A History of the Assembly in Midland Park, NJ.

    The Borough of Midland Park, New Jersey, almost two square miles in size, was incorporated in 1895 and consisted of 1,250 people of predominantly Dutch descent. Many of these settlers worked in a woolen mill which over the years expanded to include cotton and silk manufacturing.

The first assembly Gospel effort in the town was in 1921 when Mr. Sam Rea and Mr. Alfred Hazelton pitched a tent on the corner of Vreeland and Franklin Avenues. This was a Gospel outreach of the Paterson assembly located about eight miles away; several believers in fellowship there lived in a town adjacent to Midland Park.     One very religious young woman, seeing the tent, thought that "whoever these people are, they have lots of nerve to come into this community which already has six churches." It was rumored that the group with the tent were Russelites, but she knew the Russellites would not have displayed the text hanging outside the tent, "Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." She told her friends she would go to the tent to find out just who "they" were. What impressed her was the preachers' statement that they were preaching the Word of God, and if they said anything not according to Scripture, they wanted to be corrected, and everyone was encouraged to bring their Bible to the meetings. This was a challenge to be taken advantage of by this active church worker! So she did return with her Bible, but, as she often stated, instead of her finding the preachers out, the preaching in the power of the Spirit of God found her out; and one night, as the gospel message from John 3:14,15 was being proclaimed, she trusted Christ.

Mr. Sam Rea

Mr. Alfred Hazelton

    Her family was not as happy as she was when she told them her new discovery, so they asked the dominie (Dutch equivalent of "Reverend") to visit her. She refused to address him as "dominie," and when she asked him if he had ever been born again, he displayed a great deal of anger and exclaimed, "I who have been a preacher of the Gospel for over 40 years, and you ask me if I've been born again!" His outburst of anger contrasted with her calm confidence doubtless helped in relieving some of the family tension toward her. About seven professed salvation in those meetings. Mr. Rea made a diary of some of his activities during those early days, which may be seen here

    That same year, 1921, Mr. James Marshall had tent meetings on what is now Glen Avenue in Ridgewood (then Harrison Avenue), two miles away, and there were also two weeks of meetings in the Red Man Hall in Waldwick - one mile north of Midland Park; it is uncertain whether full-time servants of the Lord or local brethren from the Paterson assembly conducted these meetings, but Christ was preached. (In his Diary for August of 1921, on the right hand page, Mr. Rea mentions two weeks meetings with Mr. Hazelton, but not where they were held. Perhaps they were the ones in Waldwick. - HTC)

In 1922, Mr. Hugh G. McEwen and Mr. Benjamin Bradford had tent meetings in Emerson - about ten miles east of Midland Park, and later that season, pitched the tent on Prospect Street (the street on which the Hall is.) This was a season of great ingathering when about 25 professed faith in Christ and many left the denominations to gather to the Lord's Name in the Paterson assembly - approximately eight miles away. Among those saved were Mr. David Zuidema and his wife Fannie who died three and one half years later, Sadie Nauta, who later became Mrs. David Zuidema, and Mr. Lester Greene. Two baptisms were held that season in a pond located at the corner of Goffle Road and Rock Road with up to 500 present to witness.     In 1923, Mr. Bradford and Mr. McEwen were in the tent in Hawthorne, two towns south of Midland Park, when a number were saved. One brother said later that there was no follow-up work done in Hawthorne in teaching the new converts and he wondered if the Hawthorne Gospel Church was built on the foundation laid in the gospel by those saved in these tent meetings.

Mr. Hugh G. McEwen

Mr. Benjamin Bradford

    At the same time the Hawthorne meetings were in progress, Mr. David Zuidema, Mr. Ben McLeod, Mr. Hazelton, and the three Greene brothers, Norman, Lester, and Harvey shared in the preaching in a tent in Butler - to the west of Midland Park in Passaic County.

    There was an effort in Westwood in 1924 near where the tent was in Emerson two years before, and two more tents were in Passaic County that year. Meetings in Prospect Park ran from July 20 to September 16, and in Bloomingdale with Mr. Hazelton, and Messrs. Harvey and Lester Greene, which finished on September 5.

