First Reformed Church of Little Falls NJ

Our Pastor

Greetings to all who visit this site! Please allow me to introduce myself to you, and tell you a little about my beliefs and family. My name is Emily Ratering-Youngberg, and I am honored to be the pastor of the First Reformed Church of Little Falls, NJ. My education was at Hope College in Holland, MI, and Western Theological Seminary in the same town. Married in 2000, my husband Matt is a teacher-type, bass player, and all-around good guy. I was ordained to ministry in 2002, after we accepted the call to come to First Reformed. Our son Beck was born in 2005, and our daughter Wilhelmina in 2007. They are currently growing and thriving in the midst of this church family!

 

I hope that I am a thoroughly Reformed pastor—I believe that humanity is trapped in the quicksand of its own depravity, and that we pull all creation down with us as we go. But I also believe that God, in God’s freedom, chooses some to be the elect; saved. It was to them that Christ was sent, God incarnate, so that God could hold humanity close once again. It is the purpose of the Church, which is the Body of Christ and the Kingdom of God here on earth, to call out to others, in the hopes that they also would join the flock of the Good Shepherd. This hope is for the Kingdom of God yet to come.