Exhibit 31.1

                                  CERTIFICATION

      I,  Paul  Van  Ostenbridge,  President  and  Chief  Executive  Officer  of
Stewardship Financial Corporation, certify that:

1.    I have  reviewed this Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended
      December 31, 2004 of Stewardship Financial Corporation;

2.    Based on my knowledge,  this report does not contain any untrue  statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made,  not  misleading  with  respect  to the period  covered by this
      report;

3.    Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and other  financial
      information  included  in this  report,  fairly  present  in all  material
      respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash flows of
      the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.    The  registrant's  other  certifying  officers and I are  responsible  for
      establishing  and  maintaining  disclosure  controls  and  procedures  (as
      defined  in  Exchange  Act  Rules  13a-15  (e)  and  15d-15  (e))  for the
      registrant and have:

      (a)  Designed  such  disclosure  controls and  procedures,  or caused such
      disclosure  controls and procedures to be designed under our  supervision,
      to ensure that material information relating to the registrant,  including
      its consolidated subsidiaries,  is made known to us by others within those
      entities,  particularly  during the  period in which this  report is being
      prepared;

      b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the registrant's disclosure controls and
      procedures  and  presented  in  this  report  our  conclusions  about  the
      effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures,  as of the end of
      the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

      c)  Disclosed  in this  report  any  change in the  registrant's  internal
      control over  financial  reporting that occurred  during the  registrant's
      most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's  fourth fiscal quarter in the
      case of an annual report) that has materially  affected,  or is reasonably
      likely to  materially  affect,  the  registrant's  internal  control  over
      financial reporting; and

5.    The registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed,  based on
      our most recent  evaluation of internal control over financial  reporting,
      to the registrant's auditors and the audit committee of registrant's board
      of directors (or persons performing the equivalent functions):

      a) All significant  deficiencies and material  weaknesses in the design or
      operation  of  internal   control  over  financial   reporting  which  are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's  ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and

      b) Any fraud,  whether or not material,  that involves management or other
      employees who have a significant role in the registrant's internal control
      over financial reporting.

Date: March 28, 2005

                                                /s/ Paul Van Ostenbridge
                                                --------------------------------
                                                President and Chief Executive
                                                Officer