The Reformed Church of Bushkill traces its history from 1737, when a group of Reformed churches was established in the Delaware valley. We've been ministering on our present site since 1832. Beyond that, not a lot of history is known about the church - many early documents were lost in a couple of fires down through the years.To be honest, that's okay. The more recent history of the Reformed Church is a lot more interesting. It wasn't that long ago that we'd have to admit our church had lost its way. We were down to a dozen or fifteen worshippers on Sunday mornings. Church life consisted of constant concern over money issues. The federal government had purchased the entire village we served (including the church) and it became part of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We were a church without a constituency, and, frankly, we wouldn't have known what to do if we had one.

Then a funny thing happened. A retired minister by the name of Isaac Rottenberg, someone who had spent most of his career involved in the church bureaucracy, was asked to provide some basic pastoral services for the church on a part time basis. Pastor Rottenberg, who came in 1989, was not particularly interested in only providing pastoral services. He could see that the throngs of people moving to the Poconos meant that there was a future for this church, if only it could once again learn to do the things that a church is supposed to do.He emphasized vital worship, Bible study, using our finances as God asks rather than simply doing fundraising. He pushed us to support mission outside our doors and to welcome people inside our doors. The church began to hear him, and things began to happen. Attendance began to grow. Finances took care of themselves. Most importantly, people became alive in their walk with God. The unspoken theme of the church was, We will simply follow Christ, and see where we end up.

The place we ended up was with a sanctuary filled with diverse people of all races, ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds and religious histories. It's a group of folks who are concerned with following Christ as they live out their lives. This is a congregation that also enjoys being with each other, and often lingers downstairs in the fellowship hall for an hour after service, drinking coffee and listening to their brothers and sisters.