This is an initial post regarding former United Pentecostal Church pastor Nerrick A. Chung-Ying, Sr., born May 3, 1962, who was the senior pastor of Word of Life Apostolic Center in Rahway, New Jersey. This was a UPCI church, though not legally affiliated. In May of 2019, he was elected as the presbyter of section 2 of the New York Metro District. At the time of the allegations against him, he was the District Secretary of the New York Metro District.
Since sexual abuse allegations were made last year, Nerrick Chung-Ying turned in his license and resigned as pastor. The church has since been sold and a new building was acquired in Laurence Harbor, New Jersey, where two of his sons, Andrew and Nerrick “Chris”, also licensed UPCI ministers, are the pastors. The new church is named Life Church of New Jersey. Andrew’s wife and Nerrick Senior’s wife are also licensed UPCI ministers and are all involved at the new church.
The new church is not found on the UPCI’s church locator, so it is not recognized as a UPCI church at this time. While the new church website, Instagram and Facebook Page are in operation, the old church’s website, Instagram, YouTube channel and Facebook Page were removed by at least September 20, 2025. Since then, around June or July 2026, Andrew’s profile and Instagram were also removed.
A civil lawsuit was filed by three male victims on November 17, 2025 against Nerrick Chung-Ying, Sr., Janet Chung-Ying, the Word of Life Church, Word of Life Apostolic Center, and some John and Jane Does. It alleges sexual abuse and misconduct, as well as negligence, gross negligence, and malicious and wanton disregard. It is claimed that they were members of the church from 2017 to 2025 and that the abuse occurred during those years.
They state that, “During that five-year period, the Plaintiffs were sent to Pastor Nerrick Chung-Ying and Janet Chung-Ying for church related duties and out-of-church activities, some of which occurred at the Defendants’ residence. Pastor Nerrick Chung-Ying sexually abused the plaintiffs on those days the plaintiffs were sent to see him.”
You will find the initial complaint here, which I have slightly redacted to block out addresses. There are no details given of the alleged abuses. In the links below, you will find additional court records.
In Nerrick’s and the church’s amended response to the complaint filed on December 18, 2025, they mainly denied, claimed to have insufficient information within which to admit or deny allegations, or provided no response as they claimed it called for legal conclusions.
On December 18, 2025, Janet Chung-Ying, Nerrick’s wife, attempted to have the case against her dismissed, but the judge denied her request on January 30, 2026 after briefs had been submitted and oral arguments were made. Over nine pages, the judge spelled out detailed reasons as to why the motion was denied.
Janet Chung-Ying is represented by a different attorney than her husband and the church, though initially they were all represented by the same attorney when the initial response was filed on December 15, 2025. After the denial of the request to dismiss, her attorney submitted an answer and cross-claim to the complaint in February 2026, mainly denying everything.
Court records show that discovery is to be completed by October 11, 2026.
It appears that the plaintiffs have not filed anything since January 27, 2026, which was their response to the motion to dismiss. On May 18, 2026, a lack of prosecution dismissal warning was issued, giving the plaintiffs until July 14, 2026 to proceed or the case will be dismissed without prejudice.
In addition to the civil lawsuit, a criminal case against Nerrick Chung-Ying was also filed.
More will be posted in the future.
EDIT September 9, 2026:
The Criminal Charge Against Nerrick A. Chung-Ying
This is case S 2025 436 in the Freehold Township Municipal Court of New Jersey. The complaint was issued on December 16, 2025 and listed the offense date as September 20, 2025. He was arrested on March 13, 2026.
The offense was 2C:33-4B, which according to the Justia U.S. Law website is “Harassment. Except as provided in subsection e., a person commits a petty disorderly persons offense if, with purpose to harass another, he: Subjects another to striking, kicking, shoving, or other offensive touching, or threatens to do so.”
According to the Law Office of Anthony J. Vecchio’s website, it states, “Harassment is often used as a catch-all charge, but that doesn’t mean prosecutors can easily prove it. Courts have repeatedly emphasized that harassment requires specific intent – not just rude words or annoying behavior.” It further lists this specific charge under an “alarming conduct” category. As part of the key element of a harassing charge it states, “…harassment requires purposeful intent. It is not enough that conduct is annoying, offensive, or upsetting — the State must prove the actor’s conscious objective was to harass the victim.”
It appears there were three of these charges against him, with two being dismissed and noted as “SONN/VECC Beyond Statute Limitations As Per State.” It appears the dismissals were due to a motion by the prosecutor at the victim’s request.
On May 13, 2026, Nerrick A. Chung-Ying pled guilty to one charge, closing the case as a 1 year “conditional dismissal.” I looked into a conditional dismissal and it is a way in which a first time offender may be eligible to have their case dismissed if certain conditions imposed by the court are satisfied over a probationary period. During the one year period, the individual must not be arrested again and there may be other requirements. If successfully completed, the person will not have any criminal convictions on their record, but their arrest for the crime will still appear there.
His fines and costs totaled $483.00, which was paid in full.
I found it important that on the day this case was closed, the court issued a ten year no contact order where Nerrick A. Chung-Ying may not have any contact with the victim, either personally or through a third party. A ten year order leads me to believe that what happened was serious.
I originally posted about this on June 26, 2026 & September 9, 2026 on our Facebook Page.
You will find a complete list of articles in this series by clicking here.
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This is our initial post on the CSA charges involving former United Pentecostal minister and pastor, Stanley M. Stone, of Mississippi. Booked on September 2, 2025, he is charged with sexual battery of a victim under 13 years of age and the offender is older than 17, oral sexual battery, obstruction of justice: evidence tampering, intimidating: simple assault, and three counts of non-violent violation of protective orders.
He has continued to post on social media since his arrest in 2025. On January 24, 2026, he posted, “Sometimes, your motivation to keep going is just to spite the ones who would celebrate at your demise.”
Stanley M. Stone is the son of the late James Henry Stone, who was a long-time UPCI minister and pastor. Stanley is seen in the 1999 UPCI Directory with a local license in Nettleton, MS. The Directory I have before then is 1993 and he doesn’t appear. The same is seen in 2000. In 2001, he has a general license. He’s last seen in the 2003 Directory. The 2002 Directory shows him as pastor of the United Pentecostal Church of Okolona, MS. He’s not seen as a pastor before of after this Directory. No church was seen as being in that town the year prior or after 2002.
