page_title: Stone Hill Church of Princeton
section_title: The Morgan and Bawden Pastorates
hierarchical_section_title: Stone Hill Church of Princeton / History / The Morgan and Bawden Pastorates
caption_attribution_description: English: The Rev. Ed Morgan, founding pastor of Westerly Road Church.
context_page_description: Stone Hill Church of Princeton is a gospel-centered, nondenominational church in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The church was founded in 1956 as Westerly Road Church at the intersection of Westerly and Wilson Roads. In 2013, it constructed a new facility and relocated to 1025 Bunn Drive and changed its name to Stone Hill Church of Princeton. The Rev. Dr. Matthew P. Ristuccia, a member of the Princeton University class of 1975, has served as senior pastor since 1985.
context_section_description: The Rev. Morgan was educated at Hotchkiss, a member of the Princeton University class of 1938, and a 1942 graduate of the Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a member of one of Princeton's oldest families of ministers, including a great-uncle, William Henry Green, who spent fifty years as a professor of Princeton Seminary.  The Rev. Morgan had already been serving as the pastor of a Presbyterian church in Philadelphia when he experienced what he described as his true conversion to the Christian faith, a conversion which ultimately led to him accepting the call to be founding pastor of Westerly Road.
  The number of children in the congregation grew rapidly, with the Sunday school including 85 children within two years of the congregation's founding.  This led to the addition of seven classrooms and an assembly hall in the spring of 1959, and another ten room addition in time for the church's tenth anniversary in 1966.  The young congregation was one of the first in Princeton to offer Vacation Bible School with attendance nearing 100 children by the summer of 1962.  The church was also an early supporter of dedicated youth ministry, including supporting a Princeton chapter of Young Life when it faced opposition from other area clergy.  In 1964, Ed Morgan said of Young Life that, "They reach a lot of teenagers who go to no church at all or who are indifferent church members.  They present, in a rather unique way, what Christ can do for young people."  The church's early commitment to children and youth continues today.
  During Ed Morgan's long tenure as pastor the theme verse for the congregation, affixed to the sign, was Colossians 1:18, "That in All Things Christ Might Have the Preeminence."(KJV)  Pastor Morgan said of the church on his retirement that, "We believe in fundamentals, an adherence to what we believe the Word of God teaches about itself and the Lord."
  At the founding of the church it was the intention of the Harris siblings that the congregation have a strong commitment to missions.  By the time that the Rev. Morgan retired in 1980, the congregation was giving 50% of all general fund contributions to mission work, including providing partial support for 28 missionary families.  Most of those families were made up of those who had grown up in the church or entered it as students at the university.
  Pastor Morgan helped to initiate and encourage the longstanding connection of the congregation to Princeton University by speaking on campus in conjunction with the Princeton Christian Fellowship.  This connection to PCF and the campus brought the future theologian John Frame into the congregation.  He said of his time at Princeton as a member of the class of 1960 that, "Through [the PCF's] ministry (and that of Westerly Road Church) I grew spiritually as at no other time in my life."   The church's association with the PCF has lasted its entire existence and the current senior pastor, Matt Ristuccia, served for seven years with the PCF prior to accepting the call to serve at Westerly.
  By the mid-70s the church had grown to 250 members and a plan was proposed to build a larger sanctuary.  However, the Princeton Township Zoning Board denied the necessary variance for parking, leading the congregation to instead plant a daughter church, Windsor Chapel, in 1976 with Rev. Morgan's son called as pastor.
  The Rev. Morgan retired in 1980 and was succeeded by the Rev. Paul Bawden, who served in that position until 1985.
caption: The Rev. Ed Morgan, founding pastor of Westerly Road Church.
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