At 2A East Passaic Avenue in Rutherford, New Jersey, Rutherford Congregational Church is a United Church of Christ congregation known for open and affirming worship, spiritual conversations and deeds that extend from Rutherford to Palestine, Haiti and other communities. The church welcomes people who want friendship, community or purpose, including those deeply rooted in faith and those who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. Sunday worship takes place in the sanctuary and online, while study groups, music ministries, hospitality teams and justice partnerships give members and visitors many ways to belong.
Sunday Worship at 2A East Passaic Avenue
Every Sunday, Rutherford Congregational Church gathers from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. in its sanctuary at 2A East Passaic Avenue. The same service is livestreamed through Zoom worship, with meeting ID 896 848 7730. This gives congregants in Rutherford and Zoom members across the United States a shared weekly rhythm.
After worship, coffee hour gives people time to continue conversations and get to know one another. First Sunday Communion is part of the church's monthly worship rhythm. Music has room in both traditional and contemporary expressions: the Music Ministry and church band contribute, while special services also feature choirs, soloists, pageants and congregational participation.
People who are seeking community can also take part through small-group conversations, enrichment, service activities and fellowship. Online and in-person participants are equally included in the church's broad invitation to worship, learn and serve.
Believers, Seekers and a Community Across Distance
Rutherford Congregational Church is an open and affirming, multiracial and multicultural community of faith. Its members and visitors include people of many ages, races, sexual identities and orientations, political thoughts and faith backgrounds. The church has no litmus test for belonging, and its welcome extends to those who are deeply faithful, spiritually seeking or spiritual but not religious.
Sunday worship is one way to participate, while small groups, enrichment and service activities create other opportunities to build relationships. The monthly Church Chat uses fun questions and discussion points so members can learn more about one another in a relaxed setting.
The Zoom congregation includes participants from across the United States. For Rutherford Congregational Church, being church means shared worship and a relationship that extends beyond physical location. Its message to every person is direct: no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here.
A Long Tradition of Faith and a Future of Service
The church carries a long tradition of Christian faith and service while remaining open to new forms of community. As a United Church of Christ congregation, it understands itself as a community of believers and seekers, with each person traveling on a different spiritual path.
Pastor Annie Allen describes a church that has lost its message as a messenger that no longer communicates the Good News of Jesus. Her vision calls people to reimagine life beyond materialism, division and war and to live toward a world marked by peace, justice, health and healing, forgiveness, reconciliation and service to God, self, neighbor and stranger.
That vision shapes the church's teaching and practice. Scripture is presented as a path toward a changed life, while prayer is understood as communication with God involving praise as well as requests. The church connects hope with God's shalom, defining it as health, wholeness, security, right relationships and peace. Resurrection is associated with forgiveness, dignity, shared life and service in the world.
Pastor Allen also emphasizes grace rather than shame. Change grows from compassion and dignity, not humiliation, and no one is defined by a past identity or by labels imposed by others. New beginnings arise through faithful choices, prayer, shared meals, learning and asking for help. Resurrection becomes a communal way of life in which grief is accompanied, dignity is restored and hope is carried into wounded places.
Study, Prayer and the Rhythms of Spiritual Growth
Pastor Annie Allen leads a Tuesday-night Bible study and Spiritual Growth Group. The gathering is offered both in person and through Zoom, giving participants a recurring place to examine Scripture, ask questions and grow through shared conversation.
Women's Bible study and book-club gatherings are also offered in person and on Zoom. These smaller forms of fellowship complement the larger Sunday congregation and create space for participants to speak, listen and study together.
The church encourages people to think of worship broadly. It can take place through Bible study, service, prayer and celebration. Private time in the church building provides another setting for reflection, while the congregation's food, clothing and community projects turn faith into practical action.
Spiritual growth also includes retreats and contemplative practices. Women's fellowship retreats take place in spring, a churchwide retreat takes place in fall, and the church has organized spiritual labyrinth walks using candles and a sound bowl, with meditation at the center. Prayer is encouraged as an everyday practice rather than something reserved only for meetings.
