Bishop Cynthia Moore-Koikoi has appointed Rev. Vijaya Kumar as the new pastor of our congregation. Rev. Kumar will begin his new responsibilities on July 1st of this year. As a United Methodist Church, we are a part of an appointment system. Our United Methodist process of matching pastors and congregations is a "send" process, which means that pastors are sent (appointed) to a congregation by the Bishop and Cabinet (the District Superintendents). Our congregation’s Staff Parish Relations Committee (SPRC) has met with the district superintendent to identify our congregation’s needs and the needed skills in a pastor, leading to the selection of Rev. Kumar for Simply Grace! The SPRC has also met Rev. Kumar to better get to know him and to ask questions.  

 
Rev. Dr. Vijaya Kumar was raised in India. He received a Bachelor of Divinity, Master of Theology from Serampore University, India and Th.M from Princeton Divinity School, Th.M and Ph. D degrees from Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. He served for 26 years in Karnataka Theological College as the professor of History of Christianity and the honorary pastor of the local congregations in India. He joined the United Methodist Church as a local church pastor, full time elder in the USA. For the last 15 years, he has been serving local churches including the UMCs in Dunellen, Montville (Towaco), New Dover, Edison and Scotch Plains. He is passionate about growing vital congregations and making dynamic disciples of Jesus Christ to transform lives, communities and the world. Now, he rejoices in receiving calls to serve as a bridge-builder and transformational servant-leader. He is married to Mrs. Florine Jayamani for 43 years who served in various schools as a teacher. They have two grown-up, married daughters and have six grandchildren.

​

​