User's Guide

One-Minute History

udson Church was constructed in 1890 as a memorial to Adoniram Judson, the first American foreign missionary, by his son Edward, a distinguished preacher and church leader in his own right. Edward Judson envisioned Judson Memorial as an institution that would serve the burgeoning immigrant population of Lower Manhattan through health, nutrition, education, and recreation programs. Backed by John D. Rockefeller and other prominent Baptists, Edward Judson commissioned the leading artists of the American Renaissance—architect Stanford White, stained glass master John La Farge, and sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens—to create a splendid edifice where the "classes" and the "masses" could find common ground.

Toward the end of Edward Judson’s life, it was apparent that the "classes" were none too keen on rubbing shoulders with the immigrant poor, but Judson’s dream persisted. The church continued to offer distinctive health and other outreach ministries throughout the 1920s and '30s. After the Second World War, visionary ministers like Robert Spike and Howard Moody made this church a crucible for testing new ideas about what a church could and should be. Then, beginning in the mid-1960s, Moody and Al Carmines gave Judson a new national profile as they opened the church to the experiments of avant garde artists working in many genres—dance, painting, theatre—and as they organized around issues of civil rights, free expression, abortion rights, and the decriminalization of prostitution. More recently, Senior Minister Peter Laarman has emphasized the decisive nature of the sweeping economic changes facing the nation and the world and has initiated new arts programming with a special focus on young people and community-based art.

Affiliations and Governance

Judson Church is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches and the United Church of Christ, both leading mainline Protestant denominations of about equal size—1.5 million members for each—and both belonging to the "free church" wing of Protestantism.

For reasons of history and sentiment, Judson leans a little more toward the Baptist side of its heritage with respect to worship and leadership styles. We are a distinctly non-creedal community—one that respects the individual’s search for truth—and no effort is made to push particular theological beliefs.

In good free church fashion, basic operating decisions—those involving finances, property, and the calling of the senior minister—are made by members and voting non-members. Between annual business meetings of the congregation, oversight of the affairs of the church is exercised by an elected 12-member Board of Trustees, which in turn is chaired by a directly-elected Moderator.

One may formally join the congregation and gain the right to vote at Judson by receiving baptism or by making a statement to the congregation or by transferring from another church or by requesting and receiving the status of "voting non-member." The voting non-member category was created to accommodate those whose backgrounds might prevent them from joining a Christian church or whose employment requires them to maintain membership in a church that is affiliated with a denomination other than ABC or UCC.

Folkways, Mores, and Room to Move

Active participants at Judson come from many backgrounds, some highly "churched" and others completely "unchurched." Lesbians and gays mix easily with straight people; younger with older; urban with suburban. What we have in common is a tendency to ask good questions and to want to be part of the ongoing conversation about how this church can and should respond to urgent new societal challenges.

Most participants want this church to take risks and to stay out front on issues of conscience. They expect leaders and staff to ask fundamental questions rather than automatically go along with received wisdom, and they would like the church itself to serve as an incubator for new thing.

Precisely because we are seeking to incubate new movements and new ideas, it has not been the Judson way to require formal congregational authorization for each an every staff initiative. Judson ministers enjoy the freedom to move in new directions, provided they are willing to interpret to the congregation what they are doing and why.

Judson is not the kind of place where programs keep going forever. The pattern here has been to originate programs that are not being done elsewhere and then to let them go or turn them over to others once they reach a threshold level of mainstream recognition and acceptance.

The worship service is how most people find us these days, and Sunday mornings still form a large part of our community life. Newcomers also discover that a good place to begin to get to know us is at the coffee hours and occasional sermon talk-backs that follow the Sunday worship services. They can also fill out a visitor card and get a phone call or a letter or both from a member of the staff.

Some people have found that the times set aside during the service for concerns and announcements can be good opportunities to learn of ways to be more involved and connected at Judson.