Church School, Music and Shared Leadership
Church School, Christian education and children's activities meet every Sunday. Volunteers organize class syllabi, teach and lead activities for children, and offer special trips and gatherings. The church also supports a Music Ministry and church band, a Worship Team, and an Audio Visual and Technology team that runs Zoom calls and related equipment.
Ministry leadership has a broad base. Rev. Annie Allen serves as Interim Pastor. Alycia Desmond serves in Audio Visual and Technology and Music Ministry; Carol Marshall leads the Mission Team; Ellen Dammers serves in Worship and Christian Education; and Diane Forte leads the Hospitality Team.
- Church School, Christian Education and Children's Activities organize teaching and lead activities for children.
- The Worship Team helps organize Sunday services and can join the Music Ministry and church band.
- Audio Visual and Technology volunteers run Zoom calls and operate related equipment.
- Facilities volunteers maintain the sanctuary and worship space.
- Communications and Engagement volunteers help connect the church with the community.
- The Mission Team supports people in need, while the Social Justice Team takes action against inequality and injustice.
- Administrative volunteers assist with the church's management and events.
This structure gives people practical ways to contribute through teaching, music, technical help, communication, planning, care for the building or action on behalf of neighbors. Spiritual growth and service are treated as connected expressions of faith.
First Sunday Communion and the Milestones of Life
The church celebrates faith through the arc of life, not only through weekly preaching. First Sunday Communion, baptisms, weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, life departures and end-of-life ceremonies are all part of its worship and spiritual rhythm. Members and friends also share messages and talents in services and special gatherings.
Holiday and Holy Season observances include Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, along with Palm Sunday processions, Christmas pageants, special worship and shared meals. The congregation also joins public life in Rutherford through events such as Rutherford Day, Pride events, diversity celebrations and holiday parades. Christian faith is lived as welcome, celebration, relationship and service among people beyond the church building.
Making the Sanctuary a Welcoming House
The Hospitality Team keeps the sanctuary organized and presentable, prepares abundant food for coffee hour and helps create a welcoming setting for newcomers. Its work turns the room used for worship into a place for conversation and connection, especially after Sunday service.
The church also opens its space to friends, neighbors and partner organizations for important events. Its hospitality combines practical care with a theology of welcome, treating people as guests in a shared home when they arrive for worship, a community meeting or a conversation about spiritual life.
Food, Warmth and Networks of Care in Rutherford
Community engagement begins with listening to residents and working alongside local partners so the gifts within a neighborhood can be used for its benefit. Rutherford Congregational Church supports several practical ministries in and around Rutherford:
- Members donate food to the Rutherford Food Pantry.
- Through Family Promise, volunteers prepare and serve food for 200 families twice per year to support food security for homeless families.
- Winter Warm-Up distributes clothing, while coat drives, clothing for people who are homeless and the Angel Tree provide additional assistance.
- Rummage sales turn unwanted belongings into useful goods and raise funds.
- The church supports the Center for Hope & Safety in its mission to assist victims of domestic violence.
- Participation in Girl Scouts activities extends the church's connection with families and children.
RCC hosts networking socials, nonprofit summits and community connection events with the Rutherford Chamber of Commerce. Its charity bazaar brings together neighborhood businesses, artists and nonprofit partners, with groups such as Center for Hope & Safety, Haiti Hope House, SERRV International, the Ugandan Collective and Bethlehem ministry represented.
These efforts extend conversation as well as material aid. RCC has also taken part in Coffee with Cops, community meet-and-greets, multicultural gatherings, Pride events and other Rutherford activities. The emphasis is on sustained relationships among congregants, neighbors, public servants, nonprofits and businesses.
