From the category archives:
First Reformed Church is offering a free concert by Lorraine Nelson-Wolff and her family of performers on Saturday, September 11 at 7:00 pm.
Come for a night of inspirational songs and stories with the Billboard & ASCAP award-winning composer, singer, and pianist. Lorraine’s husband, Godfrey, and daughter, Lauren Nelson, are her special performer guests.
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The following is part of a report submitted on behalf of our church to the NJ Historic Trust. We print it here so that our readers may receive first-hand information on the developments in our old cemetery. We have much reason to be grateful for the wonderful work that Christine and her students undertake.
Christine Miller Cruiess, a part-time lecturer at Rutgers, will be leading a field school in the Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies Program (CHAPS). The goal of the field school is two-fold. First, the students will conduct a conditions assessment that will inform a Preservation Plan for the cemetery, following the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office’s Historic Structure Reports and Preservation Plans. The preservation plan for the site will be heavily informed by students’ work during the Spring 2010 term, the pre-requisite course for the field school. During the Spring 2010 term, the students completed archival research on the cemetery and those interred there, research into the materials in the cemetery, research into different conservation methods and techniques that conform to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, and a survey form and glossary to document the current conditions of each individual grave marker in the cemetery. The preservation plan will build upon the students’ previous work and create a prioritized treatment plan for the treatment of the entire cemetery site.
The second goal of the course will be comprised on a pilot implementation program where students will gain hands-on experience completing conservation treatments. The students will be supervised by two conservators who have extensive experience in outdoor monument and cemetery conservation (resumes available upon request). In summary, the proposed conservation treatments will include:
All treatments will conform with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards.
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Since the congregational meeting on May 2nd, the much discussed sanctuary re-design project has taken on more shape.
First of all, the Building Vision Group has filed an application with the state to become a 501(c)3 with the name the Town Clock Community Development Corporation. We chose to be a community development corporation because we do not want to exclusively be a building/housing development corporation. Rather, our vision is to include programming as other forms of ministry to the community. These visions will require time to develop, but we are looking into new things. Also, we added two persons to the board of the 501(c)3 who live with the need for supportive housing.
Second, we have met with two architectural firms, representatives from the NJ Housing Mortgage Financing Agency (HMFA), two development companies, two supportive services agencies, and the New Brunswick Housing Authority, as well as with Mayor Jim Cahill, who also took the time to do a site visit. Needless to say, there is a lot of support and excitement about the proposed project.
Third, along with all of this, we have worked on a budget for the upcoming year. With this budget, we begin to realize the need for funding a “building director”, or, better, an “executive director” for the project. This will have to be worked on and a job description developed. We are still in the preliminary stages of this.
Finally, our next steps will be: to agree upon an architectural firm, to look at design plans for the living units and the sanctuary, to bring those plans to a small group of the congregation for further discussion, to get commitments on funding, to visit several locations which have developed such housing and see how the program partners are working together.
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me or anyone else on the team. We would really enjoy speaking to you about this project.
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(Submitted for the Building Vision Ad-hoc Committee whose members are Stef Beemsterboer, Joan Fekete, Ellen Hamilton, Liz Hance)
On May 2nd from 11:45 a.m. until 12:30 p.m., the Building Vision Ad-hoc Committee is presenting the feasibility study of the sanctuary redesign to the entire congregation, as well as the next steps to be taken if we decided to continue with this project. We hope that many –if not all of you — stay after worship to participate in the discussion and vote.
This ad-hoc committee needs to receive support from the congregation in order to continue to meet with housing authorities and other funding sources for this project. In truth, there is much support coming from various organizations which are encouraging us to pursue this vision, however, in order for us to move forward, we need to have your approval.
This redesign, as you will come to know during the presentation, holds many ramifications — structural changes, further ministry outreach, and even income resource. We hope that you are willing to listen to the vision of the work and to provide some thoughtful reflection on how this is expressing the love of God to our surrounding community.
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April 25th was an important day in the life of our church as that Sunday afternoon Consistory approved the signing of an Easement from the NJ Historic Trust for our property. The Easement will protect the historic heritage of our buildings, as well as the surrounding cemetery. It also protects the State’s investment in our heritage.
The Easement requires a corresponding resolution from Classis before it can be recorded with the County. This recording is the presupposition for the NJ Historic Trust to release the first part of our preservation grant to us. The Easement has a duration of 20 years, beginning in 2014.The Easement has some implications for our day-to-day life. Upon completion of our project, we have to file an annual Easement Report. In it, we will give account of all maintenance work of the preceding year. The report will also entail a minimum of twelve photographs, as well as evidence that our buildings and property were sufficiently open to the public during that year.
Another implication of the Easement is that, from now on, we need to inform the NJ Historic Trust before we do repair work or significantly alter the landscaping around the church (for example, by taking down trees). Changes to the buildings will need written approval from the Trust.
Aside from the preservation project, there is no further news on other grants. Our grant request for remediation work in connection with our former oil tank is still waiting for approval from the agency in charge. In April, we filed several additional reports and we hope that something will soon move in this regard. It would enable us to complete the remediation efforts and to replace the temporary sidewalk.
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As the Consistory Corner announced in the newsletter last month, the Building Vision Task Force has been working on increasing the “usage” of all three of our buildings. We are in the process of formulating a 501(c)3 in this regard. The Vision Statement for this we provided in the January newsletter as well.
Along these lines, the Consistory agreed to hire an architect for a feasibility study of the sanctuary building. Mr. James Oleg Kruhly of Kruhly Architects was approved. While his firm will be writing up the feasibility study, Mr. Kruhly has also offered to provide a lecture to our congregation, since this “investigation” of a possible re-molding of the worship space, et. al. is happening more often than we might think in many congregations.
Mr. Kruhly has given this lecture while in London, since his expertise is well-known in the area of historic churches. We are very grateful for his generous offer (He will not be charging us an extra fee for the lecture.), and the Task Force is quite sure that the lecture will be eye-opening.
So please plan to remain a bit longer at coffee hour on Sunday, Feb 21st. Mr. Kruhly’s PowerPoint lecture is titled: The Changing Nature of Places of Worship. This should increase our understanding and sense of meaning for such an interior remodeling.
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There is a new sign in front of our church. It is the mandatory project sign that will be with us for the duration of Preservation Project Phase 1, i.e. approximately four or five years. The sign was a presupposition for our first quarterly report, due on January 15, 2010.
When Julius and I dug the holes for the signposts, I felt like a dream come true. After all, the biggest word on the sign is the word PRESERVED;. It implies that the worst part of the project is already behind us, when the sign is established — the application process for the state grant, and the creation of the preservation plan that preceded it.
Theologically, the word PRESERVED; is perhaps questionable. Ministry is never about preserving oneself, but about serving others. However, it doers not take much to realize that our very preservation project bears all the marks of service:
If you look at it in this way, our project sign is a pretty special sign, wouldn’t you say?
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