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Fair Lawn Community Church (“FLCC”) is a member of the Reformed Church of America (RCA) and consists of a Taiwanese Ministry and an English Ministry (EM). FLCC was originally established in 1984 and named Taiwanese Reformed Church in New Jersey. In 1998, the consistory board recognized the need to reach beyond the Taiwanese community and have established an English speaking Ministry with the vision that the English Ministry would be a multiethnic/multicultural community.

In early 1999, Pastor Raj Christodoss joined FLCC to undertake this mission.  The church name was changed to Fair Lawn Community Church in order to communicate the inclusivity for non-Taiwanese and non-Asian visitors.  In the following years, the members of the EM had grown in faith, knowledge, and fellowship, which fostered a new generation of leaders to serve in this church. In 2004, Rev. Claude Hubbard joined FLCC to continue the mission of our English Ministry. Through Pastor Hubbard's leadership, the EM continued to strengthen in its faith, Biblical knowledge, and brotherhood through his many outreach efforts in the Fair Lawn community. From January 2010 to December 2013, Rev. Faith Link joined FLCC to lead English ministry with emphasis on the children, youths, and outreach to the community to proclaim God’s salvation and love.

With God’s grace, FLCC has completed an extension to our existing building in September 2007.  This extension includes several classrooms, a nursery room, a prayer room, and an additional worship sanctuary. FLCC is prepared to use these new resources that God has provided to reach out to our community and beyond.


Question of Faith:  What defines worship in the RCA?                                                   

    by Kent McHeard

Whenever the word “worship” appears in the Old Testament, it appears only in the rare Hebrew verbal pattern known as Hishtaphel. “Worship” in the Hebrew Scriptures therefore means “to bow down, to do obeisance.” The first time this particular verb form appears is in Genesis 22, when Abraham tells his servants to remain where they are while he and his son go worship God. Abraham’s worship is to offer everything he has in submission to God’s call.

In John, chapter 4, a Samaritan woman asks Jesus, Where is the proper place to worship? Jesus responds that God is spirit, and those who worship God must do so in spirit and truth. “In spirit and truth” can be understood as having the right attitude (spirit) and the right information (truth).

So what defines worship in the RCA? I think of the scene in Isaiah 6, where a vision of heaven includes seraphim. These six-winged beings fly around God’s throne crying, “Holy, holy, holy, is YHWH of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.” In worship, we come into God’s presence, where, by God’s grace, we belong. We declare God’s holiness and offer ourselves wholly to God, since God desires to use us. (Later in the Isaiah 6 passage, the Lord asks, “Whom shall I send?” and the writer declares, “Here am I; send me!”)

Worship, then, is an overwhelming understanding of the presence of God whereby we cannot help but bow down and at the same time be awed in knowing that this is where we belong.

Kent McHeard is pastor of First Reformed Church of Rotterdam in Rotterdam Junction, New York

Note:  This first appeared in the fall 2014 RCA Today. Used with permission.