Prospect Presbyterian Church sits on Prospect Street in Maplewood, New Jersey, a single-story stone-and-shingle congregation with a half-century record of welcoming people others overlooked. The church belongs to the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Presbytery of Northeast New Jersey, and its motto, carried across the top of its pages, is to be a family in Christ reaching out to all with love, prayer and service. That welcome is not an aspiration at Prospect. It is a long habit.
A Half-Century of Open Doors
Prospect was already an unusual congregation before most American mainline churches had begun to think about inclusion. In the early 1960s, when racial division still shaped most church life in northern New Jersey, the congregation started a World Fellowship Weekend to celebrate its diversity and welcome newcomers from abroad. It recruited women to its boards at a time when most Presbyterian sessions were entirely male. It actively appealed to African-American families to join, openly discussed poverty, war and other social issues from the pulpit, and later welcomed people regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation. Rev. Gus Warfield said in 1965 that the church's goal was to make sure that fifty years later Prospect would still be alive and ministering to whoever lived in the community, and the congregation has stayed close to that aim.
Worship at 10:30 on Sundays
Sunday worship takes place at 10:30 AM in the Sanctuary. The service is offered both in person and online through a YouTube livestream; masks are optional, and visitors are invited to participate in whatever manner feels right. Liturgy follows the Revised Common Lectionary, drawing on the rich tradition of Reformed and Presbyterian resources while weaving in contemporary language, personal prayers, media, drama and dance. Children are present for part of the service and then move into their own Worship and Wonder space to explore the scripture in age-appropriate ways. A printable worship bulletin is posted online each week, and an online fellowship chat allows those watching at home to send prayer requests to the worship leaders. Following the service, the congregation gathers for a Fellowship Time in Fellowship Hall, hosted each week by a different group from the church.
Music That Spans Continents
Music is a focal point of worship at Prospect. The Chancel Choir, a volunteer ensemble, provides music leadership during the service and rehearses on alternating Sundays following worship at noon, with a warm-up at 9:30 AM on Sunday mornings. The Director of Music is Ngqibeko Peter Ncanywa, a Xhosa musician from South Africa who studied organ at Montclair State University and brings a wide range of repertoire to the congregation. Music at Prospect reflects the diversity of the worshiping community and includes opportunities for instrumentalists and singers of all ages.
Faith Formation Across the Generations
Education for every age is woven into the life of the church. On most Sunday mornings from September through May at 9:15 AM, ConnectEd gathers four classes at once: Pre-K through first grade, second through fifth grade, middle and senior high youth, and adults. Together they explore Biblical practices for faithful living. A new Family Time Kit program, launched in September 2025, sends monthly boxes home with families containing a calendar of daily positive activities, a mealtime or bedtime prayer, a Bible passage with discussion questions, and a hands-on activity with supplies. The mid-week study meets during Lent and Advent, generally on Wednesdays at lunch and/or dinner times led by the pastor, and recent series have followed titles such as 24 Hours That Changed the World, Seasons Greetings: Christmas Letters from Those Who Were There, and Turning Over Tables. Adult electives meet periodically on Sunday mornings or at noon on Wednesdays, with evening options, and single sessions or four-week series are offered on topics suggested by congregational interest. A Book Club, started in 2015, gathers every other month after worship to discuss a book chosen by members. Children also experience the Children's Time during worship, and Camp Prospect offers a multi-age, play-based summer day camp with discovery, music, experiments and outdoor play.
The Prospect Hunger Program
The hunger ministry at Prospect is one of its best-known outreaches. On the third Saturday of each month from 10:00 AM to noon, the program collects food donations to support the food pantry at St. Joseph's Catholic Church and MEND of Essex County. On the third Sunday, an assembly line of volunteers bags sandwiches and snacks during the Fellowship Time after worship, and the following Tuesday a delivery team takes the lunches to Newark Penn Station and distributes them through the Solidarity Path Project. Volunteers also shop for the ingredients earlier in the week. The Prospect Co-Op Preschool families also have dedicated donation times during the week, and the program welcomes new volunteers at any level of involvement.
