Welcome to Embury

Celebrating 150 years of Loving God and our Community 1869 - 2019

You are always welcome. Embury is warm and friendly in its truest sense. But then again it is to be experienced, not promoted. In this age of super stores and super sizes, we are not embarrassed that we are small. In fact, we believe it is one of our strengths where you feel more like part of a caring family, not part of a "congregation." Most importantly, at Embury, it's all about growing disciples, not adding members. It's not about maintaining our facility but it's about loving our neighbors and loving God. (Mark 12:30-31) You are always welcome!

Visioning Update – March, 2014

The Vision Team has had 2 meetings to date, one in mid January and a second in March.  In January, members received copies of the Greater New Jersey Conference Strategic Ministry Plan Summary article and the book Kicking Habits: Welcome Relief for Addicted Churches by Thomas Bandy.  An additional article, Implementing the 16 Drivers of Vital Congregations, was emailed to team members.  Members would be prepared for discussion regarding the readings at our next meeting so that we could begin to evaluate where our church ministry is and determine where our church ministry should strive to be in the future.[break][break] On March 6, 2014 the 7 Vision Team members met to discuss their research. Like most projects, the “who, what, when, and how” must be brought to the forefront. First, our discussion led us to the conclusion that the Church is compiled of people who believe in and become disciples of Jesus Christ and thus pattern their lives after Jesus Christ or the “who”.  We determined that the purpose of the Church is to grow believers who proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to expand the kingdom of God or the “what”.  Finally, the research indicated that by growing disciples through nurturing and mission the church encourages people to go out and make a difference in the community and world or the “how”.  The “when” is to still be determined![break][break] Secondly, by reviewing many of our characteristics, we assessed the focus of the ministry at Embury UMC. We determined that we have a membership-focused church. Based on this conclusion, the Vision Team will be reviewing the possibility of Embury changing its focus from a membership mold to a disciple of Jesus Christ mold. Therefore, we would work toward growing disciples who will live out their faith everyday through daily scripture readings, prayer, and mission out in the community and world.[break][break] If you have any questions, we invite you to ask any member of the vision team about the readings or to get a copy of the articles from Lynn Scott. A loan of the book Kicking Habits can be requested from any member of the team. The Vision Team will meet again in April. Thank you for your support of this ongoing process.[break][break] Grace Pak[break] Dan Pak[break] Joan Cichalski[break] Wendy Turnock[break] Diane Lowing[break] Barbara Mason[break] Lynn Scott