As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Mark 1:16-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

Tuesday night, I met with the Pastoral Search Committee for the first time. This committee will be the ones to act as the congregation in reaching out to find Bristol Federated Church’s next minister.

As our opening devotional, I read this passage and remarked that the word “immediately” has always been significant to me in this passage. It is seems to indicate that there was something already present within Simon and Andrew (and the others) that enabled them to respond “immediately” to Jesus’ call to discipleship. I shared with the Search Committee that it is my experience, that when the right candidate comes before them, they will know “immediately” that that candidate is the one to join with you in the journey.

This moment, will not come right away, but will be the result of some hard work to prepare for calling a new minister. In the United Church of Christ (UCC) this is work is done by the congregation, and so the committee will be engaging you in a variety of ways to support them in their work. Most importantly, they will need your support in prayer. So, pray, and pray without ceasing.

Your Pastoral Search Committee members are: Donna Gile, Jennifer Lathrop, Jake Zubow, Robin Hewitt, and Linda Barnard. I’m sure they would be happy to hear from you.

In the Peace Love and Light of Christ,

Chris Heintz- Interim Pastor

Kathleen Clark, Leadership Chair

Surely most of you know Kathleen, the one with the big smile, but what you might not know is how she goes about serving our church family. Kathleen has been serving as our leadership chair for a while now, she has lead us through the covid epidemic, and lead the way to finding our interim pastor and our path to becoming an O&A church. Whew! But that is not all. Kathleen works closely with Pastor Chris on a regular basis to make sure things are running smoothly.

They conduct leadership meetings, and make sure that we are all set for Sunday services, recently they have taken on the leadership of Messy Church events. Kathleen also started Children’s Sunday last year. Once a month she plans a breakfast and service geared toward our youngsters. She and her helpers lead the service. She also works on building maintenance and improvements, along with her husband Martin she gathered up a team to replace the roof on the ed wing. Most recently Kathleen and Martin added a bathroom in the parsonage and put siding on the church building. She always contributes to and helps with fundraisers such as Halloween, serving hot chocolate to the children. Her cookies at he Christmas bazaar are famous! She is such a kind and generous person, we are so lucky to have her in our church family.

Thank you, Kathleen, for all you do!