Wright Memorial Presbyterian Church in Barnegat, NJ
For 130 years, our pursuit for spiritual growth is ongoing and contemporary
332 South Main Street,
Route 9
Barnegat, NJ 08005
609-698-3358
Our church is certainly his memorial, and his courage and compassion should be remembered by everyone who attends services here. He was truly a valued servant of the Lord God. “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.”
Note: This history of our church was apparently compiled for Centennial Sunday, September 28, 1975. An earlier version written by Rev. W. R. Sloan contains some additional facts which are interspersed below in italics. In order to preserve the 1975 account and appreciate the richness of Rev. Sloan's details, there are some duplications of facts. Rev. Sloan's history was read in connection with the 75th Anniversary celebration April, 1951. Terry Lewis, Editor of our 125th Anniversary History, 2001.
While the first house of worship in Barnegat was built by the Quakers, their Meeting House was on land, the deed for which was dated June 1770, Presbyterians were among the early religious pioneers of Barnegat Village. About 1760 they began to hold regular services. Among those conducting worship were the Reverends: Chestnut, Green, McKnight and John Brainard, brother of the celebrated missionary to the Indians, David Brainard.
The old communion table in the Old Tennent Presbyterian Church is the one at which J. Brainard celebrated the Lord's Supper. In a letter written by Brainard in 1761 to the Rev. Enoch Green he says, “Your places for preaching will be as follows,” and mentions Barnegat.
Among the preaching places assigned to David Brainard in 1761 was Barnegat at the home of Mr. Rulons. The names of 17 people living from Toms River to Tuckahoe are mentioned as places where services were to be held. After Brainard in 1761 to the Rev. Enoch Green he says, “Your places for preaching will be as follows,” and mentions Barnegat.
Among the preaching places assigned to David Brainard in 1761 was Barnegat at the home of Mr. Rulons. The names of 17 people living from Toms River to Tuckahoe are mentioned as places where services were to be held. After Brainard left, there were no regular Presbyterian services recorded until 1863. However, the journal of John Griffin, a Quaker preacher, says that in April 1766, he held a large meeting in a new Presbyterian Meeting House in Barnegat.
No one seems to know anything about this building, but there is a copy of a paper stating the origin of the old Barnegat Free Church. It is headed Stafford and dated June 3, 1829 and states as follows:
We the subscribers, inhabitants of Barnegat, in the township of Stafford and the County of Monmouth, do propose to build a meeting house for the purpose of preaching in the village of Barnegat, free and open for the reception of preachers of all Christian denominations. We therefore solicit the aid of all charitably disposed persons, as we are fully persuaded that all that is given for such a purpose will be abundantly made up to us in this life and ten-fold in that which is to come, for we consider it our reasonable duty to use every means prescribed in the Gospel to aid in the diffusion of the Word of God throughout the land. We therefore promise to pay to trustees who shall be appointed to receive the same, the sum annexed to our several signatures on or before the 1st of August next if hereto required.
Then follows 80 names with contributions running from one to twenty dollars making a total of $408.50. Another entry states "the Methodists used this church for many years".
The earliest record of a Presbyterian Religious Society is a minute recording the fact that a notice dated September 1, 1875 had been posted on the door calling a meeting of that society in the Town Hall for Saturday, September 11, 1875 at 7:30 PM to elect trustees in order that the society might be incorporated according to the law. Apparently regular services had been held in the Town Hall and elsewhere for some time.
The notice runs, 'The religious society and congregation meeting in this place for public worship according to the constitution, usages and customs of the Presbyterian Church are hereby notified to meet in this place on Saturday, September 11th at 7:30 in the evening of that date to elect trustees, etc."
The congregation met on September 11th under the chairmanship of Mr. Henry Gulick. On motion of Mr. J.E. Condit, the Rev. Allen H. Brown was appointed secretary. The Rev. Brown, whose home was in Mays Landing, appears to have been the force behind the founding of this congregation. The meeting was quickly adjourned so it could be announced the next day at worship and insure a better attendance at a meeting called for Monday, September 13, 1875. Trustees were chosen at a meeting on October 2, 1875; a committee was appointed to study plans and specifications for a church building..
