Resilience in the Wilderness
Zion Hill Baptist Church
Piscatawy, NJ
by Student Researchers, Jon Chan and Zotea Zonunsaga
For the members of Zion Hill Baptist Church, the concept of church is inseparable from the concept of family. The Zion Hill congregation takes great pride in a close-knit, family-like support structure that is rooted in a rich 100-year history. While this rooting in family, tradition, and history has been a great strength that forms the basis of their community identity, it has at times held them back in keeping up with societal change. Most notably, they face a grave problem of declining youth engagement. The acceleration of these worrying trends due to the COVID pandemic has forced the congregation to reckon with the magnitude of transformation required for their continued thriving. Amidst this pivotal juncture in their story, their leader Pastor Leonard Hampton stands fearless at the helm of the ship. Having gained the full confidence and respect of his congregation, he hopes to shepherd his flock through the wilderness of transition with visionary leadership.
A tightly-knit family
Four of the five participants in our focus group session described a similar experience of having been drawn to the nurturing and affectionate environment of Zion Hill’s small congregation amidst a surrounding environment of impersonal megachurches as they were shopping Baptist churches in the Piscataway area. The other focus group participant had been a member of the church since he was born. One participant shares that 15 years ago, the loving energy of this small, intimate community compelled her to join the church immediately upon her first visit to Zion Hill. “They welcomed me in such a way that I knew I was home and I knew I was at the right church.” Expanding on her appreciation for her fellow congregants, she adds, “They are truly your church family because no matter what you’re going through, there is someone who’s there to reach out, to be supportive.” In all our interactions with this wonderful community, both inside and outside the church walls, the love and care shared between these members was palpably overflowing. They make it their business to know what’s going on in each others’ lives and to be ready to help at any time of need.
Zion Hill and its ever-present community support network rest on the foundation of a proud history. The church was established by a group of families descended from sharecroppers in the rural south who migrated to Piscataway. Their steadfast work ethic and commitment to community laid the groundwork for the church’s strong identity. Zion Hill’s financial self-sufficiency stands as a testament to the determination and resourcefulness of its founding families, who took great pride in completing the construction of their sanctuary without relying on any outside loans. This resilient spirit, born from a strong belief in pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and standing on their own two feet, has been passed down through generations of members. This rich heritage of perseverance and unity has anchored a congregation that is deeply connected to its past. Many of the church’s families can trace their connection with Zion Hill back through several generations, and this interwoven history has fostered an environment where the value of hard work and the importance of community fellowship are ingrained in the very fabric of the church.
We volunteered at the Zion Hill food pantry one Thursday morning, where we saw between 50-100 individuals come to collect food supplies. None of those who came for food were members of the church, but the congregant volunteers unwaveringly extended to them that trademark Zion Hill friendliness and compassion. The volunteers made engaging and familiar conversations with some of the participants, presumably regular food pantry attendees, making them feel seen and welcomed. Over the course of two hours, we saw many faces leave the parking lot looking deeply appreciative for the generosity they had received. Zion Hill’s outreach efforts and commitment to serve the broader Piscataway community embody their mission statement: “To help our community by building functioning Ministries that address their needs.” The church’s weekly food pantry event serves as a shining example of their dedication to serving the people of Piscataway. The weekly food pantry, along with various other service-oriented programs, demonstrates the church’s genuine desire to make a positive impact on the lives of those in need. By living out their mission statement, Zion Hill Baptist Church not only strengthens its internal bonds but also cultivates a spirit of compassion and service that reaches far beyond their sanctuary.
The close-knit family structure and dedication to service that define Zion Hill Baptist Church have been a driving force in the lives of its congregants for generations. Rooted in a proud history of perseverance, hard work, and community, the church has nurtured a compassionate spirit that extends far beyond its sanctuary. As a cohesive church family and a force for good in the wider Piscataway community, Zion Hill has stood strong amidst a hundred years of changing tides. As we delve deeper, we will observe how this very essence shapes their response to the daunting new challenges they face, guiding their path forward.
The challenging road ahead
Zion Hill’s “family history” is an inseparable component of its identity that is also a continuing source of strength and unity for the congregation. However, this firm rooting in tradition can sometimes foster a fear of change. Strong voices in the church have tended to oppose innovation, resulting in an inability to adapt to cultural and technological dynamism. In recent years, though, the rapid pace of societal transformation around them has laid bare some difficult long-term dynamics that have arisen in large part due to Zion Hill’s struggle to keep up with the times. Faced with these existential threats, the congregation has increasingly come to acknowledge the magnitude of transition necessary to continue thriving in a very different future.
