The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
The congregation of Faith Temple gathered at their home at Temple Beth El on Hamilton Street on October 27 to celebrate a milestone: the church’s 43rd anniversary.
Founded in February 1981 by the late Elder Horace Staton and his wife, Pastor Lydia Staton, as Faith Tabernacle Church, the congregation has called several locations in the township home during its four-decade existence.
The congregation first met at Pine Grove Manor School in March 1981, and in its early years also met at MacAfee Road School and the community center.
In 1982, the congregation teamed with that of Emmanuel Baptist Church, with which it met jointly for 20 years.
In 2003, the congregation met in a pastor’s home for a while before joining service with Harvest Temple in New Brunswick.
Later that year, the church changed its name from Faith Tabernacle to Faith Temple.
“The congregation had been tabernacleing for 23 years,” Pastor Rodney Staton, the founder’s son, told the congregation at the anniversary service. “They had experienced many losses, hardship, and disappointment.”
Tow months later, the congregation found a new home on Railroad Avenue.
“Ironically, this was the same building Pastor (Horace Staton) did inquire about two years before, but the inquiry did not come to fruition,” Rodney Staton said. “However, to everything, there is a season and time, to every purpose.”
Elder Horace Staton died in 2015, after which his wife, Pastor Lydia Staton, was installed as Interim pastor and, in 2018, as senior pastor.
“Under Pastor Staton’s leadership … the church was led here to Temple Beth El in Somerset,” Rodney Staton said. “Once again, the hand of God was on them; it was leading them as He led the children of Israel.”
“We found favor and have been worshiping in this synagogue, and on January 1st of 2025, it will be eight years,” he said.
“We celebrate 43 years of consistent, steadfast ministry,” Staton said. “Some said we wouldn’t make it, but we’re still here to declare the wonderful works of the Lord. We have been time-tested and heaven-approved.”
“For this cause, we bow our knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and Earth is named,” he said. “We continue up to this day, witnessing both the small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come.”
Here are some scenes from the day:
