Woman Pastor to Lead Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church

[Editor's note: The following press release was sent by the Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church.]

When Mary Stegink is ordained to the ministry at Ridgewood Christian Reformed Church on Saturday, February 11, she will become the first woman pastor in the 134-year history of the denomination’s regional body, Classis Hudson.  Area clergy and lay delegates unanimously approved her for ordination after a January 26 examination in Wyckoff. The 2 p.m. service and following reception are open to the public. The church is located on Lincoln Avenue at the corner of West End Avenue. The next day at 10:30 a.m., Stegink will lead her first Communion service.          

The preacher at the ordination will be the Rev. Stanley Vander Klay, pastor of Northside Community Chapel in Paterson from 1960 to 1996. Jacqueline Kort, a member of the Ridgewood church since its founding in 1942 and former mayor of Glen Rock, will present the Scripture reading. The soloist will be Camille DeBoer, who sang with Stegink in the Opera Grand Rapids Chorus.The Christian Reformed Church opened the pastorate to women in 1995 following many years of discussion. During those years, theRidgewood congregation pioneered in electing women to the lay offices of deacon and elder. The CRC’s Classis Hudson covers an area fromLong Island to Sussex County NJ.           

Stegink, 49, is a mid-career graduate of Calvin Theological Seminary, located in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan.  She began studies there in 2005 after raising three children and nearly two decades working variously at a bookstore as co-manager, clerk, community speaker, and evaluator of intermediate and young adult fiction.               

Though this is Stegink’s first pastorate, she led a downtown Grand Rapids church as a seminary intern and has delivered dozens of sermons the past three years as a licensed substitute preacher.  

Husband Jim worked in supply acquisition and maintenance with a Michigan auto parts manufacturer. Joining them in New Jersey is daughter Robyn, a sophomore at Eastern Christian High School in North Haledon. Two adult children, Ryan and Andrea, both live inWhitinsville, Massachusetts.