Chiefly pressing among Zion Hill’s long-term challenges is a dwindling youth and young adult cohort. Like most churches in the New York metropolitan area, Zion Hill has experienced worrying trends of youth attrition over the past few decades. Nearly all the individuals we spoke with in meetings, interviews, and focus groups cited youth and young adult engagement as one of the key issues that must be addressed in order for the church to properly move forward. Many of those interviewed identified de-prioritization of church activities in favor of academics and sports as the root cause of the issue, placing the onus not just on the youth but also on a younger generation of career-oriented parents. The existential gravity of this predicament is not lost on the congregants, who have made revitalizing youth participation one of their top long-term priorities. Many express a desire to better integrate young people in the operations of the church by handing them more responsibilities. “We’ve got to involve them,” says a focus group participant. “If they’re gonna replace us, they’ve gotta be involved.” The decline in youth participation has left a noticeable void in the church community, as an aging old guard struggles to maintain the vitality and vigor that once characterized the Zion Hill spirit. Indeed, when we visited a Sunday worship service, we were struck by the scarcity of attendees under the age of 50. Moving forward, the church cannot maintain its long-standing traditions and close-knit bonds without a thriving youth population to carry on the torch.
The COVID pandemic compounded this pressing issue and also exposed other ways in which the church had fallen behind changing societal norms. As the lockdowns shuttered in-person gatherings and ministries, church engagement plummeted. They struggled to transition their activities to the virtual world, a space they had largely been unfamiliar with to that point. The pandemic also severely destabilized the church’s top-down membership management network, by which the deacons are each assigned a subset of the congregation to keep tabs on. Already aware of the value of systemizing this process with the help of modern technology but having failed to act on it, the pandemic turned this impetus into a necessity. As they emerge from COVID, they still have a lot of ground to make up to return to pre-pandemic engagement levels.Yet, amidst the upheaval and uncertainty, the pandemic also brought a sense of solidarity to Zion Hill. The congregation united in shared adversity, as members sought solace and strength in their church family. Many congregants affirmed to us that their resilience and unity through the pandemic proved to them that their bonds of love hold strong even outside the church walls. In the aftermath of this watershed ordeal, the necessity of adaptation has become undeniable, and the community stands united in their eagerness to embrace change.
Pastor Leonard Hampton: a shepherd in the wilderness
Amidst these stormy seas, the Zion Hill family is grateful to have Pastor Leonard Hampton as the captain at the helm. Pastor Hampton is a charismatic figure with a seemingly endless supply of life energy, all of which he pours out for his beloved congregation. “This is not a job for me,” he professes in an interview. “This is a life for me. And when you build a life, you can’t change lives like you switch careers.” During our initial welcome luncheon at Princeton Theological Seminary, each representative introduced themselves according to the formula “I am (so-and-so) from Zion Hill, and my pastor is Leonard Hampton.” In our focus group, all participants spoke glowingly about Pastor Hampton’s role as the shepherd of his congregation, especially praising his steadfast leadership through the trial of the pandemic. He seemingly has a hand in all activities of the church, and the congregants look to him for leadership in many dimensions. Through all our interactions with Zion Hill members, the deep appreciation and reverence they have for their pastor was abundantly clear.
When asked to name a bible story that best represents his congregation, Pastor Hampton responded immediately with the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness after their exodus from Egypt. In this new chapter of transformation, he sees his church community as a wandering flock held back by their fear of the unknown. Pastor Hampton has taken it upon himself to see beyond the forest and shepherd his people to greener pastures. In our interview, he provided many examples of how he has pushed through reactionary opposition to introduce novel improvements that were ultimately well-received, the most notable being the purchase of the Zion Hill bus and the installation of TV screens for worship. After the pandemic situation made clear the need for innovation, the congregation has come to put their full trust in his visionary direction.
Pastor Hampton has paired his executive leadership with a complementary series of sermons and bible studies designed to prepare his congregation’s hearts and minds for the discomfort and uncertainty of metamorphosis. He has organized his teachings into a three-part series on resetting, transitioning, and focusing. He emphasizes the determination and resilience required to navigate the waves of change and reach the promised land. In one sermon we attended, Pastor Hampton referenced the example of Jesus being thrust into the wilderness immediately after his baptism to be tempted by the devil before he could begin his ministry. “God gives you turbulence because He has a destination in mind,” he reminds his listeners.
Pastor Hampton has grand ambitions for the long-term future of the church, among them a renovation of the sanctuary and the building of a family life center annex. More immediate concerns, however, are on the coming 2024 centennial celebration. In the aftermath of the pandemic, the church has slowly been restoring its ministry, but overall engagement and activity remain far below pre-pandemic levels. In light of this, the centennial looms large as a make-or-break event, the spark that will re-ignite Zion Hill’s fire or the flame that may flicker with the challenges ahead. However, during our research, not only Pastor Hampton but the congregants at Zion Hill spoke transparently and lucidly about the challenges they face. It is this eagerness to not shy away from, but to go boldly into the wilderness with God, as a close-knit family, that offers hope for continual thriving at Zion Hill. Buoyed by Pastor Hampton, and their care for one another, they are certainly at a crossroads, but they are faithful that the risk is worth taking—and that together with God, they are also never alone.
