About
Our loving church has been here for over 133 years, welcoming and serving residents of the Blue Anchor community in Winslow Township and beyond. We have been a special gathering place for generations, hosting worship, Christian education, fellowship activities, savory feasts, special events and more.
But thanks to Grace Union’s members and friends, we also engage in outreach ministries to help others near and far by sharing food, clothing and other necessities. Why? Because our outreach is motivated by our love and faith as devoted followers of Jesus Christ. Today we also share our church facility with New Generation, an emerging Haitian congregation that is growing here through worship, Christian education and fellowship.
We praise God and celebrate the beauty, blessings and even burdens of our lives together. That includes important life passages—from births and baptisms, to graduations and anniversaries, to funerals that bid fond farewells to loved ones.
So, please come visit us at our place of Grace, where God’s grace unites us in Christ’s joyful Spirit of love for all people. We’re saving a place and a friendly welcome just for you.
—Pastor John Wesley Coleman
Use our spacious parking lot behind the church or our handicapped parking spaces at the sanctuary entrance. Come at 10:30 AM so we can meet and fellowship with you. And dress comfortably; we're not fancy here.
(Note: New Generation Christian Church, a Haitian-American congregation, worships in our sanctuary from 8 to 10:15 AM. )
Our worship style is traditional, featuring prayers, popular hymns, Scriptures, Holy Communion on first Sundays, upbeat sermons with both biblical and contemporary wisdom about life and faith, and sometimes a special message for children and youth. We do not offer childcare at this time. But we welcome children of all ages in our worship services; and we have a nursery that families can use.
Also, if you need free, nurtritious food, come to our Food Pantry ministry on Tuesdays from 4 to 7 PM, where guests can select their own healthy foods and also diapers. Search Cape Atlantic Poverty Task Force or visit our Facebook page to learn more (https://www.facebook.com/PovertyTaskForce/ ).
Grace and Discipleship are the two keystones of our Methodist beliefs. We receive God gift of Grace that is freely available to all. That gift is eternal forgiveness for our sins and redemption from the penalty for sin if we only repent, believe and abide in Jesus Christ and in His love.
We respond to that gift of God’s grace by learning and practicing Discipleship—that is, becoming disciples of Jesus Christ who, with the help of God's Holy Spirit, learn, follow and share with others Christ's teachings and His good news that promises us all abundant life and eternal salvation through him.
Our mission as United Methodists is to "Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World." We pursue that mission by nurturing our faith in God and our love for others through spiritual and social ministries. Our ministries manifest our key values of righteous living, resilient hopefulness and resolute joy no matter what challenges we face in life.
Grace Union Church was born in a schoolhouse in Blue Anchor, New Jersey, in 1886, and named for the spirit of grace and unity witnessed among its early participants. The church erected its first building 10 years later, with Rev. Richard Smith as its first pastor and a 22-member choir. It was often aligned with other, sister churches on the Methodist Church’s Winslow Circuit.
Nestled comfortably in a residential community near Donald Heggan Park and several large farms, Grace Union has long been involved in activities to serve the congregation and community, including the early Epworth League for young adults and other ministries to promote spiritual growth and missions. The church expanded its building and grounds to serve a once-growing membership that included several choirs, a Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, youth development programs and various outreach ministries.
While its membership is much smaller today, Grace Union’s most best-known ministry is its weekly Food Pantry that welcomes about a thousand neighbors a month to come and choose their own free, nutritional food and infant and adult diapers mostly supplied by the Community Food Bank of New Jersey. That increasingly important, lifesaving ministry has also spawned a small by vital youth group that meets monthly with caring adult mentors for safe, supportive fun, fellowship and faith development.
Grace Union is humbly proud and grateful to God for its Methodist heritage of providing a spiritual witness and social ministry that contributes to its community and beyond. We strive to live faithfully in and through the word of God, caring for our sacred church home and fulfilling the gospel-sharing mission entrusted to us by our savior Jesus Christ.
A United Methodist Licensed Local Pastor, Pastor John has served churches in the Eastern Pennsylvania and Greater New Jersey conferences part-time since 2018., while also working as professional communcations executive for decades and now a part-time freelance journalist. John is passionate about serving God as a pastor and religion communicator, while promoting ministries that manifest the spiritual and social witness of the people called Methodist.
Grace Union United Methodist Church is led by its pastor and a cadre of capable, committed lay leadership who love to serve God, their church and its members. They include: Wendy Dorfman, our Lay Leader; Dave Dorfman, our Church Council Chairman; Susan Hatala, our Staff-Parish Relations Chairwoman; and Kathy Soistmann, our Trustee Team Leader.