On the western edge of Hopewell Borough's compact downtown, the brick and stone building at 80 West Broad Street has long served as a steady presence for the small Mercer County community. Hopewell Presbyterian Church, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church (USA), gathers there each Sunday morning at 10:30 for worship, and throughout the week the doors stay open to nursery families, choristers, council of churches volunteers, and neighborhood groups who use the Fellowship Hall and classrooms. The church describes its purpose plainly: to love like Jesus by building up relationships with God, with one another, and with the wider community. In everything from its Godly Play room to its annual MLK Day of Service, that threefold mission shapes the rhythm of the week.
A Congregation in Transition
In April 2024, the congregation welcomed the Rev. Beth Scibienski as its Transitional Pastor. Her arrival marked the beginning of a multi-year season the church describes as a time of healing and rebuilding following an issue of misconduct. Scibienski brings more than thirty years of executive leadership experience, including work leading change, merging nonprofit corporations, and developing funds. She holds a BA in Organizational and Interpersonal Communication and an MDiv from New Brunswick Theological Seminary, and trained in Leadership Coaching for Organizational Performance through Rutgers University and Heidrich and Struggles. She carries specific certification in Transitional Leadership and is the author of Who is God when We Hurt? a pastor, caregiver wrestles with grief, loss, faith and doubt, as well as a contributing author of Sustaining Grace, innovative ecosystems for new faith communities. Her published writing on grief and new faith communities shapes the preaching and pastoral care she now offers Hopewell Presbyterian.
Sunday Worship on West Broad Street
Worship is the centerpiece of the week. The 10:30 AM Sunday service follows the contours of the Reformed tradition, with choir and congregational singing, scripture lessons, prayer, a sermon, and weekly Communion celebrated at the table. Children ages four through eleven begin the service with their families; after the Passing of the Peace they are invited to leave with the Godly Play leader for a hands-on lesson during the sermon. Children who prefer to stay with their parents find activity bags in the back of the Sanctuary, and the youngest among them are always welcome to remain in the pews with wiggle room and toys provided for little ones.
The music program is led by Charlie Ashton, Director of Music, who oversees the ensembles, vocalists, and Sunday services while also serving on the part-time faculty at The College of New Jersey. A praise band, the chancel choir, and the handbell ensemble known as the Bells of Hope each contribute to the liturgical year. Advent brings an annual cantata and a closing rendition of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus," Easter sometimes opens with a bagpipe processional, and special services throughout the year weave in cellists, flutists, and saxophonists alongside the congregation's own voices. Recent sermons are posted weekly to the church's YouTube channel for those who cannot attend in person.
After worship, the community lingers for fellowship in the Fellowship Hall. On many Sundays that time expands into the Wisdom and Wonder adult education hour, a Lunch and Learn series that meets from 12:00 to 1:00 PM. Recent topics have included a five-week walk through the Creeds and Confessions of the Reformed Tradition, covering the Barmen Declaration (1934), the Confession of 1967, the Belhar Confession (1982, adopted by the PC(USA) in 2016), and the Accra Confession. The congregation-wide book conversation on Joan Gray's Sailboat Church invited members to consider what it would mean to set aside the rowboat model of self-effort and let the Holy Spirit fill the sails instead.
Children: Nursery, Godly Play, and TrueWay Kids
Children's ministry at Hopewell Presbyterian is built around three Sunday morning offerings, each designed to meet a different developmental stage. The Nursery, located in a dedicated room just off the main level, opens at 10:15 AM and is staffed through 1:00 PM for infants and toddlers ages zero to three. Children are always welcome to remain in worship with their families; toys in the back of the Sanctuary and the relaxed atmosphere around little ones are signs that wiggles and quiet sounds are part of congregational life.
During the sermon hour, four- through eleven-year-olds are invited into Godly Play, a Montessori-style approach to biblical storytelling that uses wooden figures, parables, and sacred stories to draw children into the language of faith. When the pandemic kept families apart, the church adapted the program for Zoom; it continues to be offered in person with a virtual option when needed. After worship, the same age group gathers for Children's Worship and Wonder from 12:15 to 1:00 PM while parents head to their own classes, exploring the morning's education theme through conversation, crafts, games, and short service projects.
TrueWay Kids meets each Sunday from 10:45 to 11:30 AM for ages four through twelve in the Sunday School Room, providing a parallel track of formation and fellowship. Family milestones are woven into the church calendar: a Palm Sunday Palm Parade and Easter Bagpipe Processional invite the youngest worshippers to take part in processions before they can read, while Children's and Youth Sunday, held in mid-October, flips the usual liturgy so that the children and youth of the congregation lead nearly every element of worship, including the sermon. The church maintains a written Child Protection Policy and welcomes volunteers into the Godly Play room and the Nursery as part of an intergenerational commitment to safe, joyful formation.