Creation Care and Mission Across Borders
Care for creation is one of the church's guiding principles. RCC is a registered New Jersey Sustainable Business, its building is LEED certified and mindful in its energy use, and it belongs to the UCC Environmental Network. Its environmental work also includes advocacy, responsible consumption and attention to the connection between personal habits and the health of the planet.
International missions apply the conviction that communities possess knowledge and strengths of their own. RCC offers knowledge, skills, material support and social capital so communities can help themselves and break cycles of dependency. Through Creating Possibilities, a collaboration of faith communities and leaders, the church supports asset-based community development in Palestine, including women's and children's groups.
Those projects begin with local people identifying a possibility and bringing together funding, physical resources and human assets before seeking help with remaining gaps. Examples include a tuition-free summer camp for abused children in Bethlehem and assistance transporting food to children in the city. The process emphasizes community leadership rather than simply delivering services from outside.
Haiti Hope House is another long-standing relationship. The charity works for education and training among Haitian children and young adults, while RCC contributes money, supplies, knowledge, skills and social capital to support local capacity. The church also supports Palestine through regular donations of money and needed supplies and uses seasonal fundraising for mission work.
Donations to RCC are tax-deductible and help fund church and community functions. Online giving and a separate missions giving option support both the local congregation and these international relationships.
Social Justice as a Faith in Action
The Social Justice Team begins with the conviction that God cares for people who are marginalized or vulnerable. Its concerns extend from human rights, immigration, food security and health care to creation care and the public institutions entrusted with education, science, the arts and peaceful relations. Justice is understood as shining light into neglect and persecution rather than accepting harm or inequality as normal.
RCC partners with peace, environmental, labor and immigration-rights groups and encourages people to contribute in whatever way they can. Forms of participation include phone calls, letters, administration, financial support, meetings and public demonstrations. People are encouraged to bring their talents and gifts into a broad movement while practicing generosity, patience and self-critique.
Representative John Lewis's words give the team a concise ethic: When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something! Do something! Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. Prayer and public witness are joined to service, with particular attention to immigrants, people living with poverty and the damaged natural world.
The church's partnership with the Bergen Council LGBTQ Alliance and its participation in Pride and diversity events connect welcome to public advocacy. Diversity is named as a core strength, and belonging is strengthened through conversation, shared work and honest recognition of inequity.
Pastor Annie Allen's Community-Focused Ministry
Rev. Annie Allen, who holds an M.Div. and an MPA, serves as Interim Pastor. She is also adjunct faculty at Memphis Theological Seminary, visiting faculty at Northwind Institute and Seminary, and a member of the Network for Social Transformation. Her work combines community development, teaching, training, group facilitation, retreats and liturgical ceremonies for stages of the human journey.
Before entering ministry in 2006, Allen spent 25 years in higher education as an administrator, program director and instructor. Her work in multicultural and international education included Cornell University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, the University of Vermont, Essex County College and Drew University. At Drew, she directed the National Shalom Resource Center, part of a faith-based community development ministry with training sites in the United States and abroad.
Allen also served on the Council of Higher Education of Newark and supported the redevelopment of University Heights. Her wider record includes service on the New Jersey Commission on Racial and Religious Violence, leadership in the Bergen County Rainbow Coalition and work with civic, educational and religious organizations.
She has served congregations in New York and New Jersey, including Brook Presbyterian Church, Turning Point United Methodist Church and Mt. Ararat Baptist Church, and has worked on the vestry of Redeemer Episcopal Church. This background connects worship, spiritual formation, education and public service in her work at Rutherford.
A Long Tradition and a Future of Welcome
Rutherford Congregational Church holds together worship in the sanctuary and on Zoom, First Sunday Communion, study, church school, music, hospitality, milestone celebrations and service beyond Rutherford. It also holds together welcome and accountability, spiritual growth and justice, local relationships and international partnership. That combination gives the church its identity: an open and affirming UCC community that welcomes people into fellowship, trusts them with meaningful service and works toward peace, healing and a more just world.