To the editor:
Sixty years ago a Lutheran church in Brooklyn took out a $35,000 mortgage on their sanctuary for startup money for a congregation organizing in Woodcliff Lake.
That congregation became Christ Lutheran Church—in Dam Road until the Woodcliff Lake and Hillsdale councils changed the name to Church Road.
When the church was about to celebrate its 25th anniversary the congregation decided to help another congregation as it had been helped. That year it raised money to help a congregation in North Haledon.
Our 30th anniversary saw us helping a congregation in Brooklyn.
In 1999, the 40th anniversary, we helped a church in the Ironbound area of Newark, and our golden anniversary saw a gift to a new church in Ringoes.
Our 60th anniversary gift will be given to Santa Isabela Lutheran Church in Elizabeth. Part of the congregation’s mission is organizing a faith community within the local immigration detention center.
As Christ Lutheran looks forward, we hope that this pay it forward tradition will continue for many many years.