Dear Members and Friends of Brick Church,
Below you will find a summary of our past three Session meetings. There are several exciting developments I would like to highlight!
Beginning September 8 we will have Sunday evening worship services in the sanctuary at 6:30 p.m.! These services will help those Brick members who are pulled away for various reasons on Sunday mornings to still be a part of our worshiping community on a regular basis. The services will have a contemplative and peaceful feel, featuring a quartet of singers from our morning choir. We also hope that by offering a time alternate to Sunday morning, more people within our neighborhood might choose to make Brick Church their home through this service.
We have contracted with Rev. Caroline Unzaga for ten hours a week, to serve as a Parish Associate for our congregation, primarily working on Sundays. We are excited to have Caroline returning to us, as perhaps you recall she served as an interim associate pastor here a few years ago, as well as a seminary intern before that. In addition to her Sunday morning worship duties, she will also support one committee and lead one small group.
This fall we are excited to welcome Dr. Charles Guth, our first Theologian in Residence at the Brick Presbyterian Church. Dr. Guth will be with us for 28 hours each week. He will assist in Worship, staff the Adult Education Committee, and work with our seminarians.
Last year’s seminarians, Henry Anyomi and Rob D’Alessandro will return to Brick Church for another year beginning this fall! We will see them primarily on Sundays as they assist in Worship leadership, and support the Youth and Adult Education Committee. Scroll to the bottom of this email for the short bios of Henry, Rob, Charles, and Caroline.
The Session voted to request the Presbytery’s permission to call a Congregational Meeting for the purpose of forming an Associate Pastor Nominating Committee. As we obtain approvals from Presbytery we anticipate forming the APNC sometime in the fall. When the Session reconvenes after the Summer break we will find ways to reach out to you to receive your thoughts on this significant step for the congregation.
I truly hope you’re enjoying your summer! More information about these exciting developments will be available in the coming months. In the meantime don’t hesitate to reach out to me with questions or suggestions!
Peace,
Rev. Tom EvansSenior Minister
MAY | The Session of the Brick Church held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 14th.
The Session Meeting of May 14th again showed Brick moving ahead quickly and addressing Church operations. Stewardship reported on the pledge campaign (94% of goal), spoke of the success of Cinderella, and proposed that a community theater at Brick should continue with similar events in the future. The Personnel Committee presented plans for additional, but temporary, pastoral support for the upcoming 2024-2025 year. Day School Director Marie Fabian highlighted all the end-of-year events and said final preparations for September were underway. Children’s Ministry is also preparing for the start of a new year with a focus on upgrading the Sunday School curriculum. The All Church Nominating Committee confirmed that all preparations were complete for the upcoming Annual Meeting, i.e. all four slates of nominees for Officer have been prepared. Session approved a set of two policies defining a quorum for its meetings and a policy for a quorum at Congregational Meetings that will come before the upcoming Annual Meeting for a vote. The 2024 Church Calendar was approved. Two working groups were created: one, to evaluate issues around building usage, and, second, to prepare Brick’s celebration of the Semiquincentennial in 2026.
JUNE | The Session of the Brick Church held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 18th.
The Session of the Brick Church held its monthly meeting on Tuesday, June 18th. Day School Director Marie Fabian said the School came to a successful year-end close with the usual final Chapel and last-day events. Fundraising ended with 100% participation. All is ready for the start of the ’24-’25 year in September. The Communications Committee reported that the ongoing branding effort, tied closely with the Session’s work on Brick’s Vision, can now accelerate over the summer based on Session’s recent input. Grants to the African Dream Academy Foundation ($18,370), the Trinity Place Shelter ($10,000); and the Promise Project ($5,000) were approved. A new approach to a second Sunday Worship Service at 6:30 p.m. was introduced for consideration by the Worship and Music Committee. A decision to hold these Services starting in September will be made next meeting based on some additional information to be collected. All Elders have now received their Committee assignments for 2024-2025 thanks to the work of the Officer Placement Committee. Other routine administrative matters, as always, were addressed and acted on.
JULY | The Session of the Brick Church held a called meeting on Tuesday, July 16th.
