“These Are Gonna Be My People: Redeeming Welcome”
Ruth Fellowship Ministries
Plainfield, NJ
By Student Researchers, Natalia Dahlgren and Jacob Hunter
Planted 23 years ago in Plainfield, New Jersey, Ruth Fellowship Ministries (RFM) is a nondenominational African American church that follows the Baptist doctrine. Upon arrival, guests enter through double doors into a short hallway that leads directly into the sanctuary. During our visit in February, church members did not assemble for fellowship in a lobby or outside but in the sanctuary itself. Through physical proximity and intentionality, worship and fellowship are united at Ruth Fellowship. The decorative and functional choices of the sanctuary itself speak to the congregation’s desire to exalt God and to remain accessible to the community. Instead of pews, comfortable royal blue chairs face the front of the room where large banners hang declaring God’s glory, honor, and power. At the same time, the preaching of the word is set apart by a pulpit at the center of the stage, just behind a central altar with a polished golden cross. A podium stands on the ground to the left of the stage for announcements and prayers offered by lay leaders in the congregation. Everyone who enters is drawn into a family that actively participates in worship and ministry and greets one another with “Brother” or “Sister” as a prefix for every name.
While the congregation welcomes newcomers openly to RFM’s space of worship, prominent COVID protocols are still in place. After receiving a mask, a temperature check, and information for contact tracing, visitors are lovingly ushered into the sanctuary, where congregants are socially distanced yet excited to see each other. Because Ruth Fellowship Ministries serves a population concerned about meeting in person, they still enforce safety protocols to make the church as safe as possible for everybody. During our interview with the pastor, Rev. Tracey, she shared that one member of her congregation recently contracted COVID for the fourth time. Thus, some members have cited COVID as the reason they have not returned to worship in person. However, these safety measures do not seem to hinder the church in expressing love for one another and newcomers. Once the service ends, a guest can expect a warm greeting or embrace from half the church. In the words of Deacon-in-Training Keith Knight, “The doors of the church swing on the hinges of welcome.”
As people have been slow to return to church, it caused us to wonder what is at stake for RFM in their welcome. Welcome seems to be tangible and central to the identity of this thriving congregation, but what makes it “essential,” especially as the church seeks to recover its members post-COVID? In hearing RFM’s origin story, speaking with congregants, and observing a few worship services, RFM’s open doors seem driven by a desire to see God’s redeeming work in the lives of this community. This connection between welcome and transformation stands out as a unique element of RFM’s congregational identity. As their desire to participate in God’s transformative activity became clear, it was easy to see how an active welcome drives their fellowship and their ministry activities.
God’s redemptive work is at the center of the church’s origin story. RFM opened its doors with a commitment to the unchurched, or as Sister Sandra said, “the unchurchly.” On two occasions, Rev. Tracey recounted how she recruited some of her first members. The local newspaper, The Town Crier, included a section sharing information about people arrested for shoplifting, prostitution, and other crimes. Rev. Tracey took note and called these folks to invite them directly to her church because, as Rev. Tracy said, “these are gonna be my people.” And they were! When asked about a Bible story that defines or represents who the church is, Rev. Tracey – perhaps unsurprisingly – answered with the story of Ruth. She explained that just as God redeemed Ruth out of a hedonistic and idolatrous Moab and brought her into the larger narrative of redemption history, her church is comprised of people who have been delivered from all sorts of past lives from shoplifting to prostitution and beyond.
From the pulpit to the congregation, the church is excited by stories of ongoing, life-giving, transformational change. Deacon Nebraska and Rev. Tracey both spoke of people coming to the church and being delivered from drugs, prostitution, drinking, and other problems. Sister Sandy confirmed that the church is about uplifting the people that come through its doors. RFM accepts any and all people, they said. In their commitment to participating in God’s transformative work, RFM holds space for newcomers from many different backgrounds. Rev. Tracey summarized the church’s value for redemption in our interview saying, “It’s not where you start. It’s where you finish.” The church is not looking for the perfect or the put-together but for anyone who needs Jesus.
This heart for redemption extends beyond individual transformation to practical transformation, evidenced in the architectural landscape. Despite warnings from the community, Rev. Tracey rented a building in a “rough” area of Plainfield, when she first set out to found RFM. Even though the rented space required work to clean, set up, and prepare, she was not alone. Early in the church’s life – circa 1998 – members who would become part of her church showed up at 5 a.m. to help her clean and set up the service and would stay after to help her break everything back down. Once the church purchased their own building, Sister Sandra told us how the church came together to renovate much of the building to better serve the needs of the church. They removed the pews and put in new comfortable chairs. They built a new office for Rev. Tracey and turned a storage room into a wheelchair accessible bathroom. Twenty-two years after purchasing and renovating the building, RFM still worships and serves together there. Welcome is not simply an attitude of the congregation but a commitment that has determined the design of their space.
