The Administrative Commission on Mid Councils (ACMC) is meeting at noon Eastern Time on Friday, October 1, to consider two overtures by the Synod of the Northeast. Both overtures call for changes to New Jersey presbyteries.
The first overture would transfer the First Presbyterian Church of Titusville from the Presbytery of Central New Jersey to the Presbytery of the Highlands of New Jersey. Both presbyteries have requested the change.
New boundaries are also included in the first overture, so that:
- The Presbytery of Central New Jersey would include all of Middlesex and Monmouth Counties in New Jersey, all of Mercer County in New Jersey excluding the unincorporated community of Titusville and between Routes 29 and the Delaware River from Titusville to the border of Hunterdon County in New Jersey, the unincorporated community of Kingston in Somerset County in New Jersey, and the portion of Ocean County in New Jersey from Lacey Township northward; and
- The Presbytery of the Highlands of New Jersey would include Hunterdon, Morris, Sussex and Warren Counties, Somerset County excluding Kingston and North Plainfield, the towns of West Milford, Ringwood, Bloomingdale, Wanaque, and Pompton Lakes in Passaic County, and Titusville, which is an unincorporated community located in Hopewell Township in Mercer County, New Jersey.
The second overture would change the place-holder name of the Presbytery of Central New Jersey to the Presbytery of the Coastlands.
“The ACMC approved the request of the Synod of the Northeast to reorganize the presbyteries in New Jersey from 7 to 4 back in March,” said the Rev. Tricia Dykers Koenig, Associate Director for Mid Council Relations in the Office of the General Assembly, “with the understanding that the newly-formed Presbytery of Central New Jersey intended to request a name change once the new presbytery had a chance to decide what it wanted to be called.
“They have now done so. And in the meantime, one congregation on the border between two presbyteries also requested a transfer, necessitating a boundary change.
“The meeting Friday at noon Eastern [9:00 a.m. Pacific, 10 a.m. Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Central] will be held on Zoom. Anyone wishing to speak to a motion or observe the meeting should contact me.”