“As there were in Old Testament times elders for the government of the people, so the New Testament church provided persons with particular gifts to share in discernment of God’s Spirit and governance of God’s people. Accordingly, congregations should elect persons of wisdom and maturity of faith, having demonstrated skills in leadership and being compassionate in spirit. Ruling elders are so named not because they “lord it over” the congregation (Matt. 20:25), but because they are chosen by the congregation to discern and measure its fidelity to the Word of God, and to strengthen and nurture its faith and life. Ruling elders, together with ministers of word and sacrament, exercise leadership, government, spiritual discernment, and discipline and have responsibilities for the life of a congregation as well as the whole church, including ecumenical relationships.”

To contact any church Ruling Elder, please call our office at the number below

The office of deacon as set forth in Scripture is one of sympathy, witness, and service after the example of Jesus Christ. Persons of spiritual character, honest repute, of exemplary lives, brotherly and sisterly love, warm sympathies and sound judgment should be chosen for this office.
It is the duty of deacons, first of all, to minister to those who are in need, to the sick, to the friendless, and to any who may be in distress both within and beyond the community of faith. They shall assume such other duties as may be delegated to them from time to time by the session, such as leading the people in worship through prayers of intercession, reading the Scriptures, presenting the gifts of the people, and assisting with the Lord’s Supper. Book of Order, G-6.0401–02

To contact any church Deacon, please call our office at the number below

The Rev. Dr. Glen C. Misick is an Honorably Retired Pastor (PCUSA) and member of the
Presbytery of New York City. He has served on numerous committees and is currently a member of the Commission On Ministry. Recently, he completed an assignment as
Interim/Transitional Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Avenel, NJ, and previously as Interim Pastor of the Babcock Presbyterian Church, Towson, Maryland, helping them through the Global Pandemic. Further, he served as the Senior Pastor of the historic First Presbyterian Church in Newark, NJ. Prior to this, he was an executive with the Reformed Church in America, on loan from PCUSA, where he recruited pastors, conducted Church Growth workshops, and trained church leaders. Rev. Misick was the Senior Minister of the Church of the Master Presbyterian Church of New York City for twelve (12) years. Rev. Misick also served as Outreach Minister at the Nassau Presbyterian and Witherspoon Street Churches, 1975 – 1977. His ministry as a pastor also includes churches in Florida, California, and Arkansas.

Dr. Misick received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College of the City University of New York (CUNY). He attended Princeton Theological Seminary,
Princeton, New Jersey, receiving his Master of Divinity degree (1979) and earned his
Doctor of Ministry degree from Drew University (1974), Madison, New Jersey. He is also a trained and certified Interim Pastor. He is married to Jennifer Engram Misick, PhD, a retired professor of the City University of New York.

Some of his publications include:
• Co-editor of Life Under the Baobab Tree: Africana Studies and Religion in a Transitional Age (2023)
• Let My People Live: An Africana Reading of Exodus (2022)
• Co-editor of World Christianity, Urbanization and Identity (2020).
• Co-editor of Navigating African Biblical Hermeneutics: Trends and Themes from our
Pots and Calabashes (2018)
• The Hermeneutics of the ‘Happy’ Ending in Job 42:7-17 (2005)

 Cynthia Ritter Parker earned her undergraduate degree from Hanover College, a Presbyterian school not far from the Presbyterian Church, USA headquarters. She graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1994 with her M. Div. She served as a Deacon at Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago, a Youth Director at the Presbyterian Church of Pluckemin in Elizabeth Presbytery and a member of the Session of Nassau Presbyterian Church in Princeton. She was the Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Englishtown in New Jersey. When she retired from ministry, she joined Witherspoon as an office manager.