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Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully
administering God's grace in its various forms...." (1 Peter 4:10) | |
Inside the church, one the favorite windows of many of our
members and friends at Ascension. We take its message
from 1 John 4:8, as a theme for our church, and for our lives. |
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| In the Community |
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There was an old line of thinking that a church was a private club open once a week for an hour on Sundays. When you meet us, you'll find though, that we never subscribed to it! The Ascension Family is community church and a church in the community. We believe firmly in the words of 1 Peter 4:10 - "Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others." We have been lending a hand, and building community for over 100 years now. We welcome you to join us!The members of the Ascension Family are proud to operate a weekly food panty. Members and friends are invited to bring in non-perishables when they come to the Sunday service, and by the end of the day, these items will have been distributed directly to local needy families who our congregation assists. In addition we sponser periodic clothing drives to meet needs in the New Brunswick Community and surrounding areas. Members of the Ascension Family are also involved in Elijah's promise, a Soup Kitchen and Social Services agency Serving New Brunswick and Central NJ, as well as the food pantry at our ELCA partner congregation, Faith Lutheran in Hillsborough. |
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Food brought in for the needy on Sunday.
Pastor Wilson: "This week I am bringing in a 5 pound bag of rice and a can of black beans. What will you bring?" |
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Our President, Steve Kalman, likes to joke, that Ascension is a little bit like Madison Square Garden - when one group leaves another comes in! We are proud to be the host of the services of Calvary Church, Iglesia de Jesucristo, and the Abysinian Apostolic Church each Sunday, in addition to 4 Bible Study groups during the week, and the Seventh Day Adventist Church on Saturdays. Ascension is also thankful to have been able to serve for many years as host to our LWF partners, The Latvian Evangelical Lutheran Church of New Brunswick & Lakewood, while their congregation was growing and before they built their current church in East Brunswick. All in all, five congregations, and more than a 600 Christians worship in our little church each weekend. This is truly a blessing from God.Through our partners, Lutheran Social Ministries of New Jersey, our congregation is involved in work to provide affordable family housing, community development, senior and special needs housing, adoption, refugee and immigration services, senior healthcare, and community outreach to New Jersesy residents of any faith. In additon through the support of benefactors and New Jersey Lutheran congregations LSMNJ operates the Piscataway Community Residence & Sayreville Community Residence, serving developmentally disabled women, and the Lutheran Home for Children providing a safe, nurturing and caring environment for children in crisis. Grace Assisted Living Center, Hope Rehabilitation Center, the Lutheran Home at Morestown along with more than 10 senior residences througout the State, and more in the works, provide compassionate eldercare, affordable housing, and community througought the state and especaially in urban areas, and those upper income areas with little affordable housing. This is not to mention work in disaster relief, food pantries, transitional housing, education & career development. It really is amazing what people working together can accomplish with God's help. |
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Through Thrivent, a Lutheran Fraternal Organization, we also have the oppurtunity to help in a far reaching way. Thrivent's Care and Communities, and Care and Congregations programs frequently provide assistance for children and families undergoing medical treatments, and in community events and causes such as the Crop Walk raising funds and awareness for global and local hunger relief. Through Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity, Lutherans give deserving families a hand up, and work with them to build their homes. Right now, Lutherans in New Jersey are building two houses in Morris and Ocean Counties. You are invited to picth in, no skills required. |
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Thrivent members work to complete a Habitat Home in Ocean County. |
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Campus Kids is a State Run, NAEYC certified pre-school, operated out of our faclicites Monday thru Friday. Founded by the congregation in () to serve the needs of the Rutgers community during evening classes, the work of Campus Kids expanded when the State of New Jersey assumed administration of the New Brunswick public schools, and free pre-schooling was offered throughout the district. In adition to the State program, Ascension is proud to have the oppurtnity to subsidise Campus Kid's Summer and after school programs.
Some of the strenghts of Campus Kids are the school's community involvement, its caring, experienced professional staff, as well as the diversity of its students. During the school year, and in the Summer program we have youngsters from as far away Mexico & Central America, Tanzania, Hungary, Romania, India and China here at Campus Kids , both children of the local community members and visiting Rutgers students.
