We heed the call
of conscience in response
to the gospel of Christ.

About Us

Emanuel is a progressive, diverse congregation in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America whose mission is to celebrate love. All ethnicities, races, identities, and orientations are welcomed. We aim to nurture faith in people of all ages through worship, education, and community.

In keeping with the spirit of Luther, Emanuel is a congregation that has heeded the call of conscience in response to the gospel of Christ. As such, Emanuel has frequently stepped forward on issues having to do with both church and society.

We promote inclusive language in worship, weekly communion for people of all ages, and, most significantly, the full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons in the life of the church. Emanuel was the first Reconciling in Christ congregation (a church that publicly embraces the cause of inclusion) in the New Jersey Synod and was a leader in the Synod in this cause.

Hours & Location

Directions & Parking

3 Kirkpatrick St,
New Brunswick, NJ
08901

Worship:
Sundays @ 10:00am

Office Hours:
Monday through Thursday, 10:00am - 3:00pm

Emanuel Lutheran Church is located at the corner of New and Kirkpatrick Streets in downtown New Brunswick, New Jersey. We are:

behind the Rutgers University Civic Square building
around the corner from the State Theater and Crossroads Theater
adjacent to New Brunswick Police Headquarters

Emanuel is easily accessible via Route 18 (exit at New Street) or Livingston Avenue (turn west at New Street).

Sunday morning parking is available in the Civic Square Deck directly next to the church. Street parking is available, and meters are free on Sundays. Paid parking is also available at the New Street or Morris Parking Decks.

Weekday parking, while challenging, is not impossible. In addition to on-street metered parking, inexpensive parking is also available at the New Street or Morris Street parking decks.

Our Pastor

Rev. Scott Rush grew up in Brooklyn, NY. His family moved to Long Island while he was in high school, and his three brothers and their families still live there. Scott’s parents are recently deceased. He currently lives in Burlington with his husband, Michael, and their black lab, Montra.

Scott heard several calls to ministry before finally giving in to God’s call. He entered seminary in January 2020 after an almost 30-year career in industry. He has been actively involved with Family Promise of Burlington County, a nonprofit serving families experiencing homelessness, in several capacities, most recently as Executive Director.

Scott is extremely excited about the opportunity to serve at Emanuel, as it combines his love for serving a congregation with his love for serving the community at large. He sums up his theology as “God is love” and sees his role as sharing God’s love with others. It’s his belief that loving others and including them as part of the community is how we co-create God’s Kin-dom and bring about the change that is so desperately needed in the world.

Our History

Emanuel Lutheran Church was founded in 1878 by German immigrants living in New Brunswick and the surrounding area. The church building has always been on the site it presently occupies in the very center of downtown New Brunswick, where it is today surrounded by Rutgers University, several theaters, civic buildings, and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. In its more than 130 year history, Emanuel’s ministry has always been shaped by its location in the city. In the first half of its history, Emanuel’s members mostly lived in New Brunswick and were part of the parish. Today, members of Emanuel come from many different communities in order to be part of a church in the city and create a ministry that is responsive to the needs of people as those needs are apparent in modern American cities.

In the course of its history, Emanuel has tended to have long tenures for its pastors and has had only eight different pastors. The worship service was originally in the German language, reflecting the heritage of the congregation, but gradually English services were conducted as well. Services today are exclusively in English, and comparatively few of Emanuel’s members are of German heritage. Rather, they are from many ethnic and racial backgrounds, and many denominational backgrounds as well, coming together to share in the work of Christian ministry.

In the past two decades, Emanuel’s ministry has consisted of many initiatives in the surrounding community, in addition to members taking care of one another. Emanuel was instrumental in founding the agency known as Elijah’s Promise, which is a widely recognized soup kitchen serving more than 100,000 meals per year, a culinary school, a catering business, and social services, all dedicated to assisting the poorest and most vulnerable people in the area. Middlesex Interfaith Partners with the Homeless was also founded at Emanuel. This agency has built transitional housing for homeless families and people living with AIDS and young women aging out of foster care. Emanuel has its own community development corporation which has worked in the area of financial literacy for low-income people. Emanuel is home to the Open Door, a drug treatment program, and is the site of many community groups meeting for the well-being of their participants. Emanuel has operated a food pantry for almost two decades. This pantry has recently been expanded to meet then needs of more people in the city.

At the same time that Emanuel has been involved in these varied ministries in the wider New Brunswick community, it is also a faith community where all people are celebrated. There is no question that Emanuel’s place in the center of the city determines the character of its community, but it is also a community that is very much of its people, by its people, and for its people.