    In 1925 there were two tents again. One in Boonton, Passaic County where Mr. Hazelton and Harvey Greene had thirteen weeks and finished with a baptism of eight who had professed. Mr. Bradford, Mr. Zuidema, and Mr. William Glasgow went into Rockland County, New York with a tent in Suffern. Mr. Hazelton and Mr. Alfred Mofatt also held gospel meetings in the Fire Hall in Albion Place, New Jersey, a section of Clifton, near Garrett Mountain.

Invitation to meetings in Westwood, 1924

Invitation to meetings in Suffern, 1925

Invitation to meetings in Albion Place, 1925

    The summer of 1926 saw a second tent series in Boonton with Mr. Hazelton and Mr. Peter Hoogendam. There also was another effort in Midland Park on the corner of Godwin and Franklin Avenues.

    On January 23, 1927 the assembly was formed in Midland Park with about 35 in fellowship. Many had been in the Paterson assembly, and some of these were dubious about leaving Paterson to go to Midland Park, but Mr. Bradford showed them from the Scriptures that when there was a work of grace done in a district with numbers turning to Christ, it was God's intent that a testimony to the Lord's Name be established there. Most of those who formed the company in Midland Park were saved in tent meetings there and those who had been in Paterson went in full fellowship with the brethren there to gather to His Name in Midland Park. The assembly met at 197 Godwin Avenue, in a store front. Mr. Bradford held an Opening Series in the Gospel. The last of the believers who composed the assembly at its start was Mr. Harvey Greene, who died in November, 1994 at the age of 92.

    In the summer of 1927, Mr. Bradford, Mr. McEwen, and Mr. John Knox McEwen pitched a tent on the lot where the Hall now stands on Prospect Street, which lot was purchased by the assembly which had designated the offering on the second Sunday of each month to go to a Building Fund for the purchase of land and the erection of the hall. The title search on the property cost $40, the mortgage taken out was for $7,000. The charge of the contractor for labor of laying up the basement was $150. One brother offered to take a note for this amount to be repaid after the money was secured for the entire building. It was proposed, at a business meeting in October, 1928 to put a temporary roof over the foundation if a loan was not approved, but the Lord provided so that this was not done. Also, in October, 1928 those present at the business meeting accepted the By-Laws that were drawn up. The Dugan brothers, from a assembly in Long Island donated over 200 seats to the assembly. (These seats were replaced in the year 2000.)

    Work progressed rapidly, and in February, 1929, the assembly moved from the store on Godwin Avenue to the hall. The first wedding in the new hall was that year, Nellie McCabe to Norman Greene. Several more followed the following few years. The mortgage on the hall was cancelled in July 1939 with $1891.70 outstanding, which Mr. David Zuidema loaned and final payment to him was on July 12, 1943.

    During the 1930's the brethren continued active in Gospel work in the open air and rented buildings. Areas included Fair Lawn, Paterson, Prospect Park, Allendale, Pompton Lakes, and Sussex in New Jersey, and in Suffern and Hillburn, New York. For several weeks, some drove to Allamuchy and preached in a school house - these were bi-lingual, half in English and half in the Dutch language spoken by Mr. John VanElswyk. There were some souls saved through these efforts; but as one brother said, "We didn't turn the world upside down."

    The Order of meetings on the Lord's Day until the 1940's was: Breaking of Bread, 10:30 - 12; Bible reading and Sunday School, 3:00 PM, Gospel, 8:00-9:00 PM. Prayer Meeting was Thursday at 8:00 PM. When gas rationing was imposed in 1941 during World War II, the Sunday School was changed from 3:00 PM to 9:00 AM so there would be one less trip to and from the hall, as Sunday School was followed by the Morning Meeting at 10:30. On the first Sunday of the month, we had Open Sunday School at which time the Sunday School children were each called on and expected to recite the verses learned during the month. If a preacher was visiting, he would speak to the children, otherwise, one of the brethren in the meeting would give the lesson.

    The time of the Sunday School and Bible Class was changed around 1969 to follow the Breaking of Bread, which meeting was moved up to 10:00 AM, and the Gospel Meeting was changed from 8:00 PM to 7:30 PM; later still, the Gospel Meeting was moved ahead another half hour to begin at 7:00 PM. The weekly Prayer Meeting was changed in the 1980s to Prayer Meeting and Bible Reading. We now have a Ministry Meeting on the last Lord's Day of each month instead of the regular Bible Reading.

