Vision
Our Vision: Immanuel Church exists to create a gospel-changed community that is committed to the flourishing of our neighbors. This means we want to make Middlesex County and Highland Park a great place to live.
History: The church was planted in 1999 and started to serve Korean-American immigrants. Immanuel Church EM seeks to bring the good news of God's grace to English speakers.
Values
1. Our message: In general, the gospel is the message of the Bible that God is redeeming his fallen creation through the coming of his kingdom in the person and work of Jesus Christ. In particular, the gospel is the message that we are saved from our sins by sheer, free grace through faith in the finished work of Christ, not through our efforts and works. We seek to be gospel-centered in all that we do.
2. Our identity: We are a church that serves Jesus Christ. We serve the Westfield/Edison area and our members through the true preaching of the word of God as well as the right administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. How we understand “true” and “right” is found in the ancient creeds of the church (e.g., Apostles’, Nicene) and the Protestant Reformed confessions (e.g., Westminster Confession and catechisms).
3. Our commitments. The gospel is a living thing that grows and sweeps us along with it. The gospel is both the power for and the shaping factor of all we do (Romans 1:16; Galatians 2:14). We seek to embody the commitments below:
Personal conversion: The gospel requires costly obedience. Intellectual agreement to Christianity or historical affiliation to the church is not enough. A true understanding of the gospel leads to a transformed life. Through evangelism, worship, preaching and discipleship, we are committed to creating joyful obedience to Jesus Christ. Because the gospel is a life-transforming power, it produces more than just moral restraint. The gospel changes our character, and turns us from depending on our own righteousness.
Counter-Cultural Community: True spirituality is not just focused on private spiritual experience. Genuine conversion shows itself through friendship and commitment to other Christians. So we seek to connect to each other through worship, fellowship, and sharing of resources. As a community, we also seek to live in a distinctly Christian, counter-cultural manner in the world. The gospel sets us free from the sub-Christian response of "chameleon Christianity" where we just blend into the rest of the world and use it for our pleasure. Instead, we live as an alternate society before a watching world, reflecting God's character, values, priorities and goals. Put shortly, the church is called to be odd, yet accessible.
Sacrificial Service: We come to church not as consumers, but in order to be equipped through worship and training to serve others. To do that, we sacrifice our personal pursuits and preferences to serve the people around us. This means we care for the people who are unpopular and neglected. Jesus says loving your neighbor means loving those who are more convenient to avoid. In light of that, we want to connect with the uncool, love the ignored, and build relationships with the unwelcomed. We want the world's leftovers.
Missionary Movement: We want to build a church for people who don’t go to church, so they can hear the good news. We design our priorities around the needs of our friends and neighbors who need to near the gospel, not what would make us happy or comfortable. We must constantly go out and invite outsiders into the life and worship of the community to see, taste, touch, hear, and experience the restoration and redemption we have received through Jesus.
"But God shows his for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8
We are Korean Presbyterian Church serving Central New Jersey. We seek to serve our neighbors in Highland Park, Edison and New Brunswick through preaching, social justice ministries, community and prayer.