The Wesleyan denomination traces its roots to John Wesley, an 18th-century pastor and reformer whose faith was deeply personal and boldly active. He spoke out against slavery, organized care for the poor, and believed following Jesus should transform both hearts and society. From the beginning, Wesleyans have emphasized justice, holiness, and the full inclusion of women in ministry, long before it was common. Theologically, we focus on God’s grace at work in every stage of life, especially sanctification—the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit shaping us to love God and others more fully. Today, Wesleyan churches express these historic convictions through accessible, contemporary worship styles while staying grounded in Scripture, thoughtful theology, and everyday discipleship.

Newark Wesleyan Church began in the 1940s when Frank and Ruth Lucas felt God’s call to start a Sunday School and prayer gathering in their Newark home, trusting God to build a community where none yet existed. What started with a handful of people and borrowed benches grew steadily through faithful leadership, a strong emphasis on prayer, missions, and discipleship, and a deep commitment to reaching both the local community and the world. Over the decades, the church invested in global missions, children and youth ministry, and eventually built the sanctuary we worship in today—largely through sacrificial giving and volunteer labor. From living-room worship to a thriving church family, our story is one of ordinary people responding faithfully to God’s call and continuing that mission today.

A typical Newark Wesleyan Church service is relaxed, welcoming, and centered on Jesus. You can expect contemporary worship music, clear and practical teaching rooted in Scripture, and a community that values authenticity over having it all together. Services are family-friendly, come-as-you-are, and shaped by our emphasis on grace, transformation, and everyday discipleship—whether you’ve been in church for years or are just starting to explore faith.

We have a wide variety of ministries and opportunities for anyone to plug in! Please learn more here at our “Get Connected” page.

Learn more about our pastors and leaders here!

We believe in the one living and true God, both holy and loving, eternal, unlimited in power, wisdom and goodness, the Creator and Preserver of all things. Within this unity there are three persons of one essential nature, power and eternity — the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We believe the Father is the Source of all that exists, whether of matter or spirit. With the Son and the Holy Spirit, He made man, male and female, in His image. By intention He relates to people as Father, thereby forever declaring His goodwill toward them. In love, He both seeks and receives penitent sinners.

We believe in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, truly God and truly man. He died on the cross and was buried, to be a sacrifice both for original sin and for all human transgressions, and to reconcile us to God. Christ rose bodily from the dead, and ascended into heaven, and there intercedes for us at the Father’s right hand until He returns to judge all humanity at the last day.

We believe in the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is of the same essential nature, majesty, and glory, as the Father and the Son, truly and eternally God. He is the Administrator of grace to all, and is particularly the effective Agent in conviction for sin, in regeneration, in sanctification, and in glorification. He is ever present, assuring, preserving, guiding, and enabling the believer.

We believe that the books of the Old and New Testaments constitute the Holy Scriptures. They are the inspired and infallibly written Word of God, fully inerrant in their original manuscripts and superior to all human authority, and have been transmitted to the present without corruption of any essential doctrine. We believe that they contain all things necessary to salvation; so that whatever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man or woman that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation. Both in the Old and New Testaments life is offered ultimately through Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and humanity. The New Testament teaches Christians how to fulfill the moral principles of the Old Testament, calling for loving obedience to God made possible by the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit.

We believe that sanctification is that work of the Holy Spirit by which the child of God is separated from sin unto God and is enabled to love God with all the heart and to walk in all His holy commandments blameless. Sanctification is initiated at the moment of justification and regeneration. From that moment there is a gradual or progressive sanctification as the believer walks with God and daily grows in grace and in a more perfect obedience to God. This prepares for the crisis of entire sanctification which is wrought instantaneously when believers present themselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, through faith in Jesus Christ, being effected by the baptism with the Holy Spirit who cleanses the heart from all inbred sin. The crisis of entire sanctification perfects the believer in love and empowers that person for effective service. It is followed by lifelong growth in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The life of holiness continues through faith in the sanctifying blood of Christ and evidences itself by loving obedience to God’s revealed will.

We believe that the Christian Church is the entire body of believers in Jesus Christ, who is the founder and only Head of the Church. The Church includes both those believers who have gone to be with the Lord and those who remain on the earth, having renounced the world, the flesh and the devil, and having dedicated themselves to the work which Christ committed unto His church until He comes. The Church on earth is to preach the pure Word of God, properly administer the sacraments according to Christ’s instructions, and live in obedience to all that Christ commands. A local church is a body of believers formally organized on gospel principles, meeting regularly for the purposes of evangelism, nurture, fellowship and worship. The Wesleyan Church is a denomination consisting of those members within district conferences and local churches who, as members of the body of Christ, hold the faith set forth in these Articles of Religion and acknowledge the ecclesiastical authority of its governing bodies.