    Through the years, the Sunday School children have been mostly the children of the Christians in the assembly, and even though Special Children's Meetings have been held on many occasions with a fair number of children attending, we have not had many of these continue to come to increase the weekly numbers. The number of classes continues to change from time to time according to ages and number of children.

    Returning to earlier days, letters of acknowledgement still on hand show that some of the Lord's servants who visited the assembly in the first ten years were Messrs. Charles Keller, George Duncan, J. Dickson, W. Fisher Hunter, James McCullough, John Moneypenny, James Lytle, Benjamin Bradford, and Andrew Craig. In the 1940s, there were visits from Messrs. James McCullough, Robert McCracken, J. Elliott, J. F. Pearson, Richard Roberts, Clay Fite, Oswald MacLeod, J. Kennedy, W. Glasgow, Hugh Thorpe, W. Fisher Hunter, Lorne McBain, Paul Plubell, Hector Alves, Tom McCullagh, Archibald T. Stewart, Albert Klabunda, Benjamin Bradford, Edward Fairfield, Joseph A. Milne, John Frith, and John Turkington. This list includes some who came for special Gospel Meetings. In 1940, Mr. Richard Roberts and Mr. John Dixon held gospel meeings for six weeks at which a number professed faith in Christ, one of whom was Gertrude van den Bush, later Mrs. Oswald MacLeod.

    Mr. William Williams and fellow missionaries in Venezuela made it a special matter of prayer that the Lord would direct them to an assembly in the New York area where missionaries going to and from Venezuela could stop over and be "brought forward on their journey." The Lord answered, and for many years the Midland Park assembly and the laborers in Venezuela had a very strong bond between them. When Mr. & Mrs. E. Fairfield and daughter Elizabeth were en-route from Venezuela to Ireland during the war years, they were denied passage from New York to the U.K. So we had a "resident missionary" with us for a time. A doctor who lived neighbor to one of the assembly Christians had an empty cottage on his property which he graciously offered for their use. Those proved to be very happy years. Mr. Fairfield was able on occasion to visit assemblies in New England, but while with the assembly, labored with them. One project included helping the brethren hand-dig the area under the vestibule to expand the kitchen area. This greatly increased the ease of food preparation for the conference. (The same doctor whose cottage was made available donated a large eight-burner stove with four ovens to the assembly when he replaced it in his own home by a modern range. We used this until the year 2000, sold it for $2000, and got two commercial ranges.)

    Most of the foreign missionaries in Venezuela from Ireland and Canada went via New York and spent time in Midland Park. Travel by freighter from N.Y. was the most economical, and allowed for taking supplies with them which couldn't be obtained in South America. Mr. & Mrs. D. Zuidema and others hosted many missionary families and went down to the docks to either welcome them or send them on their way. Traveling by freighter also gave them a few days relaxation - something little known by those who engaged in the Lord's work.

    The first Sunday School Treat was on New Year's Day, 1933. It is unclear how the news got out that there was to be a treat, but the hall was packed with children, and they were, according to all reports, the most unruly group ever in the hall. Refreshments were served in the auditorium after the message was given because the basement was not suitable at the time. The boys had a "free for all, they threw food all over the place. There was ice cream on the walls, the chairs, and the floor. It took a lot of hard work to get the place cleaned up. Apparently, Mr. McCullough wasn't too discouraged because he took the treat several years following this on New Year's Day. For many years, we sang "The Coming Year" at the treat ... a searching song for young and old alike.

    On July 4th we had the annual Sunday School Picnic. The date was changed in the 1980s we gathered at Ringwood Manor State Park for many years, and when conditions there deteriorated and also the number of families in the assembly declined, Mr. and Mrs. Zuidema offered the use of their yard for the picnic. In the 1980s, the date was changed, and the picnic site was moved to a field in Franklin Lakes.

