The Reformed Church of Highland Park is a

Reformed Church in America The Reformed Church in America (RCA) is a mainline Reformed Protestant denomination in Canada and the United States. It has about 82,865 members. From its beginning in 1628 until 1819, it was the North American branch of the Dutch Reformed ...

church and congregation in

Highland Park, New Jersey Highland Park is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, in the New York City metropolitan area. The borough is located on the northern banks of the Raritan River, in th ...

Congregation

The congregation formed in 1890. Construction of the church began in 1897 and the building was dedicated on October 1, 1898. It had been eight years since the congregation was formed. They celebrated their 100th anniversary in 1990.

Building

The building was designed by

Alexander Merchant Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

(1872-1952), the architect responsible for numerous notable buildings in Highland Park, particularly in the Livingston Manor Historic District. It was his first design for Highland Park. The auditorium wing is circa 1920. The buildings have been equipped with

solar panels A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

Housing

The RCHP Affordable Housing Corporation has built and maintains homes for the disenfranchised or homeless groups, among them veterans, chronically homeless adults, refugees, asylum seekers, youth leaving foster care, formerly-incarcerated students including projects in Highland Park, New Brunswick, and Newark.

Immigrant sanctuary

The church has provided sanctuary for undocumented immigrants since at least 2012. Notably, it gained national attention when church became a sanctuary for Indonesian immigrants facing deportation. Again in 2018, the church received attention when some of its parishioners, who had been targeted by

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the Un ...

(ICE), took refuge in the church. They were visited by

Phil Murphy Philip Dunton Murphy (born August 16, 1957) is an American politician, diplomat, and financier serving as the 56th governor of New Jersey since 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was elected governor i ...

, the

New Jersey Governor The governor of New Jersey is the head of government of the U.S. state of New Jersey. The office of governor is an elected position with a four-year term. There is a two consecutive term limit, with no limitation on non-consecutive terms. The ...

and

Gurbir Grewal Gurbir Singh Grewal (; born June 23, 1973) is an American attorney and prosecutor who was formerly the Director of the Division of Enforcement for the Securities and Exchange Commission from July 2021 until his resignation, which became effective ...

, the

New Jersey Attorney General The attorney general of New Jersey is a member of the executive cabinet of the state and oversees the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety, Department of Law and Public Safety. The office is appointed by the governor of New Jersey, confi ...

who vowed to take up the matter. Grewal later asked the

United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. United States federal executive departments, federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the Interior minister, interior, Home Secretary ...

to clarify its policy with regard to policing 'sensitive areas' such as churches and schools. Two parishioners who had been arrested were prevented from being deported by a restraining order. After four Christian Indonesian residents of the town had been deported in February 2017, the municipal council began considering an "immigrant inclusive" resolution, which was adopted in June 2017. It stated law enforcement would be based on

New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety The New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety is a governmental agency in the U.S. state of New Jersey that focuses on protection of the lives and property of New Jersey residents and visitors. The department operates under the supervision o ...

guidelines and would not assist or interfere with federal immigration actions.

Pastors

External links

References

{{Reflist, 2 Highland Park, New Jersey Churches in Middlesex County, New Jersey Reformed Church in America churches in New Jersey 1890 establishments in New Jersey