There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, CEB
Sunday, December 7, 2025, marked the final worship gathering at Alpha (NJ) Mennonite Church. During 2025, the congregation celebrated its 50th anniversary and spent time in discernment about their identity and calling, guided by Pastor Charlene Smalls. Through prayer, conversation, and honest reflection, the congregation made the courageous, faith-filled decision to bring its journey to a close. For Smalls, this was less an ending than a “beautiful completion.”
Founded in 1975 by Henry and Ida Swartley, Alpha Mennonite began as a mission in a small New Jersey community. The first gatherings were held in a former Hungarian Presbyterian church.
By the mid-1980s, nearly 125 people gathered regularly for worship. The congregation drew believers from varied traditions who found unity in their love for Jesus Christ and their shared commitment to practicing Mennonite faith in community. Sunday School, multigenerational worship, fellowship, and service shaped the rhythm of church life.
In recent years, as members aged and numbers shifted, the congregation navigated change, most recently without a permanent pastor. Smalls joined them for a season of transition while they asked a tender and honest question: When is it time to trust God with our past and release what we have known for the sake of what the Spirit may yet do?
In their final weeks, the church studied the Gospel of John with emphasis on relationships. The Sunday before the last service, longtime participant Barbara Bajkowski asked to be baptized and officially welcomed as a member before the congregation’s closure. Leadership Minister Gary Alloway joined Smalls in celebrating her baptism.
Those gathered in early December came to mourn, to remember, and to give thanks for decades of shared faith. The final worship service included times of storytelling, a historical reflection from Jim Lee, a “cloud of witnesses” remembrance led by Bajkowski, a Litany of Remembrance and Release, and a ritual of placing stones inscribed with scripture.
The service was deeply emotional. Member Nancy Lee later reflected that during the time of worship she recalled “forty years of memories… Bible study, worship, shared sadness and celebration, and always a lot of love.”
Jim Lee, Jr. found the day to be “a moment of closure, which was not a failure, but a celebration of every life the church has touched since 1975.” He was touched by those who were present on the final Sunday who hadn’t participated with Alpha in recent years but offered their support.
Bajkowski reflected on the countless ways the congregation had encouraged her, recalling even a simple moment of being cheered on to try a zip line at a retreat as a symbol of Alpha’s steady support.
Pastor Smalls expressed gratitude for “the opportunity to serve Alpha and to walk with them as they discerned what a new beginning looks like after years of faithful service.”
Alpha Mennonite Church has completed its season faithfully. Its legacy continues in the lives it shaped, the relationships it nurtured, and the seeds of faith it planted—beautifully, and in God’s time.
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The opinions expressed in articles posted on Mosaic’s website are those of the author and may not reflect the official policy of Mosaic Conference. Mosaic is a large conference, crossing ethnicities, geographies, generations, theologies, and politics. Each person can only speak for themselves; no one can represent “the conference.” May God give us the grace to hear what the Spirit is speaking to us through people with whom we disagree and the humility and courage to love one another even when those disagreements can’t be bridged.