In late September every year, a large part of the congregation goes "camping" at the Judson Weekend, which is held at a retreat center in Connecticut. We try to keep the discussions light and focus instead on having fun: singing, swimming, hiking, softball, and square dancing. The Weekend is primarily a time for bonding and spiritual renewal.

Committees and staff of the church frequently organize study and discussion groups on a range of personal, spiritual, and political topics. Meetings of such groups are listed in the worship bulletin, or you can call the office and ask what’s going on in any given month. Judson also hosts a fair number of free parties and arts events during the course of a given year, providing an excellent context for socializing. People are also drawn together when they participate in marches and protest demonstrations from time to time. For a real hands-on experience, you can elect to participate in the bi-weekly bleach kit work parties during which Judson volunteers sit around tables and prepare kits to be distributed by the Lower East Side Needle Exchange, a harm-prevention program the church has long supported.

Finally, to be connected at Judson you should by all means ask to get on the church mailing list in order to receive our bimonthly newsletter, which includes the worship schedule.

They Are All Our Children

The Judson community treasures its children and young people, and many nonparents take a lively interest in the growth and development of "Judson kids." Some parents keep their children with them through the worship service, whereas others take their children to the Sunday School, which meets during the same 11 a.m. to 12 noon time period. Children and young people sometimes help to lead the worship services, and they are very much in evidence at parties, special events, and the Judson Weekend. Child care is provided during adult study groups and congregational meetings.

The Sunday School staff consists of a director and leaders for each of three age groups: toddlers, younger grades, and older grades. Special outings and events are scheduled from time to time for the Judson teenagers. Our approach to religious education follows our approach to matters of faith generally: it is dialogic or Socratic rather than doctrinal. The teachers and curricular materials are aimed at prompting children to ask good questions and probe ethical issues. Although one section of the curriculum introduces figures and themes from the Bible, faith traditions other than Judaism and Christianity are also treated.

Most Judson young people report later in life that their experiences here had a profoundly formative impact on their values and worldview.

Money Matters

Active participants contribute or pledge around half of the monies needed to run the church. A pledge is a personal commitment to give Judson x-amount of money during the course of the year; some members pay pledge installments weekly; some monthly; some quarterly; some all at once. We conduct a pledge campaign in the Fall of each year at the same time we develop the coming year’s budget. The final budget adopted in December is dependent in part on the outcome of the pledge drive.

Apart from its generous pledgers, Judson has been extremely fortunate in the loyalty and commitment shown by members in past generations. The church has a small endowment that is capable of providing about a fourth of the annual operating budget on an as-needed basis.

Judson Church is proud of the fact that, unlike most churches in New York, we do not charge other groups for the use of church space. We share the space judiciously with a range of organizations. We consider hospitality to be part of our mission, but this also means we forgo a significant amount of potential outside income.

Want to Know More?

Judson’s mailing address is 55 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012. The church office is entered from the side door at 243 Thompson Street. The office is open from 10 a.m. through 6 p.m., Monday through Friday (Monday through Thursday in the summer months).

You can call (212) 477-0351 to speak with a staff person or make an appointment. Our (automatic) fax number is (212) 995-0844. If you would like a complete schedule of the current month’s events at Judson, we would be happy to fax or mail one to you. The Judson Newsnotes are also posted on this site.

Judson Church also hosts the Center for Medical Consumers, which assists people in identifying appropriate treatment for their health problems, and The Employment Project, a support program for unemployed, underemployed and anxious workers. Both of these projects are headquartered at Judson House, which is located at 237 Thompson Street. The Center’s telephone number is 674-7105; the Project’s number is 533-6945.

Judson Memorial Church
A User's Guide

(for newcomers and others who wonder what's going on here)

One-Minute History

Affiliations and Governance

Folkways, Mores, and Room to Move

They Are All Our Children

Money Matters

Want to Know More?

Judson Memorial Church A User's Guide

(for newcomers and others who wonder what's going on here)

One-Minute History

Affiliations and Governance

Folkways, Mores, and Room to Move

They Are All Our Children

Money Matters

Want to Know More?

Judson Memorial Church
A User's Guide