church history
The Congregation

In the beginning.....September 19, 1963
Abiding Presence Lutheran Church

Introduction
The Congregation
In The Beginning
First Five Years
A Home At Last
We Grow Again
Twenty Five Years
Into The Nineties
The Future
I Am The Church
APLC Home Page

Thirty-nine people met to organize a new congregation in Ewing Township, north of the city of Trenton. The meeting was called to order by Pastor Roy Miltner, mission developer, and led by the Rev. Dr. Edwin H. Knudten, President of the New Jersey Synod, United Lutheran Church. Mr. Chris Meyer was appointed secretary of the meeting, assisted by Mrs. Rosemary Sinniger, who took and prepared the minutes. Mr. Bill Oshman offered the following resolution:

RESOLVED that this Congregation this day duly assembled and meeting is organized and will be incorporated and governed in pursuance of Chapter 5, Title 16 of the Revised Statutes, of the State of New Jersey so far as the sections therein contained are applicable to churches of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

The resolution was seconded and unanimously adopted.
 
Mr. Walter Fort offered the resolution as to the name of the church and this resolution was also unanimously adopted.
 
These people were named as the first council:

Walter Fort
John Wigley
Chris Meyer
Earl Fielder
Jack Faust
William Oshman
Richard Jabs
William Townsend
Mrs. Alford Naus
Rev. Paul E. Carl

At a later meeting, John Wigley was named Vice President; Chris Meyer, Secretary; Richard Jabs, Treasurer; and Earl Fielder, Financial Secretary.
 
Thus, Abiding Presence Lutheran Church was born.
 
A year and a half effort to establish a congregation "in the suburbs," as members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church moved outward from Trenton, became a reality.