    At a business meeting in November, 1931 it was voted to put $5.00 or more into a savings account each month "for the use of a conference as the brethren may decide to meet necessities." The First Conference was on June 13 and 14, 1942, and the believers sacrificed a great deal to hold the conference. Because of the war, many foods were rationed, but the Christians gave their stamps to purchase food for the conference. Some who attended the first conference will never forget the stifling heat. The basement floors became soaking wet with humidity and were very slippery, so Mr. Zuidema put down roofing paper to try to absorb the moisture. It was not pleasant. Because of this, the conference date was changed in 1944 to the last full weekend in September.

    Because of the large numbers attending the conference, the preachers often sat up on the platform and extra chairs were borrowed from the Olthuis Funeral Home in town. When the Long Port assembly started a conference, it was a week before ours, and resulted in a big decrease in attendance at Midland Park. The New Year's Treat, the Fourth of July Picnic and Conference time were "the big events" of the year for many of the children in the Sunday School.

    For many years, Mr. Norman Greene printed all the announcements for special meetings and conferences on his small Kelsey printing press.

    The assembly gave money for several Gospel tents as follows:

    June, 1944 Mr. James McCullough $350

    Feb, 1945 Mr. Clay Fite $335

    June, 1953 Mr. Gerald P. Taylor $300

    Not only did the assembly support Gospel work, it also had fellowship in a practical way with other assemblies as needs were felt.

    Open air meetings at the Ridgewood Duck Pond on Sunday afternoons were held for several years from the early 1970s up until the mid 1980s. Also in the 1970s, several of the younger brethren, sometimes accompanied by some sisters, sometimes by full-time preachers, went to New York City to distribute tracts, and to preach the Gospel. This was seen to be a wonderful example of how God can bring those of every race together to preach Christ. Most often there were two white brethren, one black brother and one Oriental. There were also cottage meetings held from time to time in homes where the believers found an open ear for the gospel. Some of those who were saved as a result of such meetings in the early 1980s, now with some family members, are in the fellowship of the assembly up to the present in 2007. In addition, there were meetings in four Nursing homes: in Emerson, Ridgewood, Woodcliff Lake, and West Milford. More recently, "Seed Sowers" texts have been distributed in Midland Park and nearby municipalities. Some of the towns covered have been Wyckoff, Hawthorne, North Haledon, Waldwick, Fair Lawn, Glen Rock, Ridgewood, Oradell, Bergenfield, Dumont, Allendale, and part of Paramus, and Pearl River, NY. Some of these have been done as a group effort of the assembly, and some by one or two believers, and some with the assistance of believers from nearby assemblies. When it commenced, the assembly in Midland Park had a good number of Holland folk. At present, in 2007, there are those from Ireland, India, Malaysia, Antigua, Dominica, Canada, and the US.

Additional Miscellaneous Interesting Facts

    The brethren and sisters in the early days of the assembly sacrificed much to give us what we have today. Some spent their vacation each year to wash the windows, put up or take down storm windows and screens.

    In 1941, at a business meeting in April, it was decided that the second Tuesday of each month be set aside for manual work to be done around the hall. Other "Workmen's Meetings" were often announced for other Tuesday evenings.

    In Dec, 1941, Mr. D. Zuidema lent the corporation $750.00 for buying the property at the rear of the hall. A piece of this lot was sold in 1943 for $150.00.

    In 1942, the hall was re-shingled for $293.00

    In 1942, seventeen storm sash and two storm doors were purchased for $62.00

    In 1943, 30 pounds of roast beef were ordered for the conference.

    In 1943, the ceiling was insulated for $157.80 for material.

    In 1944, the present front porch was erected.

    In 1946, an 8 gallon Coffee urn was purchased for $158.00.

    In the 1970s, Aluminum siding was installed.

    In 1985, Air conditioning units were installed for $8.977

    In 1983, Interior painting, including the ceiling, cost $2,364.

    In 1997, Interior painting, excluding the ceiling, cost $1,350.

    In 1992, Electric and heating installations

    In 1997, New Window treatments in Auditorium and basement.

    In 1998, Bathroom Remodeling

    In 1999, Roof and gutter replacement - $11,377

    In 2001, Major Kitchen & Basement renovations

    In 2005, Exterior Painting & Installation of new carpeting in the Auditorium

    In 2006, Replacement of basement windows; Painting of the Auditorium.