house of prayer

A side interview with Pastor Peng Ronghen of the First Presbyterian Church

Interview/Oh Shin Hye

▲The First Presbyterian Church of New Jersey opens its doors to welcome community outreach ministry.

Pastor Peng Rongren became the senior pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New Jersey when he was in his thirties. This centuries-old church has always taken community care and spreading the love of the Lord as its missionary themes.

KRC: Please talk about your vision for Spanish ministry.

I have a vision: First Presbyterian Church will become a house of prayer for everyone! Although Park West is a community with a dense concentration of Koreans, it is also a business district that employs a large number of Latino workers. I have been praying for Spanish-speaking ministries and waiting for committed Christians who can speak Spanish. When Pastor Li Dongzhu knocked on the door, I told him that I had been praying for this ministry for a long time, and he was very surprised at God's leading. After all, we are the last church he can knock on, not even the Korean church. The church is closely related to the community. My wish is that in this multi-ethnic community, it can provide community residents with worship in their own mother tongue, not just worship in Chinese, but to have more connections with the community.

KRC: What do the deacons of the Chinese-speaking ministry of the church think about opening up the church to Spanish-language ministries?

When I mentioned Li Dongzhu’s outreach ministry to the elders, everyone’s initial hesitation was, is it safe to bring these wandering people into the church? So we decided to implement it step by step, starting with Bible study classes. Afterwards, Pastor Li invited several Korean and Japanese pastors and me to participate, and also taught us simple Spanish. The pastors went to the streets and invited them to come to the church. More than a year later, many people know that there is a Spanish fellowship here, and there is no need to go out on the street to invite people. There are currently about fifty people attending the Tuesday gathering.

KRC: Please talk about the model of co-working between Chinese and Spanish ministries.

Spanish churches are our partners in evangelism, sharing space and resources together without charging rent or signing a contract. Because we are not landlords, all our donations are used by the Lord. Whether it is money, labor, or talents, they are all shared as brothers and sisters, and we are therefore blessed.

The church building is old, and the brothers from the Xiyu Church have worked hard to paint and renovate it. There are currently four churches using it together, including the Korean Crystal Presbyterian Church, the Cuban Church and the World Mission Church. We are still learning to share and cherish church resources, including venues, equipment, money, etc. In the case of a landlord-tenant relationship, the concept of sharing resources may be difficult to achieve.

It is not easy to worship together in different languages, but we have the same faith, so we can do it even if it is difficult! On Christmas Day 2012, the Western Language Church invited Korean churches to worship together and thanked Korean churches everywhere for their care and support.

KRC: What unforgettable testimonies have you witnessed since the beginning of the Chinese Language Institute?

One time when I was about to go home at twelve o'clock at night, I heard bursts of crying coming from downstairs. When I went downstairs and took a look, I discovered that it was three brothers from the Spanish Language Hall who were praying and shedding tears. They thanked God for having a place where they could learn to worship and place musical instruments. They finally found a home and shed tears of gratitude. In fact, according to their working environment, they did not have the conditions or opportunities to learn musical instruments. However, after coming to the church, they started from scratch and never attended meetings. Such a change is God’s wonderful grace!

▲The worship team started from nothing and never came to a meeting (Ms. Peng in the middle)

Interviewee profile
Pastor Peng Rongren came to the United States from Taiwan in 1991 to further his studies. Since October 2000, he has been pastoring the First Presbyterian Church of New Jersey. He and his wife Zhang Meihui have two daughters: Duoxi and Rachel, both of whom are currently in high school.