The First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck welcomes Rev. Stanley Jenkins as our new pastor!

The First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck is pleased to share that Rev. Stanley Jenkins will serve as pastor/head of staff effective July 1, 2011.  For nearly 16 years, Stanley has been serving as the pastor and head of staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Newtown, in Elmhurst, Queens, the oldest church in Queens (founded in 1652) and one of the most diverse. (One of the things that attracted Stanley to Dutch Neck was our strong sense of and appreciation for the long history of our church, as expressed in our Mission Study and Church Information Form.)

Stanley's start date is July 1.  He will be present in worship on July 3 and preside over communion.  He will preach for the first time on July 10. 

About Rev. Stanley Jenkins

Stanley grew up in Illinois and Michigan, and attended Oberlin College, graduating with a B.A. in Religion in 1985. Having felt the call to ministry from his teen years and through college, he immediately went on to seminary and earned his Master of Divinity at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. Stanley was ordained promptly after graduation from Union in 1988 and accepted the solo pastorship of First Presbyterian Church of Waterloo, NY, which he served for three years before beginning doctoral studies in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. During that time, Stanley came to realize that parish ministry was his true calling, and that is what he has pursued faithfully since 1995.  He is married to Mary Shutak Jenkins. Mary’s son (Stanley’s stepson), Elias (Eli) Moose, is currently a junior at Bard College, in the Hudson Valley.

Stanley’s ministry at Newtown suits him well for ministry at Dutch Neck. He became pastor there at a moment of transition following the 30-year tenure of the previous pastor and faced many of the challenges that we know all too well: a declining membership, straitened financial circumstances, and spiritual and missional malaise. He was able to revitalize the congregation to find new leadership, harness new talents, introduce new worship practices, and make the church an active presence in the surrounding community. Acting on an idea of his wife Mary, for example, the church created the “Greens for Queens” urban farm on church property to raise organically grown vegetables for donation to local food banks.

Stanley is committed to developing the gifts of leadership and service in our congregation. As he wrote in his Personal Information Form (PIF), “Discipleship is not a spectator sport, it is a participatory endeavor.” He is a good listener and will seek to gather input from all the members of our church family, while recognizing that Session and the Deacons will be crucial in helping shape new directions for ministry.

During his time at Newtown, he has served the wider church by holding several positions in the Presbytery of New York. He chaired their search committee for an Executive Presbyter and served as chair of the Committee on Ministry.

In his own words:

“We find our effective unity in the fact that each one of us is in need of God’s mercy and healed in His love. What binds us together is the Grace of God and not our outward conformity or homogeneity. In my own ministry, I strive to maintain focus on this Grace,...while at the same time striving to remain open to the movement of the Spirit of the Living God in each moment. I strive to reflect this dual focus in worship and in fellowship, in mission and in stewardship.”