The July Meeting of Session was scheduled as a Zoom meeting and, therefore, was limited in scope. The Session first approved a 45-minute Sunday Evening Worship Service to start on September 8 and run through the end of November. A less formal Service for about 40 attendees is contemplated. If successful, it can be continued. Next, after the approval of the Fall Concert and Spring Musical at the last meeting, the Session approved the After-School Musical Theater Classes based on the interest shown by over 30 individuals, many of whom were non-member families. One class was for ages 3-5 on Tuesdays and the other class was for ages 6-9 on Thursdays. The Session also approved filing an application for a permit for the Brick Summer Camp. Approval of the Summer Camp will be after some experience has been gained with the BCCT in the fall. Lastly, Moderator Evans made a motion, which passed, to request Presbytery’s permission to call a Congregational Meeting to vote on the formation of an APNC to search for a third pastor. This vote had to be scheduled at this Meeting to ensure the request can reach the Committee on Ministry’s submission deadline in a timely fashion for full Presbytery approval before the end of the year. There was one announcement. Moderator Evans asked for volunteers to help with the Presbytery Meeting to be held at Brick on Saturday, October 5th. There will be a Worship Service with Communion followed by the quarterly Meeting itself.
CAROLINE UNZAGA
We are excited to announce that Rev. Caroline Unzaga is rejoining The Brick Church as a part-time Parish Associate! Many of you may remember Rev. Unzaga from her previous time with us, both as an intern in our Seminarian program and more recently as an interim associate minister.
Rev. Unzaga brings a wealth of experience and a warm, compassionate presence to our congregation. Currently, she serves as the Manager of Spiritual Care at Morristown Medical Center, where she leads a multi-faith team of chaplains in providing spiritual and religious support to patients, families, and staff. An ordained Presbyterian minister, Rev. Unzaga is a graduate of the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Princeton Theological Seminary and is a Certified Educator in the Association of Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE).
A cradle Presbyterian from Atlanta, Georgia, Rev. Unzaga has spent most of her adult life in the northeast, serving in both parish and hospital settings. Her diverse ministry roles have included global mission, youth ministry, congregational care, faith formation, and interim ministry. She lives in northern NJ with her husband, two teen kids, and their energetic Springer Spaniel.
Rev. Unzaga will be primarily working with us on Sundays, beginning in September, and we look forward to her contributions to our worship and community life. Please join us in giving her a warm welcome back to The Brick Church family!
CHARLES GUTH
He received his Ph.D. in theology and ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary in June 2024, after earning his Master of Divinity there in 2017. During the 2021–2022 academic year, he was a Fulbright Research Fellow at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. The son of a Presbyterian pastor, Charles grew up in Calgary, Alberta; Sebring, Florida; and the Chicago suburbs. As an undergraduate he studied philosophy at Wheaton College. During that time, he began to discern a call to ministry and is currently an ordination candidate under the care of the Presbytery of Chicago. Before beginning his doctoral studies, he served as a teaching intern at Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton, New Jersey, and completed his clinical pastoral education at Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center.
HENRY ANYOMI
Henry is a third-year Master of Divinity student at Drew Theological School. Inter alia, he was recently awarded Drew’s Franz Hildebrant Prize for his deep faith and excellence in theological studies and his effective ministerial contributions. He is from Ghana, West Africa, and is a member of the United Presbyterian Church of West Orange (UPCWO). He is the program director at the Center on Religion, Culture, and Conflict (CRCC), Drew University, where he coordinates programs and events intended to help raise the next generation of leaders in interfaith and intercultural understanding. He holds a master’s degree in international affairs (Global Security major) from the Geneva Graduate Institute and a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from the University of Ghana, Legon. In the near future, Henry aspires to be a pastor and peacebuilder, tending the church and building bridges across differences in communities around the world.
ROB D’ALESSANDRO
Since he became a Christian at 15 years old, Rob wanted to attend seminary and pursue some type of career involving biblical studies and Christian ministry. He attended undergraduate school with the sole intention of having the credentials sufficient to attend seminary afterward. He was able to complete his undergraduate degree at Rutgers University, studying history and philosophy, (and a lot of theology on his own), and graduated from the Master of Divinity program at Princeton Theological Seminary in spring 2024. His primary academic interests have been the study of the New Testament. He served as a Brick Church seminarian from 2023-2024. His hobbies include studying theology and virtually any recreational activities such as hiking, biking, running, etc.
Comments