BY LARRY RAMER
Staff Writer
MARLBORO — A dream of the members of the Jireh congregation is in the process of being realized.
The Jireh congregation was founded by Chinese immigrants 18 years ago. The 250-member congregation has been searching for a church of its own for 15 years, according to Terry Lau, the chairman of the church’s building committee.
On Oct. 3, congregants held a groundbreaking ceremony for a church which will be built on Vanderburg Road.
“We were so close to getting land [in other places] so many times, but we never got it before,” Lau said.
The 16,000-square-foot Overseas Chinese Mission-Jireh Church is scheduled to be completed in June 2005, Lau said. The church will be built on a 10-acre site.
About 250 people will belong to the church, according to Lau, who said the members come from towns including Marlboro, Howell, Freehold Township, Manalapan, Colts Neck, Hazlet and Middletown.
Lau, who lives in Marlboro, said services will be conducted in Chinese and English.
For the past nine years the Jireh congregation has worshipped at the Matawan Methodist Church, sharing the building with that congregation, Lau explained.
During the groundbreaking ceremony, Lau said the church members would reach out to the rest of the community.
“We will work with the community, our neighbors and our friends,” Lau said. “We thank Marlboro Township for granting us the use of this land.”
Lau noted that members of other churches in the Overseas Chinese Mission umbrella organization were present at the ceremony. Individuals from the local congregation’s “brother churches” from Queens, N.Y., and Manhattan attended the groundbreaking event.
After “America” was played on a keyboard, the Rev. Samuel Chiang, pastor of the Jireh church, thanked members of the congregation and God for the opportunity to build a church.
“We offer thanksgiving to God for the great thing in our midst,” said Chiang, whose remarks in Chinese were translated into English. “Because of your participation, we are giving thanksgiving today. We thank the Lord for all the hard work put into this church. May God repay all of you.”
Marlboro Mayor Robert Kleinberg congratulated the members of the congregation.
Kleinberg’s remarks in English were simultaneously translated into Chinese.
Bernette Nieb, who said her house is about 50 feet from the site where the church is to be built, attended the ceremony and praised the members of the congregation.
“I’m glad that nice people are going to be my neighbors,” Nieb said.