We’re an extremely small church but we're quite vibrant,” Judith Donaldson, pastor of Elko United Methodist Fellowship, said.

sits on a small hill surrounded by large homes set on expansive, neatly trimmed lawns. At the church, the Carters, who are Black, slip into the pews of the predominantly white congregation.

It just became too difficult for a small congregation to maintain it." A final vote by church leaders in May at the UMC Greater New Jersey Annual Conference sealed the church's fate. "Despite ...