First Presbyterian Church of Moorestown
A 130-Year-Old Church Puts Its “Ways” Into Practice
Client Overview
First Presbyterian Church of Moorestown is located in the heart of Moorestown, New Jersey, and has served its community for about 130 years. The church has around 1,000 members, with 400 to 500 people attending on a typical week, and they run activities almost every day of the week.
The church is supported by about 14 staff members and nearly 50 lay leaders who serve in a wide variety of roles. Under the leadership of Pastor Stuart Spencer, the church partnered with CultureWise to invest intentionally in their culture by creating “Ways,” their version of Fundamentals, and then building weekly rituals that helped strengthen alignment, engagement, and community across the congregation.
Why It Matters
For First Presbyterian Church of Moorestown, culture is not just an internal priority, it directly impacts how believable and attractive their message feels to the outside world. By strengthening community, alignment, and day-to-day behavior through their “Ways,” the church has been able to reinforce a more loving, kind, and mission-aligned culture that supports both spiritual growth and meaningful service to the broader community.
The Challenge
The church had real cultural strengths, including a strong sense of identity, belonging, and generosity. But leadership also saw weaknesses that needed to be addressed, including silos across different ministry areas and a lack of collaboration across the church.
They also wanted to involve young people more meaningfully across the full life of the church, and they wanted to shift away from a culture that could be quick to find fault or raise criticism. Instead, leadership wanted to build a stronger culture of gratitude, appreciation, and shared purpose.
“As a leader, one of the best things I can do is to invest in the culture of my organization.”
First Presbyterian Church of Moorestown
Rev. Stuart Spencer
Pastor & Head of Staff
The Solution
CultureWise helped the church identify their Fundamental statements, which they call their “Ways,” and then begin putting them into practice through consistent ritualization. Each Sunday, the church highlights the “Way of the Week,” and it stays in focus from Sunday to Sunday through their website, text messaging, and email communication. Anytime the church gathers, whether it’s a choir rehearsal, committee meeting, or staff meeting, they spend three to five minutes reinforcing the Way of the Week by reading it, connecting it to scripture, and discussing practical ways to live it out.
The Results
The Way of the Week now sets the tone from Sunday to Sunday. Pastor Stuart Spencer says the practice of reading each Way, connecting it to scripture, and sharing concrete ideas for living it out has drawn the congregation in, week after week.
Members describe the Ways as practical. They give people a path to follow and a way back to it when they fall short, and they connect what the church says to how its members serve the community.
Church leaders also point to the culture work when they talk about the pandemic. Staff led the congregation through it, kept giving strong, and kept many programs running, which one leader credits to the cultural strength the church had already been building.
Key Outcomes
- “Ways” defined with key leadership and put into weekly practice
- Way of the Week reinforced at gatherings, from choir to staff meetings
- Shared between Sundays by website, text, and email
- Giving stayed strong through the pandemic
- A culture the church shares with guests and other congregations
“The better we get our community, the more loving and kind and merciful we can be as a community, the more in alignment I think we are with our greater message.”
— Rev. Stuart Spencer, Pastor & Head of StaffThe Culture You Need
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