ABOUT
The Presbytery of New Jersey is part of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. "The Orthodox Presbyterian Church was founded on June 11, 1936, in the aftermath of the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, under the leadership of J. Gresham Machen (longtime professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, who also founded Westminster Theological Seminary in 1929). With the infiltration of theological liberalism, the mainline Presbyterian Church in the USA had departed from historic Christianity, including the rejection of doctrines such as the inspiration and authority of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, and the substitutionary atonement. Originally calling itself the Presbyterian Church of America, the young church was forced by the threat of a lawsuit to change its name in 1939, and it adopted the name Orthodox Presbyterian Church."*
"According to the direction of the First General Assembly of the denomination, the committee entrusted with the erection of the Presbytery of New Jersey carried out preparations for presbytery’s first meeting in W. Collingswood. N. J., September 8, 1936. The Rev. Clifford S. Smith was elected the first moderator and Dr. Alexander K. Davison the first stated clerk. The roll of presbytery at that time included nine ministers and fourteen ruling elders, making a total of twenty-three members. At the present time [1946], there are twice as many ministers and approximately three times as many ruling elders as there were ten years ago.The ten Jersey churches of the presbytery are distributed over the state so that the territory covered stretches from Passaic in the north all the way to Wildwood in the south. In addition, the promising congregation of Fort Lauderdale. Florida. of which the Rev. John C. Hills is pastor, is also a church of the presbytery, so that the bounds of presbytery are quite extensive indeed!
One particular missionary project in which the presbytery especially rejoices is the Boardwalk Gospel Pavilion at Wildwood, N. J. [Now called the Boardwalk Chapel]. Standing in a prominent place on the famous Wildwood boardwalk is a substantial building dedicated to the task of preaching the gospel of Christ to the thousands that throng this ocean resort every summer. During the season of 1945, the first summer of the Pavilion’s operation, attendance at the services was increasingly encouraging. Plans are now being laid for enlarging the program of evangelism for the coming season. While the Pavilion is a project of the presbytery, enthusiastic response has come from the entire church. To the Rev. Leslie A. Dunn, pastor of the Wildwood church, much credit must be given for the vision that was his in the first place, and for the industry with which he, in particular, carried forth the Pavilion project." **
* The First Ten Years, by Robert Marsden -- a pamphlet on the early history of the OPC
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