About Us

Second Presbyterian Church

Founded 1820

Reestablishing as a renewal worshiping community

P.O. Box 715 Elizabeth, NJ 07207

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Instagram: secondpresbyterianchurch2022

973-913-4254

Leadsership Team

- Senior Pastor, Open position

- Reverend Chris Hedges, Ph.D., is the Associate Minister who leads the ministry of Social Witness and Prison Ministry

-Linwood Bagby is retiring from the Elizabeth Schools on June 30. He will become our new outreach coordinator(part-time) beginning August 15, 2023. We are thankful for Linwood ‘s call and his gifted ministry within the community. Second’s renewed focuses are  new worshiping community and outreach.

- Second Presbyterian Church is administered by the church Session and the Pastor. Anwar Hargrove is the Clerk of Session.

-Linda Bullock is our new bookkeeper who will be managing the church’s finances. She works with several other Presbyterian churches, included Connecticut Farms.

-Our worship and fellowship time is the third Wednesday of each month. We meet in a private room at the Garden Restaurant, 943 Maggie Ave in Union, New Jersey.  It is time to be together as a Second family. We share, pray, sing, worship and celebrate the Lord’s Supper (Communion). We plan to organize  into three small groups in 2025 and are looking for a place to launch a new weekly Sunday worshiping community. Please put it on your calendar and pray for us going forward.

-Second accepts tithes, offering and gifts to help sustain our ministry and work. Please send your donations to our mailing address: Second Presbyterian Church, P.O. Box 715 Elizabeth, NJ 07207

Going forward, let us persevere with faith and love in Christ, “For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and work to God’s good pleasure.” Phil. 2:12

Join us for worship and beloved community at 10:30 am on Sunday on our Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/

 

Dear Second Family and Friends,

Albert Einstein’s handwritten note about the secret to happiness recently sold at auction for $1.56 million. Can you believe that!!  Einstein’s advice for living a happy life? “A quiet and modest life brings more joy than a pursuit of success bound with constant unrest.”

There’s wisdom in these words. As we find ourselves forming our relationships as a church community this is a good time to ask ourselves about happiness. Here are some questions to consider: “What one thing in life makes you most happy?” “What makes you unhappy?” “Are happiness and being fulfilled the same thing?”

Poll Results on Elizabeth’s after school Students’ Happiness

The students polled were asked to put down things that make them happy. Is it money, sex, cars, being off from school? Surprised! These Elizabeth students scored the same as their United States peers. Less than 1% of youth gave those answers. The big winners were spending time with family followed by time with friends and loved ones. What made some of them unhappy is being away from family, loss by death and how COVID-19 is still affecting their everyday living.

What can we learn from these young people? Relationships are incredibly important to us!  Like them, our happiness is not coming from owning more stuff and it’s not even determined by our life’s circumstances. It’s whether the key relationships, family and friends, in our lives are satisfying.

Relationships Hold the Key:m Which brings us to one of the central truths at the very core of Jesus’ teachings. He puts it out there straight in The Gospel of John chapter 15 verses 11-15: Jesus is speaking:

“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your (family) and friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I’m no longer calling you servants because servants don’t understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I’ve named you friends because I’ve let you in on everything I’ve heard from the Father” (The Message).

Jesus is telling us here that putting yourself out there for your family or friends is a great thing. But the even more amazing message here is that Jesus considers us His friends when we become His followers. It’s all about relationships with God and with others.

The last few months I go back and forth into my Mom’s house to help out. There’s my Mom who is 92 having her adult children sharing the caregiving chores and responsibilities. It means cleaning the house, cooking the meals, washing  laundry, shopping for meals and taking her to doctor’s appointments. I’m sure you have a story in your family that is just as exhausting and needful.

I look at my time with my family as a gift from God. I choose to find joy in my circumstances. The best part is that I can care for and get to know my Mom all over again. I listen to her endless stories, make sure she eats well, deposit her checks and know how pleased and thankful she is that I am with her.

Choosing to look at our circumstances more positively and recognizing the  importance of the people in our lives can lead to feelings of happiness and joy. Happiness is the momentary things we do or say that can make us smile and laugh. Joy is the abiding presence in our minds and hearts as we see good around us and the people whom we care and love.  Happiness, as important as it is, comes and goes with our feelings. The joy that God gives has the ability to stay with us and fulfill us while we wash clothes, clean the house, take care of the kids, go to school and work, fight with each other and accomplish the everyday tasks before us. Joy is knowing there is a purpose and that purpose becomes clearer as we learn to live with and  love one another.

Spread the Joy!  Our Second Presbyterian Church challenge is to talk with our friends, siblings and family members about happiness, joy and relationships.  

Here’s some help to get you started:

You: “Hey I just finished reading my Church’s newsletter about happiness and joy. The big question is: What one thing in life makes you most happy?” “What is your answer?”

Then listen to them and ask related questions. (Make sure you share your answers after they share with you.)

Good luck with your family and friend conversations and let me know how it went!

Be Happy and embrace joy in all things,

Warmly,

Linwood Bagby, Outreach Coordinator