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21spotlightnj2_2026-02-01-08-57-49

So we've had the opportunity to think just a little bit about some of the service days that we that we have at the Pluckha and Presbyterian Church. These, these are some great times for families to get together. We've worked with Habitat for Humanity. They're on our property, they're one of our strong partners, but we also. Work with an organization called Independence for Veterans. Stacia McDonough set up this organization. Her husband was in the military. He passed away a number of years ago and she set this ministry up to honor him, and we work with them. We've put together care packages for homeless veterans. She works primarily with homeless veterans in the in the area, and we've made care packages up. We've collected clothing. And we get the families together and all the stuff that we collect, we put into bags and Stacia comes and collects like truckloads of of gear that we send with her to help the to help the homeless veterans, so it's a wonderful way for us to show the love of Jesus to folks in our in our wider community through organizations like Habitat, like Independence for Veterans, and it's great for kids to get involved too because with the Independence for Veterans Project, one of the things. The children do and the adults do, but they color thank you cards for the veterans and we put one into each package so it says thank you for serving. Sometimes they write their name or a little message to them, but it's another way for them to remember those who serve us, how we can serve them. And how do the service people love that, the military people, what kind of response do you get? We get a very, very favorable response. I mean, a lot of these folks have absolutely nothing. So receiving even some toiletries, you know, in the winter time to get some socks and some underwear, it's extremely helpful and it's, you know, even those little things are tremendously life changing for folks that have absolutely nothing. Um, you know, we've we've we've talked a lot about some of the local stuff that we do, we talked about the medical equipment ministry, about habitat, about independence for veterans. You know, we also do a do a a a lot of work internationally as well. My, uh, my grandfather was a missionary in Malawi in Central Africa, and uh this past year I took the opportunity for the first time to go to Malawi and work with an organization there called Why Malawi, and we are sponsoring a church there, we're sponsoring a young girl there, and again, these are folks that that have very little, and for us to give even a little. Changes their lives very significantly, so we're not, we're a small local church, but at the same time, we're a local church with a global impact for Christ. And that's such an exciting thing for us to have. Well, and the exciting thing is is that we can get all of our ministries in the church involved in supporting Malawi. The young girl that we're supporting, Sahuda, the thing she needs most is money to keep her in school because they have to pay to keep the girls in school there. So for example, our vacation Bible school, we, our mission project was to raise money to keep her in school for 1 year, and the families were so generous that we actually raised more than enough to keep her, to keep her about 1 year and a quarter.

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21spotlightnj3_2026-02-01-09-24-59

The Pluckyman Presbyterian Church in Bedminster is celebrating a big anniversary this year. Pastor Ian Rankin is here along with Chris Staffan, who's director of Child and Family Ministries. Congratulations. How many years? 175. Wow. The Pluckerman Church has been around for 175 years. There's actually been a Christian community in that area for probably 100 years, more than that. It was a Lutheran church first and then transitioned. Into a Presbyterian church, and we're we're, we're so grateful to have the opportunity to celebrate this 175th anniversary. We had a wonderful, uh, community banquet, a couple of weeks ago. We've got a number of different events that we're planning throughout the year. Our goal this year is not just to look back and see what we've done and who we've been, but one of our main goals is to look forward and see where God's continuing to lead us as a congregation and see what else is in store for us in the days and the years. To come, uh, one of the big things that we've got going on, uh, this summer, and I'm gonna ask Chris to see a little bit more about it, but in the middle of our VBS we have a very special event. We're gonna be putting together a time capsule, a time capsule, and we're going to stick it in a hole in the ground, and when the church reaches its 200th anniversary in 20. 5 years' time, it's our hope that folks will remember and they'll dig up that time capsule and find out where we were, who we were, what was going on in uh in Pluckeren in the work of the church at at that time. But that's gonna happen in the middle of our vacation Bible school and for folks who don't know about VBS, Chris, can you tell us if you want to be part of this time capsule, come to our vacation Bible school. Our vacation Bible school has been running for years. It's a week in July this year. It's gonna be July 6th through 10th, and it's an opportunity for kids ages 4 through completing 6th grade. So if you've completed 6th grade, you're actually eligible to be a, a helper, but those kids can come for the week and they learn about God's love for them through games, through music. Through Bible stories, through crafts, uh, it's just a wonderful week of, uh, learning the Bible, learning about Jesus' love, and making friends. This last summer we had 95 kids and 65, uh, volunteers come and help us there, so it is a wonderful loud, fun, bustling time. It's from 9 to 12, so it's just a half day thing. And it's very inexpensive. It's $30 for the whole week and it sounds like this whole experience with religion resonates with these kids. It really does, you know, and a, and a child shall lead them. I mean, these kids, they get it and they love it and, and the volunteers love them and they love Jesus and it's just a wonderful safe place for kids to come and make friends and learn that they're loved and valued.

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21spotlightnj4_2026-02-01-12-30-35

So yeah, we've been thinking about our vacation Bible school that happens uh during during the summer every year, and one of the phrases that Chris used was and a little child shall lead them, right? That's one of the things that we see so much in in the church when we, when, when the when the kids get involved, then the families. Are getting more and more involved, and that's where our growth edge is in in the church, we've got a solid older core in the congregation, but more and more we've got younger, newer families that are becoming part of the church as well, um, and we're building on that through a thing we call messy Church. I like that name, right? Messy Church. Now it's not called messy Church because we make a mess. It's called Messy Church because life is just messy, that's true, right? And uh some of the pictures you saw at the beginning there, they were from Messy Church and some other events that we have in the, in the church, but um messy Church is to do with the messiness of our lives and sometimes it's hard to catch our breath and to catch a moment, so we offer this on a, on a, on a Tuesday night as an opportunity to eat. To have some fun together, to worship together, and to grow in Christ together, um, and we find that that is one of the places where we're growing, particularly through younger families connecting with the life of the church. So it's, it's been very exciting, very exciting, and Messy Church has been a great on-ramp to other things in the church. So a lot of families will come to Messy Church first because it's very easy. It's, there's no, you don't have to dress a certain. Certain way you don't have to act a certain way. You just come, the kids are accepted as they are and they find that they have fun, they make new friends, and then they will come perhaps to another event we have or to a service opportunity that I spoke of earlier and then a lot of them become members. Some don't. Some are members of other churches, but they come to this because their church doesn't offer this for families, so it's a really great opportunity for families. It's the 2nd Tuesday of every month. And it's, it starts at 6 o'clock. Come for a home cooked meal. Often Ian is doing the cooking, and he's a great cook. You're a chef too. I'm not a chef, but I enjoy, I enjoy putting meals in. It's something I've always done in all the churches I've been in, um, I've, I've always taken an, an evening at least, you know, once a month or, or once a week and just prepare a meal for the church and the community. Um, if you can cook for 5, you can cook for 50. If you can cook for 50, you can cook for 100. I love the way so it's, uh, it's where we, you have a decent meal. We'll have a great time together and it's, it's excellent. Sounds like you all are just down home. We are relatable. Down home is a great word, Della, yeah, very much so, very much so. Why is that so important to you all? I think it's very important. I mean, family's important, right? And I think there's a, there's a sense in which we're not only connecting with families in the community, but there's a very real sense that as a, as a congregation, as a church, one of the concepts that's used again and again in the Bible is that we're the family of God.

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Pastor Ian Rankine and child and family ministries director Chris Staffin joined News 12’s Della Crews to discuss the services they offer to the public.

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