Because of this commitment to welcome all that may need Christ’s redeeming, transformative work, RFM’s doors swing wide for works of ministry. At a Sunday worship service, one should expect a bevy of announcements about internal and external ministry opportunities. For the congregation, RFM offers men’s and women’s ministries, a youth group, a dance group, and care for physical needs. One may also hear about training for the evangelism team as RFM seeks to bring its community into the church and the presence of God. For the community, RFM is committed to remaining relevant to the local needs. The church hosts seasonal collections for coats, food, and toys, along with hosting community events. When RFM isn’t the principal organizer, Rev. Tracey encourages her members to partner with other churches on their projects. The church’s doors open wide as members and leaders alike welcome people in and seek out opportunities to serve.
This active welcome extends beyond projects and programs to the community’s overall wellbeing. For the youth, RFM offers scholarships to high school students in pursuit of ministry and liberal arts degrees alike. The church also sponsors a pre-teen recreational basketball team, which finished first in their tournament this year. Even funerals at the church have been an occasion for welcome as other congregations call on RFM’s usher and greeter teams. In some instances, people have even joined Ruth Fellowship because of a funeral hosted in the church building. Deacon Nebraska said that the church comes together to “surround them in their time of need,” and that “you see these people coming back after they had buried their loved ones saying, ‘We were just treated so nice.’” These teams rejoice at the opportunity to serve and love members of their community in times of mourning. In the words of Rev. Tracey, “I often ask my congregation if Ruth Fellowship Ministries closed their doors, would the community miss us?” Welcome is not a passive frame of mind, but a value that is enacted regularly.
Even though RFM’s doors swing wide for “the unchurchly,” this openness is accompanied and strengthened by their love for one another in fellowship. When a new apartment building opened across the street in 2022, evangelism team members printed brochures and went door-to-door to invite their new neighbors to a community event. The church was excited about this event and the opportunity to minister to their neighbors. When it came time for the event, no one from the apartments showed up. Though the turnout was not what the church expected, Rev. Tracey and the church embraced the opportunity to fellowship with each other and had a blast together with face painting, grilling outside, and having pictures taken. This quick pivot from evangelistic ministry to churchly fellowship demonstrates the church’s commitment to each other. Instead of the ministry opportunity being counted as a loss, Rev. Tracey told us the church treated it as an opportunity to just spend some fun time together and said, “It strengthened our fellowship.” Family fellowship is not sacrificed on the altar of external service. The two go together.
In imagining what future thriving might look like for their congregation, Deacon Nebraska and Sister Sandra shared hope for a continuation of God’s redeeming work. Deacon Nebraska says, “as far as thriving, people are coming from near, they’re coming from far, and they’re coming not to be seen, not to be heard” but because, “they want to get the Word. They’re coming to be healed; they’re coming to be blessed. So, I see as we move further down, these people are going to continue to be blessed. They’re going to continue to thrive.” Sister Sandra added, “and they’re participating, they’re active, they’re joining ministries. They’re unchurchly, but once they’ve been there and see exactly what the pastor’s about, what our vision is about, they join right in, and they get to doing what the Lord wants us to do.” For Deacon Nebraska and Sister Sandra, welcome and redemptive transformation go hand in hand. They anticipate continued blessings as those who are welcomed into the church become those who offer welcome to others.
Matthew 9:12 comes to mind as a verse that captures the heart of this congregation, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Rather than waiting for the “sick” to wander into the church, RFM has held fast to its practices of active welcome, making a space for God’s redemptive transforming work to take place for the last 23 years. However, like many churches, opening the doors for youth has presented a different challenge, especially after COVID. In our focus group, most congregants shared that they had raised their families at RFM but that their teenagers or adult children were no longer attending for one reason or another. When we attended services, young adults, youth, and children were in low numbers. Rev. Tracey described the youth group as “depleted” and in need of “restoration.” What form may their active welcome need to take as they imagine the future thriving for the next generations?
RFM is marked by its faithful desire to participate in God’s redeeming work, as they practice welcome actively in their ministry and fellowship with each other and their community at large. For the past 23 years, RFM has prioritized opening their doors wide and in so doing has been a consistent place for redemptive transformational change. RFM demonstrates what it is to love God and neighbor as Jesus would, seeking those who need His care.