Please call 732-545-6681 or 732-545-0118 for registration and other information. |
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Church Organizations and Groups |
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| | We are a smaller congregation, but the members of the Ascension Family are an active useful bunch. Every member has their role, and is valued for their gifts, and the ways in which they serve. We invite you to join us.Ascension offers the oppurtunity to be part of several groups and organizations. The members of the Altar Guild take turns in teams, every week of preparing the altar for the Sunday Service, and then afterwards clearing things up, so that the church is ready for the groups who come in after us. They maintain the beautiful altar linens and pulpit hangings, set out the vessels for communion, decorate the church for special ocasions, and place the altar flowers. We are all thankful for their behind the scenes work. Members of the Church Council, and its officers, are elected at the annual congregational meeting in January. It is their responsibility to run the business of the church, make decisions with community guidance, and act as liasons between the various committees they are assigned to. The Church council meets monthly, each first Sunday of the Month after the Service. The Music & Worship Committee meets the third Sunday of the month, after the Service, and work together with Doug, our organist, and Pastor Wilson, to select hymns, plan special services, and create an uplifting and inspiring worship atmosphere for all our members, friends and guests, when they come before God each Sunday. We welcome your imput! The Lutheran Thimble Guild has been a fixture here since 1940. For decades members of the Ascension Family have gathered to sew, craft, do good for those in need, serve their communities and families, and to build bonds friendships that are strenghtened with every loving stich. If you are a sewer, a quilter or a crafter, we invite you to join us and help build up this important ministry at Ascension. |
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Some members of the Immanuel Lutheran Writers' Guild. |
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| | Every week, we are greatful for service of the Acolytes, who light the altar candles, and put them out according to the custom, and Cross Bearers, who at the beginning of the Service process in with the cross, and process out with it at the close of service, symbolizinng our following Christ into worship to hear His Word, and then out into the world. These two important roles have long been particularly appointed for young people as a special way for them to be involved in the leadership of the Service. The Ushers, everyweek, greet members and visitors, distribute bulletins, help worshipers to their seats and to and from Holy Communion, gather and present the offering at the altar, and serve in a variety of other ways during the Service. In addition, every week, a member reads the Old and New Testament lesson, and another leads the prayers from the "Celebrate" bulletin. We aren't so formal these days, and it is just fine for the prayers and readings to be done from your place in the pews, but we are still very greatful for this important work, carried out the members of Ascension. Please let us know if you would like to be involved as well!Through our partnership with other nearby congregations, members of Ascension may be a part of LACE, the Lutheran Asscociation of Christian Educators, building and equipping Sunday School, Public & Christian School teachers, WELCA - the national Women's Organization of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Men in Mission, for mens' fellowship, Thrivent the Lutheran fraternal benefactory aid association, and many other fun and useful groups and organizations. If your interests take a literary bent, you may like to join up with the Immanuel Writers guild, lead by our friend, Deaconess Elaine Turansky in Lakewood. They work together each month on projects such as writing their own life stories, mysteries, and treasured strories for children. With the help of gifted leaders, and the support of fellow writers, you will be sure to find your voice, and enjoy the process! There is so much to do, and so much to be a part of. You may like to start and lead a new group or service project, or you may like just to come to the Sunday Service and worship in your own quiet way. You are very welcome here either way, and we look forward to meeting you.
