THE CHURCH ON THE CORNER OF MERCER STREET & GREENWOOD AVENUE

Two Presbyterian Churches Merging
Westminster, Faith Congregations To Consolidate

Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, December 13, 1959

Two Presbyterian churches in Trenton, with a combined history dating back to 1842, have decided to merge.
They are the Westminster Presbyterian Church and Faith Presbyterian.
The two congregations will consolidate under the name of Westminster Presbyterian Church and will use the new Westminster building situated at Greenwood and South Walter Avenues. The Faith Presbyterian Church property at Mercer Street and Greenwood Avenue will be sold.
Merger of the congregations has been approved by both churches as well as by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, and the formal exercises uniting the two will be held Wednesday, January 6, at 8 p. m.

Rev. Mr. Zink Pastor
At the same time, the Rev. Phillip R. Zink, present pastor of Faith Presbyterian Church, will be formally installed as pastor of the new congregation.
A unanimous call to the Rev. Mr. Zink was voted by the new Westminster Church on December 2 and formally approved by Presbytery on December 8.
The merger of the two churches was recommended some time ago by the Strategy Committee of the New Brunswick Presbytery after a survey of the needs of the area and was overwhelmingly approved at congregational meetings in each church on November 4.

New Sanctuary
Westminster Church, which erected a beautiful new sanctuary in 1958 during the pastorate of the late Rev. William M. Boaz, had its beginnings as the Union Sunday School which was formed at the William G. Cook Public School in the Borough of Wilbur around 1890. The church was formally organized in 1898 under the name of the Walnut Avenue Presbyterian Church and held services in a building at the corner of Walnut and Walter Avenues.
In 1918 the church moved to a new frame building on South Walter Avenue, near Greenwood, and was renamed the Westminster Church. It has been without a pastor since the death of the Rev. Mr. Boaz. During the interim, pastoral duties have been performed by the Rev. Joseph MacCarroll of Princeton Theological Seminary.
Faith Presbyterian was formed in May 1952 as a result of the merger of St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church and Second Presbyterian Church when the Rev. Alfred Sager was state supply. Second Church, situated at Market and Mercer Streets, was sold and the congregation moved to the St. Paul's sanctuary at Mercer and Greenwood Avenue.

Founded In 1842
Second Church was founded in 1842 by a group from First Presbyterian Church. Its original location was on Union Street. The cornerstone of the old Second Church edifice was placed on June 29, 1904, and the building dedicated on March 9, 1905.
St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church originally met in Library Hall on East State Street on a site now occupied by the N. J. Bell Telephone Company. It held its first service October 11, 1903. The cornerstone of the church at Greenwood and Mercer was placed October 9, 1904 and the building dedicated August 13, 1905.
The Rev. Mr. Zink is a native of Newark and he was graduated from Bloomfield College and from Princeton Seminary, from which he received his Bachelor and Master's degrees in Theology. His first pastorate was at St. Paul's Evangelical which he served from 1935 to 1945 when he resigned to become pastor of St. Paul's Evangelical Church at Taylor, Pa., where he remained until 1951. He was assistant pastor of First Presbyterian Church at Norristown, Pa. from 1951 to 1953 when he was called to become first pastor of the new Faith Church here. Thus he returned to the church where he began his career in the ministry.
Mrs. Zink is the former Edna Hartz of Trenton. Mr. and Mrs. Zink have two children, Kenneth T., a junior at Trenton State College and the organist at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, here, and Sally Jane, a junior at Hamilton High School West.

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FAITH PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH SOLD

Trenton Sunday Times-Advertiser, February 5, 1961

The former Faith Presbyterian Church at Greenwood Avenue and Mercer Street has been sold to the Grant AME Chapel, it is announced by Richard E. Weidel, broker for the firm of Karl Weidel Inc., realtors. Faith Presbyterian Church merged two years ago with Westminster Presbyterian Church at Greenwood and South Walter Avenues. Originally the church was the home of St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church. It then merged with Second Presbyterian Church at Market and Mercer Streets and the congregation moved to the St. Paul edifice under the new name of Faith Presbyterian. The Grant AME Chapel is situated at 826 South Warren Street and has been sold to the city for the John Fitch Way redevelopment project. David Deitz was the attorney for the Westminster Presbyterian Church in the sale of the Faith Church building which has been unoccupied since the merger.

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