Youth: A Welcoming Place for Sixth Through Twelfth Graders
The Youth Ministry describes itself as a welcoming place for students in grades six through twelve who are called and challenged by the Spirit of God. The program aims to foster a culture of openness, honesty, and reflection, gathering weekly for fellowship, study, prayer, community engagement, and spiritual practices. Youth are integrated into the wider life of the church: they serve as ushers and liturgists, sing in the praise band and choir, and participate in committee work alongside adults. Through the Sharipen Grant, the church is also a partner in the relaunched Hopewell Valley Youth Collective, a community-wide effort to provide a safe third space for teens in the Hopewell Valley to gather, learn, serve, and grow. That work is now coordinated under the direction of the Rev. Aaron Twitchell, with summer and fall programming planned around student-identified priorities.
The Generosity Ministry and the Acts 1:8 Model
Hopewell Presbyterian has a long tradition of channeling a significant portion of its income outward. The Generosity Ministry distributes eleven percent of all giving to mission and benevolence partners through a structure the ministry calls the Acts 1:8 model, named for the categories Jesus used in sending his disciples: local (Jerusalem), quasi-local (Judea), culturally and religiously different near neighbors (Samaria), and the ends of the earth.
Locally, the Deacons lead the work of confidential benevolence and special needs support, walking alongside individuals and families who reach out to the church office for short-term financial help. The church also tithes to a network of Hopewell Valley and Trenton-area partners that includes TASK (the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen), the Chubby's Project, the Sourland Conservancy, the Trenton Rescue Mission, Seeds to Sew, Isles (a Trenton community development and environmental organization), and Every Child Valued in Lawrence Township. National and global partners include Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and Friends for Health in Haiti.
The Sharipen Fund, established through a gift from Alex and Eunice Sharipen, provides annual grants to spark new ministries both inside and beyond the church. Past awards have supported the Hopewell Valley Youth Collective and similar initiatives. A separate Endowment Fund supports ongoing benevolence, and the church encourages legacy gifts through wills and estate plans as a way to continue that mission beyond a single lifetime.
MLK Day of Service and Harvest Helpers
Two recurring outreach efforts draw the whole congregation into the wider Hopewell Valley. Each January, on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, some sixty volunteers of all ages gather at the church to assemble supplies for distribution to local nonprofits. Recent projects have packed one hundred weekend meal bags and one hundred forty snack bags for TASK, two hundred cold care kits, six hundred wrapped utensils, twenty fleece blankets and dozens of coats for the Trenton Rescue Mission, fifteen hundred swamp milkweed seed packets for the Sourland Conservancy, four hundred eighty cookies for Chubby's Project, and one hundred twenty decorated bags for Seeds to Sew. Children age ten and under take part alongside a parent, and the morning is funded in part by a $2,500 grant from the Generosity Committee.
In November, the Harvest Helpers program staffs an information table at the Hopewell Farmers Market on East Broad Street, distributing ten-dollar vouchers from the Rise Food Security Initiative so that families using local food pantries can purchase fresh produce from Fairgrown Farm. Vouchers are also available at outdoor food pantries throughout the borough, including the one at the back of the church at 80 West Broad Street. The program is a collaboration with Rise, Fairgrown Farm, the New Jersey Food Fund, and the Hopewell Council of Churches.
Lent, Advent, and the Hopewell Council of Churches
Hopewell Presbyterian is a long-standing member of the Hopewell Council of Churches, an ecumenical body whose clergy and laity plan shared ministry across the borough. Each year during Lent, the Council hosts six Wednesday evening services for prayer, song, and reflection on a theme chosen by the participating pastors. The clergy exchange pulpits, with each speaking at a church other than his or her own, and a simple supper of soup and bread precedes the service. The church also opens its Fellowship Hall on Wednesday evenings when it is HPC's turn to host.
Within its own calendar, the church observes a Maundy Thursday supper with conversation, meditation, and Communion, a Good Friday Reflection with Scripture and Song featuring guest musicians, a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols, an interactive Christmas Eve Pick-Up-Pageant designed for all ages, and a Christmas morning service that encourages pajamas and the blessing of favorite gifts. During Advent, the congregation gathers for wreath making, a tree lighting in partnership with Communities of Light for Womanspace, a carol sing at Hopewell Station that doubles as a food drive for Chubby's Project, and a December Blue Christmas service hosted by Calvary Baptist Church for those who find the holidays a heavy season.
A Building Shared with the Borough
The church's accessible building on West Broad Street includes a well-equipped kitchen, a sizeable Fellowship Hall, and a number of classrooms, and the congregation invites outside groups to make use of the space for meetings, recitals, receptions, and concerts. Hearts and Hammers, a program of the Hopewell Valley Ecumenical Coalition that assists neighbors with basic home repairs, is operated with the support of Hopewell Presbyterian and draws together churches throughout the Hopewell Valley. The building is also home to the church office, staffed by Office Manager Lucy Semple, who coordinates volunteers, communications, and the many small pieces of logistics that keep the congregation's ministries running.
Hopewell Presbyterian Church continues to find its footing in a new season under Transitional Pastor Beth Scibienski, building on a long tradition of Reformed worship, intergenerational formation, and outward-facing generosity. From the Godly Play room on a Sunday morning to the Fellowship Hall packed with MLK Day volunteers each January, the congregation's life is rooted in the conviction that loving like Jesus is something to be practiced in ordinary time and extraordinary time alike.