Welcome to Christ Church, Middletown

the Episcopal parish in Middletown since 1702

90 Kings Highway

Middletown, NJ  07748

732-671-2524

christchurchmiddletown@verizon.net

Home
About Christ Church
Adult Ed
Announcements
Children and Youth
Clergy & Staff
Directions
Events
Fellowship
History
Millennium Dev Goals
Ministries
Music
Outreach
Rector's Message
Restoration
Worship Schedule
Youth Pilgrimage

 

Christ Church History:  Over 300 Years on Kings Highway

Our genesis is not a story about Church of England members settling in this part of Monmouth County, ("Midelton" to be exact) and deciding to gather in order to carry on the church traditions of their native England, among good people of like religious mind and practice. No indeed: Christ Church was a missionary venture. To the Bishop of London (whose jurisdiction extended to the British colonies in America) Lewis Morris, colonial governor of East Jersey wrote concerning the people of Middletown: "There is no such thing as a church or religion among them. They are, perhaps, the most ignorant and wicked people in the world…" So, at the request of the Bishop of London, the newly formed Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, sent two Anglican priests, John Keith and John Talbot, to Monmouth County, East Jersey and beyond--on a mission. The mission was to bring to a people in need the life-saving, life-transforming good news of God in Christ Jesus. That’s why we had our beginning. Middletown needed Jesus Christ! The rest is our history.

To me the world has changed a lot in thirty years. I don’t think any of us can adequately appreciate how much it has changed in the three hundred years of our history. That sparsely settled region of a new continent of years ago—Midelton, is today a huge metropolitan center on a densely populated planet. What was a perilous journey across the Atlantic by two mission-minded priests taking weeks in 1702, is now a brief six-hour flight over the same waters. The distances are the same, but the world is smaller. Maybe we are no longer "the most ignorant and wicked people in the world", but I believe that you would agree with me: we, the people of Middletown, still need Jesus Christ. And for that matter, so does the whole wide world! The mission undertaken "to the people of Middletown" that resulted in Christ Church’s founding 300 years ago, soon became, and remains still, the mission "of the people of Christ Church, Middletown". Each Sunday we are sent forth from Holy Eucharist to the various places we go quite literally around the world--on a mission to a world in need of the same life-saving, life-transforming good news of God in Christ Jesus. Yes, much has changed, but not everything. We are people on the same mission that founded Christ Church in 1702.

Christians know that they are "mission" people. Like the original apostles we understand ourselves as "sent". The risen-Jesus said to the Apostles: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." (John 20:21) We continue Christ’s reconciling mission to all people. "The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ." (Book of Common Prayer Catechism, p. 855) The Bishop of London, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and The Reverends John Keith and John Talbot were committed to the mission of the Church. They were not content to stay home and remain safe and comfortable in the fellowship of like-minded English Christians. They risked and gave much to go to East Jersey to the people of Middletown because Jesus sent them and the people needed Jesus. Every single member of every single generation of baptized Christians is also "sent." We are mission-minded Christians if we are true to our faith. And how do we pursue that mission? "The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love." (BCP, p. 855) And, exactly who carries out this mission? "The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members." (BCP, p. 855) Congregations who do not pursue their sent-mission become comfortable enclaves of self-serving maintenance. They lose the Spirit-driven vitality of mission. Christ’s work of reconciling all people to God and each other suffers. Ours is the mission and the spirit of the SPG and our founders John Keith and John Talbot.

I am not discouraged that after all these years the people of Middletown (including you and me) still need Jesus. Rather, I am grateful that He is being known more and more here at Christ Church. And, I am excited that our baptismal vows still mean that you and I share the Church’s mission of presenting Jesus to Middletown and to the world. In other words, the mission that was begun here on Kings Highway three hundred years ago is still a vital and valid one.

In the spirit of our mission

Dean +

 

Christ Church Publications