NEPTUNE – Creating jobs, serving the community, and architectural appeal earned The United Methodist Church of Greater New Jersey’s Mission and Resource Center (MRC) in Neptune, the 2017 “Good Neighbor Award” from The New Jersey Business and Industry Association and New Jersey Business Magazine.
“It is more than merely office space,” reads the article in the July edition of New Jersey Business Magazine. “It is a place of inspiration and learning for spiritual and community leaders throughout the state, region and world, and will enable the church to serve an even greater audience.”
“We intentionally named this facility the Mission and Resource Center because this building is all about how we support the work of the church out in the community,” said Bishop John Schol, who along with church leaders, envision the facility to serve as more than just office space “Our focus is to equip transformational leaders to make vital congregations. Our capacity to resource our leaders has never been greater.” He continued, “The Mission and Resource Center is a place of inspiration and learning for spiritual and community leaders throughout the state, region and the world.”
The 19,200-square-foot center on Jumping Brook Road in Neptune was designed by Shore Point Architecture and built by Jack Green Construction, both of Ocean Grove. It includes 50 offices, 4,000 square feet of meeting rooms and a state-of-the-art video and sound studio. The ground features an area for worship services and meetings and an audio and video production studio, which is available for use by churches, community groups and affiliated organizations.
“We salute the United Methodist Church for contributing to the economic value of this community,” said nominator Vito D. Gadaleta, Coordinator for the Township of Neptune Economic Development Corporation. “We’re honored to host this exquisite world-changing facility in our neighborhood and we look forward to their continued work locally, regionally, and around the world.”
The center serves as the administrative headquarters for A Future with Hope and The United Methodist Stewardship Foundation of Greater New Jersey. Since opening in 2015, the Mission and Resource Center has been used by dozens of related and community organizations including local churches, United Methodist Homes, Northeastern Jurisdictional functions, Drew University and others.
Drew Theological School held its first classes in the facility this spring and plans to expand course offerings in coming semesters.
The Good Neighbor Award recognizes both the structure of the Mission and Resource Center and the tremendous impact GNJ has had throughout the state. With 560 congregations caring for the spiritual health of their communities, United Methodists in Greater New Jersey served 452,572 people in need throughout the state, region and world in 2015 alone.