy Association brings together area clergy for shared ministry across the community. Camp Johnsonburg, a Presbyterian camp and retreat center established in 1959 in the New Jersey countryside, is another partner, supported in part through Presbyterian Women giving. The camp's mission of bringing together city kids and country kids, and people of every background, resonates with LVPC's own commitment to bridge-building.
Leadership and Governance
The Rev. Heather Morrison Yaden serves as pastor. A New Jersey native who grew up in Morristown, she has ministered for more than thirty years, including two decades as an intentional interim pastor, and brings a particular passion for helping congregations discover their gifts and calling. She and her husband Bill live across the border in Pennsylvania.
The church is governed by an elected Session of Elders, led by Moderator Andi Huber, with portfolios including Mission, Worship, Christian Education, Finance, Buildings and Grounds, Fellowship, Personnel, and Gifts and Talents. A Board of Deacons, co-moderated by Lisa Woodring and Mark Soga, organizes pastoral care across the congregation in alphabetical clusters and coordinates outreach into the wider community. Church Administrator Kimberly Lucci keeps the office running Tuesday and Thursday in person and remotely on Mondays and Wednesdays. The office is open from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Giving and Staying Connected
Gifts to LVPC can be made online through the church's secure giving page, by mailing a check to the Bartley Road address, or by setting up the church as a payee through a personal bank's online bill pay, which carries no fees. Contributions to the PC(USA)'s special offerings (One Great Hour of Sharing, the World Communion Offering, and the Christmas Joy Offering) can be made through a dedicated link on the church's giving page.
For anyone curious about what is happening in any given week, the church maintains an online calendar, an active Facebook page, an Instagram account, and a YouTube channel where worship and past sermons are posted. Whether someone is drawn by the music, the children's program, the Dominican Republic mission, the food pantry, or simply the promise of coffee after the service, Long Valley Presbyterian Church extends a standing invitation to come and walk together.