Community

Building modification programs that have taken place in the last decade include the purchase of a new organ, chancel remodeling, the creating of accessible restrooms, and the furnishing of the Morris Gustin Memorial Library.  This latter was a tribute to Morris. and the funds and the letters for a memorial book just flowed in.

In 1985 I went to the Maine Storytelling Festival and began to tell at least one of the narrative lessons each Sunday.  For the most part it is accepted and appreciated, as is my time spent with the Network.  I seek consciously to be biblically and theologically oriented in my administrative activities, as well as in my preaching and in counselling.  We put daily lessons in the church newsletter, at the request of the Council on Ministries.  We use stories on Wednesday mornings, and in our Council on Ministries and Administrative Board.  We have done Marketplace 29 AD as our Vacation Church school program, involving over 50 persons each year.  We use story-tellers from the congregation for Holy Week and Christmas.

We have a number of people in the church who are highly skilled in organizational work. They know how to write objectives and goals with ease. As government workers, many of them know how to form study committees sometimes to avoid the hard need for decision making. We have a group of key leaders who meet with me on an occasional basis for long-range planning

The church has made a conscious decision to grow again.  Having difficulty finding, in student leadership, what we needed for our changing situation, we last year employed a Lay Visitor to call on new residents, and new visitors to the church.  This has proven effective, and we have received several new couples into our church fellowship.  In 1989 we raised, for the first time in years, our average attendance and our membership total. It stands at 415 at this writing.  We have made a commitment to continue this growth, and beginning this. month we will start a new staffing pattern.  Our Lay Visitor is moving from the area, so we are using a retired minister 20 hours a week for outreach, and the director of our Co-operative Nursery will work an additional 10 hours per week to develop Family Ministries.  Recently, we have noticed many blue-collar families moving into the affordable housing in our immediate area. We are seeking to blend them into our membership which is made up primarily of older professionals.  Not using Student Associate Pastors, we are again utilizing laypersons as liturgists; this adds a vitality to the service.  We have some very qualified people who are willing to do this well, as a labor of love.

So that's the story of who we are, and how we came to this place as a congregation in transition. We've really been in transition all of our existence. We have and have had a lot of good things to Christian . We are a caring congregation, who for the most part seek to welcome the stranger in our midst, knowing well that many have thereby entertained angels unaware.