The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-12-12
Mr.. SCUDDER EXPLAINS
Says There is No Split in
His Church, and Talks
Of the Trouble.

That the downtown section of the First
Congregational Church, which is perhaps
better known as the Tabernacle, is in a
bad way financially there is 10 doubt, now
that the Rev. John l.. Seudder, Of tbs
church a Bergen and Boyd avenues, has
admitted it. For months all kinds OF
rumors have been floating around in
church circles to the effect thai the
church at Bergen and Boyd avenues
would in the future run Independent OF
the old Tabernacle. that the latter church
building would be used tor missions, or
to sum up the whole matter in few
WORDS, that the downtown cnnrch was q
burden and must be shaken off
A News" reporter called on Mr.. Scud-
der yesterday at his residence, on Ber-
gen avenue adjoining the church, and
asked him about the situation.
Is there any truth in the report that
there mas been a split between the up
town and downtown congregations he
was asked.
"A spliti,, he exclaimed in surprise.
why, no, none that / have heard Of.
We'll, is it true that the Tabernacle
will be used for mission work in the fu-
ture?' was next asked.
Il think not," he said You see. It's
this way:-For some time past the down
town church has had poor audiences and
Mr.. Cox ana myself started in to remedy
this II is, Of course We'll known that
We exchanged nuip4ts each Sunday, but
later this did not seem to be Just the
thing. If a person was sick, they I'D not
knew who to send for, and so We came to
the conclusion that 1t would be good
idea for each of US to occupy one pulpit
permanently [ took the uptown church
and Mr. Cox the Tabernacle.
Here ii may be well TO mention the fact
that many people were of the opinion that
Mr. Scudder took the Hill church because
it was more prosperous than the oKher,
and that there was no such thing as 1nil-
ure This is hardly the truth, for he
says
when he received an excellent call, 70
take charge of Brooklyn church
Naturally he accepted and the downtoWn
part of the church was left WITHOUT a
pastor. A committee was appointed not
long ago to ascertain in just what con-
dition the church is now in, and on the
compsetion of the report ests the fature of
the downtown end of the First Congre-
gational Church. i admit that the at
tendances have greatly fallen off. | be-
lieye this is due to the tendency OF the
people to move upon the Heights. The
lower portion is becoming more business
like each year ana naturally the resi-
dents thereof move This is the only
reason | can give for the slim audiences.
I'VE have had different preachers speak
each Sunday in the Tabernacle and the
committee that is now investigating the
finances will soon make report. As |
said before, we cut our garments accord
ing to the cloth we have and it we lind
that it is Impossible to maintain the
downtown church, then q meeting of the
congregation of the First Congregational
Church win be called. What 1 mean by
that is that we are democratic
people and that there is only one churcn.
There are people laboring under the inn
preston that there are two different
Churches This is not So One church,
but two buildings, is what we have. One
board OF trustees, one treasurer, one sec
retary, etc. govern the church
Now If the committee finds that it will
be impossible to pay minister, to preach
downtown then, as ] mentioned before,
a meeting of the congregation viii be
called and whatever action is
decided upon by the people, viii
be carried out. However, 1 think.
enough money will be raised by tE.e
committee TO pay a preacher, and li.en
matters will run along as they have be-
fore. No, there is no split: we simply
want to do what is best for the downtown
con oraga.t ion Z,