They say that a Pennington man named Jonathan Bunn left a Methodist Society Meeting in Trenton in 1772 believing that he needed to bring Methodism closer to home.
Within two years, he had begun what today is known as the Pennington United Methodist Church, which for 250 years has been either at the literal or the figurative heart of Pennington Borough, if not both.
This month, the church’s leadership, including Pastor Joseph Jueng, and its members will begin celebrating what might be called the church’s semiquincentennial, if that were not such a mouthful.
“It’s the 250-year anniversary not of the church building, but of a Methodist presence in Pennington,” Jueng says. “We didn’t set the stake in the sand on that. Our forebears decided to celebrate 200 years in 1974. So now that it’s 2024, we celebrate 250 years.”
Methodist fervor was sweeping the land at the time that Bunn got caught up in it. “Methodism began as a renewal movement out of the Church of England,” says Jueng, who joined the congregation in 2020. “The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, wanted to renew the faith life of folks in England, and this movement grew legs and not only spread in England, but across to the American colonies at the time.”
The Methodism movement led to the start of a new denomination, Jueng says. “There weren’t enough pastors in the American colonies to meet the spiritual needs of the people of faith. People were waiting a year or more to receive communion or be baptized. So these folks who were appointed supervisors — now they are called bishops, but back then they were people who were superintending the work here — decided to ordain people into ministry because of those needs.”
And with that, churches like the Pennington United Methodist Church came to be.
A yearlong celebration is planned for 2024, with the first event, a 250th Anniversary Celebration, scheduled for Sunday, Jan. 28 at 3 p.m. The event will feature worship, music and singing with a reception to follow.
On Sunday, April 21 at 3 p.m., the church plans to host a Hym Festival presented by the American Guild of Organists, who will play variations on themes of Methodist hymns. A reception will follow on this occasion as well.
A Historic Cemetery Tour of Old Methodist Cemetery on Pennington-Titusville Road is scheduled for Saturday, June 1 at noon. Historian Jack Davis will lead the tour and share the history of the cemetery.
On Sunday, July 28 at 10:30 a.m., the church plans to hold a Missions’ Celebration, honoring the many missions the church undertakes in cooperation with nonprofit partners throughout the state. Partners set to be recognized include the REscue Mission of Trenton, the Neighborhood Center of Camden, Turning Point United Methodist Church, Mercer Street Friends, Hopewell Valley Mobile Food Pantry, Urban Grace and SURJ-NJ. A barbecue is set to follow that event.
On Saturday, Sept. 14 at 3 p.m., the church plans to host a benefit concert featuring internationally known opera singer Emily Newton, with a reception to follow.
A Trenton Children’s Choir Concert is scheduled for November, with date and details to be decided later this year. The yearlong celebration is set to conclude on Friday, Dec. 6 from 6 to 9 p.m. with a Holiday Walk and PUMC Open House.
The final event is set to include Christmas caroling, hot chocolate and cookies, and Christmas crafts for kids.
Those missions that are to be celebrated in July are “in the Methodist DNA,” Jueng says.
“We commit to that here,” he says. “There’s been a long legacy of service. Many of the members of this church were pillars of the now disbanded First Aid Squad in Pennington. We actively support five food pantries each month. We undertake to serve breakfast at a United Methodist church in Trenton. That faith community is what spawned this community — the first Methodist societies in the area met in Trenton — and so how fitting that we’re going to back to serve the people of Trenton.”
In its heyday, the church had more than 300 people in its membership rolls. Today, Jueng says, there are around 150 members, 50 or 60 of whom are actively connected with the church.
Church member Julie Aberger says that Jueng deserves the credit for the fact that many current members feel energized by their church ties in recent years.
“Joe has been here three years, and he is an exceptional person. He just feeds us spiritually,” Aberger says. “There’s been a real revival of spirituality, and he’s got a great bible study group. It is amazing how much he knows about the bible and theology and of course, the church. Every message (in his sermons) that comes from scripture or the Old Testament is always applied to how it relates to us in our lives. It’s not just abstract and theological, it’s about us. He brings faith alive, he really does. And he’s so much fun and he’s got such a great sense of humor.”
The Hopewell Express met with Jueng and a number of members one Thursday morning in December, the day of the week in which a regular group typically volunteers time to help with church upkeep or to prepare food or items for upcoming mission-related events. That morning, the crew scrambled 36 dozen eggs before settling down to enjoy some refreshment and conversation.
“One of the advantages we have of being a smller church is that everyone knows each other,” Jueng said. “And we do have opportunities during the week in our small group sessions, where we really get to find out what’s going on in our lives. This Thursday group is nominally about doing maintenance and yardwork, but mostly it’s an opportunity to come together, have coffee and donuts, and share whats going on in our lives.”
Aberger said she liked what Jueng says about missions and the church. “[Jueng] said that missions drive our church, and I think people are attracted to our church because of our boots-on-the-ground missions. We’re not just giving money. We’re giving service,” she said.
Those missions, Jueng said, underscore just how the church has been an active presence in the community over the years. “It’s hosted so many different groups. We’re hosting a community Blue Christmas service for those for whom this season is not particularly joyful,” he said. “I joke that half the town has a key to our church, because so many outside groups use it. This is the way we service our community: by making the church available, by making ourselves available.”
Pennington Methodists have had three churches over the years: a stone church on Pennington Titusville Road, near the Pennington United Methodist Church Burial Ground, which may have burned down around 1826; a second church, built around the same time at 145 S. Main St., which is now a private residence; and the current church, which was erected in 1847 and expanded in 1876.
While new members join all the time, some have been members for most of their lives, including lay pastor Dan Boone and member Joan Scharzwalder Hess, who said she first moved to the area when she was 7 years old. Her parents enrolled her in the church’s elementary school and Sunday school, and she has been a member ever since — 70 years in all.
“I’m still here, and what keeps me here is the spirituality of the place,” she said. “There’s faith in action here, there really is. People like to help each other, and they do it gracefully.”
Pennington United Methodist Church.,