Family Promise and Long Partnerships
Prospect is one of the founding congregations of the Family Promise Network of Essex County (formerly the Interfaith Hospitality Network). In its original form, Family Promise was a co-op of faith congregations that provided meals and overnight shelter for families without homes, with guest families staying at the host church from 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM on weekdays and all day on weekends. Prospect hosted families four weeks a year. Since 2020, Family Promise has shifted its programs and no longer uses church buildings for shelter, but Prospect continues to support its work to keep children and families housed and secure.
Sensible Gun Safety and Presbyterian Women
Two further ministries give shape to the congregation's public witness. The Sensible Gun Safety Ministry holds space for faithful and difficult conversations about gun violence, welcoming a range of perspectives in response to what the congregation sees as the brokenness of the world. Presbyterian Women, part of the national Presbyterian Women association, nurture faith through prayer and Bible study, arrange sanctuary flowers, host Blanket Sunday for Church World Service, organize fellowship events, run the Christmas Secret Shoppe, and raise funds for mission causes.
Good Neighbor Coffee, the Veggie Garden, and the Secret Shoppe
Smaller weekly rhythms tie Prospect to its neighbors. Every Wednesday from 8:45 to 9:30 AM, rain or shine, volunteers serve fair-trade coffee outside the church (or in the hallway near Fellowship Hall when the weather is poor); the church avoids disposable products and welcomes visitors to bring a mug from home. Along the Tuscan Road side of the building, a new veggie garden planted in spring 2025 grows vegetables to share with neighbors, tended with the help of the co-op preschool, Camp Prospect, and scout troops that meet in the building. Each December, the Prospect Secret Shoppe returns as a collaboration with the co-op preschool, with teenage elves from local scout troops and Columbia High School helping children buy inexpensive gifts for their families; a bake sale and food drive run alongside the shopping, and adults wait in a hospitality room hosted by Good Neighbor Coffee and the church.
The Deacons' Caring Touch
The Board of Deacons leads the congregation in acts of caring service. Deacons call, visit, send cards, deliver flowers and provide meals to members facing illness, grief, financial strain or other challenges, and they share in members' good news as well. A Deacons' bulletin board outside the Sanctuary shares health-related information, and the Deacons' Fund provides monetary assistance, by grant or loan, to members in need, with discretion and privacy. The name of the Deacon of the Month appears in the weekly bulletin under Prayer Concerns.
Mission, Vision and Inclusion
The Session of Prospect has put its welcome into writing. Per the Presbyterian Church (USA) Book of Order, the church guarantees full participation and representation in its worship, governance and emerging life to all persons. As such, the Session declared publicly on February 6, 2025, that Prospect welcomes, includes in life and leadership, and celebrates people of all racial and ethnic identities, abilities, ages, gender identities and expressions, sexual orientations, and marital, family, national, immigration, health, language, cultural, socioeconomic and housing statuses. Anyone of any faith or no faith is welcome as an attendee and friend in the life and activities of Prospect. All are welcome at Prospect Church.
A Church in Pastoral Transition
Prospect's pastor of 27 years, Rev. Rick Boyer, retired in 2023, and Rev. Jessica Dixon-Ebner has served as Interim Pastor since October 2023. Dixon-Ebner has served interim and transitional calls in Chicago, Oklahoma and three in New Jersey before coming to Maplewood. On January 8, 2026, the church released its Ministry Discernment Profile through the PC(USA) Church Leadership Connection, and the Pastor Nominating Committee is reviewing candidates for the next settled call to be Head of Staff. The Stewardship Campaign for 2026-2027, launched May 17, is asking members to renew pledges of financial and spiritual support to sustain the church through this season of change. A new set of mission, demographic and Holy Cow survey documents has guided the process.
The Building and Its Neighborhood
The church sits at 646 Prospect Street, just blocks from the heart of Maplewood, and shares its building with the Prospect Co-Op Preschool and with scout troops that meet on the property. The Tuscan Road side hosts the new veggie garden, and the Fellowship Hall, just inside, is the gathering place after worship and on Wednesday mornings for coffee. Online worship is available to anyone who cannot attend in person, and the YouTube channel carries recordings of recent services. Prospect's ministry extends outward to Newark through the Tuesday lunch deliveries, and inward to its own neighbors through Good Neighbor Coffee, the Secret Shoppe, and the simple gesture of opening its doors to anyone who walks by.