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Members of the Altar Guild prepare for the Sunday Service. |
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The Hungarian-American Community |
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| | Ascension Lutheran Church is right at the center of New Brunswick's Hungarian Community. In fact it was Hungarian-Americans who founded and built our church. New Brunswick began drawing a Hungarian immigrant population around the turn of the century. They came in large numbers to work in the Johnson & Johnson factories here in town and settled mainly in the second ward. The Hungarian-American Community grew through the early decades of the 20th century, and then again, when the displaced persons were housed in nearby Camp Kilmer in Edison, after the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. For more than a hundred years now, New Brunswick has been a meeting point for the Hungarians of New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and is still home to a vibrant Hungarian-American community today. New Brunswick is served by the three historic Hungarian Churches lining Somerset Street : Ascension Lutheran Church, St. Ladislaus' Roman Catholic Church, and The Magyar Reformed Church, as well as St. Joseph's Hungarian Byzantine Catholic Church around the corner on Harvey St. The many Magyar institutions including: the Aprokfalva Montessory Pre-school (Aprokfalva Mindennapos Magyar Óvoda), Széchenyi Hungarian Community School & Kindergarten (Széchenyi Magyar Iskola és Óvoda), The Teleki Pál Hungarian Boys' and Girls' Scout Home, the Hungarian American Foundation, Museum and National Archives, Vers Hangja, the Hungarian Poetry Group, Bolyai Lecture Series on Arts and Sciences (Bolyai Kör), Hungarian Alumni Association (Magyar Öregdiák Szövetség - Bessenyei György Kör), a Hungarian language Radio Program broadcast weekly , the Hungarian Civic Association, the Committee of Hungarian Churches and Organizations of New Brunswick, the Csűrdöngölő Folk Dance Ensemble, and our next-door neighbors, the Hungarian American Athletic Club, along with several Hungarian businesses make the town a real Hungarian hub. Ascension is also proud to be one of the Hungarian Heritage Churches serving the New Jerey/New York City area. Some of these include: (Reformed)....Magyar Reformed Church of New Brunswick, Magyar Reformed Church of Manville, First Hungarian Reformed Church of NYC, The 82nd St. Hungarian Reformed Church-NYC, Hungarian Reformed Church of Passaic, John Calvin Magyar Reformed Church of Perth Amboy, Hungarian Reformed Church of Roebling, NJ, Hungarian Reformed Church of Trenton, Hungarian Reformed Church of Clifside & Paramus, Hungarian Reformed Church of Woodbridge, the Hungarian Reformed Church of Carteret & the Hungarian Presbyterian Church of Wharton..... (Roman Catholic) St Ladislaus Catholic Church, New Brunswick, Our Lady of Hungary R.C. Church, Perth Amboy, St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, Linden, NJ & St. Elizabeth of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, NYC, St. Stephen of Hungary Roman Catholic Church, NYC, St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, Pasaic, & Our Lady of Mt. Carmel R.C. Church, Woodbridge.... (Byzantine Catholic)...St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Church, New Brunswick, St. Michael's Byzantine Catholic Church, Passaic & Exaltation of the Holy Cross Byzantine Catholic Church, NYC.... ...The Hungarian Baptist Church of New York, NYC.... |
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Some of our friends from the Hungarian American
Athletic Club pose on our Church steps. |
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| | and of course (Lutheran).... Ascension Lutheran Church (Elso Magyar Evangélikus Egyhaz) in New Brunswick, and our sister congregation, St. John's First Hungarian Wendish Lutheran Church in Perth Amboy. In addition to the Hungarian Lutheran Churches, there are 9 Slovak heritage Lutheran Churches in New York City and New Jersey, with whom we work closely through our partnership in the ELCA and Lutheran Social Ministries, including St. John in Trenton, Holy Trinity in Union, St. Paul in Raritan, & Zion in Clark.We keep in contact, and work toward common goals with other Hungarian Heritage Congregations around the United States and Canada through the Hungarian Lutheran Conference of America, and their Publication, "Eros Var", and together with our ELCA partners of all nationalities, maintain strong ties to the Lutheran churches in Hungary through the Lutheran World Federation. At the present time, our weekly services are in English for the benefit of those not of Hungarian ancestry, and those not familiar with the Hungarian language (as you may know Hungarian is a beautiful but difficult language), who make up a large part of our membership, but please do let us know if you are interested in attending Lutheran Hungarian services. Yes, many of our members do still speak and understand Hungarian, and you are very welcome among us if Hungarian is your native tongue. There are weekly services in Hungarian at the Magyar Reformed Church up the street, and we participate in frequent Hungarian ecumenical services at St. Ladislaus as well. Finally, the Hungarian American Festival is held right here on Somerset Street, on the first Saturday in June each year. We are so proud that the procession route begins in front of our church! Here you will find, Hungarian folk dancing, merchandise, musical groups, and lots and lots of food. The Museums and Churches are all open during the celebration, and we invite you to this special day in our community. The Maygar Reformed Church holds several Hungarian food sale fundraisers thoughout the year, and if you happen to stop in on the right day, you may be treated to Begli, Kifli or Rétes at Ascension after the Service at coffee hour. But remember, you don't have to be Hungarian to enjoy Mákos Lepény, or to be a Lutheran! :)
We welcome friends of every nationality, race and language, and hope to see you soon!
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Olga and Corinne compare recipes for Sajtos Rudak, Dios Patko and Kiflis. |
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Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself - Jesus (Matthew 22:39)Szeresd felebarátodat, mint magadat - Jézus
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