South Britain Congregational Church, South Britain, CT 06487 203.264.5890 United Church of Christ · “God is Still Speaking” APRIL 2020 OUR CHURCH’S MISSION STATEMENT “To be a dynamic, welcoming, and caring community of Christian faith by weaving the thread of Christ into the tapestry of our lives.” March 18, 2020 Dear Members and Friends of South Britain Congregational Church, As members of the South Britain Congregational Church Search Committee, we express our gratitude for the trust you have placed in us and in our process these past years. This past week we have concluded our prayer-filled process of reviewing profiles and interviewing candidates, ultimately reaching a unanimous decision. We are pleased to recommend to you our final candidate to be considered by the congregation at our annual meeting on May 17, 2020, following worship. We extend our deepest gratitude to our Regional Minister Dr. Michael Ciba who worked closely with us through this often challenging and incredibly rewarding search and call process. Below are the steps that led us to this point of confidence in the Spirit’s leading: 1. Preparation of the current church profile created after much prayer, discernment and two (2) church-wide surveys. 2. Advertisement in the UCC Ministry Opportunities where our church profile was available for review by hundreds of prospective pastors.
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South Britain Congregational Church, South Britain, CT 06487
203.264.5890 United Church of Christ · “God is Still Speaking”
APRIL 2020
OUR CHURCH’S MISSION STATEMENT
“To be a dynamic, welcoming, and caring community of Christian faith by weaving the thread of Christ into the tapestry of our lives.”
March 18, 2020
Dear Members and Friends of South Britain Congregational Church,
As members of the South Britain Congregational Church Search Committee, we
express our gratitude for the trust you have placed in us and in our process these
past years. This past week we have concluded our prayer-filled process of
reviewing profiles and interviewing candidates, ultimately reaching a unanimous
decision. We are pleased to recommend to you our final candidate to be considered
by the congregation at our annual meeting on May 17, 2020, following worship.
We extend our deepest gratitude to our Regional Minister Dr. Michael Ciba who
worked closely with us through this often challenging and incredibly rewarding
search and call process.
Below are the steps that led us to this point of confidence in the Spirit’s leading:
1. Preparation of the current church profile created after much prayer, discernment
and two (2) church-wide surveys.
2. Advertisement in the UCC Ministry Opportunities where our church profile
was available for review by hundreds of prospective pastors.
3. Search team discernment over all sixty-one (61) profiles received.
4. We held thirty-five plus (35+) Skype and in-person interviews and additionally
attended multiple neutral pulpits near and far of prospective candidates.
5. Confidentiality has been essential in our process. Now, we ask you to keep in
close confidence the candidate’s name until such time as the congregational
affirmative vote.
6. Our candidate is Pastor Malcolm Frederick Carr. His letter of self-introduction
is below.
7. Due to the current health concerns around CoVID-19, and the inability to
responsibly congregate in the near future, your Search team, in conjunction with
Council and Deacons have delayed any special congregational meeting that we
would have otherwise promoted to vote on Pastor Malcolm.
8. However, effective May 1, 2020, Pastor Malcolm will become our Acting
Pastor until such time that the congregation approves his call. This will afford
everyone an opportunity to meet (in-person, online and/or telephonically) Pastor
Malcolm prior to our annual congregational meeting and physical vote on May 17,
2020.
As we know, and surely all will agree, our Church family has tremendously
benefitted and enjoyed the excellent bridge interim leadership of Rev. Dave
Buchan over these past few years. Please join us in expressing profound gratitude
and appreciation for the blessing he has been to us all.
Any changes to the above timing of the annual meeting will be publicized
electronically and/or via USPS from Church leaders. Please make every effort to
attend worship services on Sunday, May 17, 2020, to support our candidate and
future Pastor.
We are thankful for your support through this process and for your invaluable love
and prayers.
In Christ’s name,
Carl Dunn, Dave Ferraro, Francesca Sergi, Krista Judson, Ian Lowell, and Jennifer
Naylor, Chair
Rev. Malcolm Carr has been ministering in different roles since 2004. He was
born in New Hampshire and raised in Bangor, Maine. He graduated from Messiah
College in 2002 with a degree in English Literature and minor in World
Religions. At Messiah he was captain of the tennis team and a writer for the
college newspaper. Rev. Malcolm attended Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary
where he received his Master of Divinity in 2007 with a concentration in
Theology. He was ordained into the United Church of Christ as pastor in
2010. The roles in ministry he has served have been pastor, teacher, missionary,
youth pastor, hospital chaplain/counselor and hospice chaplain. His two most
recent settings were overseas in China and serving as solo pastor on the island of
Kauai, Hawaii. He and his wife, Britney, have two daughters aged 5, and 8. As a
family they are often found outside walking the trails or seeking adventures at local
playgrounds. Rev. Malcolm likes to cook and read. He likes to play tennis and
ping pong. He also enjoys running. Though he is an avid New England sports fan
half of his family sadly supports the teams of the New York area.
BULLETIN BOARD
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, AND UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE,
THERE WILL BE NO SUNDAY SERVICES AT SBCC.
YOU MAY REACH PASTOR DAVE AT HIS HOME PHONE
203.775.6841 SHOULD THE NEED ARISE OR YOU CAN REACH OUT
TO THE CHURCH SECRETARY AT 203.264.5890
IN OUR PRAYERS
Bert DeForest Gordon Morehouse
Wayne and Charlene Gunther Jennifer Naylor’s father
Joan and Ralph Kubista’s daughter Lauren Dahm Margie and Ray Nichols
“Baby Smidge” Elliott great granddaughter Madison
Ginni Garis Andy Scoville
Bob Harrison Francesca Sergi
Joyce Hornbecker Don Sharpe’s sister Sue
Marge Humiston Meghan Smith
Abbi Locke Evelyn and Richard Vargoshe
Jonah Locke Lois Witham and the Witham and
Madeline Grace, Mimi Kuehn’s cousin’s Fleming family
13 year old daughter Eileen Yade, Eileen Major’s mother
Nancy Maher
Cynthia Mather
PLEASE LET THE CHURCH OFFICE KNOW IF YOU ARE IN OR
PLANNING TO BE IN THE HOSPITAL
IN MEMORIAM
Ruth Warner who died on March 12, 2020.
THANK YOU
Dear church family,
We wish to thank you for your generosity on behalf of our son, Christopher, who is currently
serving in the Middle East with the U.S. Army. He mentioned receiving a couple of packages
from church and was very thankful to receive them. A special shout out to Carol Cutrona for
supplying him and his buddies a big supply of Newman's Own k-cups. They truly enjoy
receiving notes and tastes of home.
With warm regards,
Christina, Brad, Nathan, and Christopher Lewis
CHURCH CLOSURE
On Sunday, March 15, the Deacons in conjunction with the church leadership made the decision
to cancel all services and activities of the South Britain Congregational Church for the
foreseeable future due to the Covid19 outbreak. The church will take guidance from both the
Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ and the local Pomperaug
District Department of Health for an appropriate time to resume activities. In the meantime, the
church is looking into possible alternate methods of worship.
The church office will be open this coming week but may be closed after that. Rest assured that
the church staff and volunteers will be monitoring the church telephone (203-264-5890) and the