Latest News

Sunday, May 11, 10:00 – 10:45 a.m., Harter Room and via Zoom
Thursday, May 15, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m., via Zoom
Sunday, May 18, 12:30 – 1:30 p.m., Harter Room and via Zoom

find the zoom links on the calendar

In 2022, we set up an assets working group to help get a clear picture of some of our important historic assets which included archives material, the cockerel weathervane, and the Parsonage. As a congregation, we have made decisions on how to handle those first two items and we are now at a point where it is time to think about the future of the Parsonage, the house at 44 Garden Street that is owned by First Church to serve as a residence for the Senior Minister. This is an important aspect of our pastoral transition as we will need to have a clear plan for how to provide housing support when we call a new Senior Minister.

Executive Council appointed a small working group to explore options for the Parsonage as a property and related issues about pastoral housing. This working group has been engaged over the past few months in information gathering related to local real estate, current-day expectations for pastoral housing, and related issues. The group is now planning a series of listening sessions to get the insights and thoughts of the congregation to guide the development of some options for us to consider.

We encourage as many people as possible to participate in one of these sessions. In preparation, we hope you will take a few minutes to think about the ways in which we use the current house on Garden Street, the principles or values that should guide how we provide housing support to our pastor, and how these questions figure into our long-term sustainability as a congregation.

If you are not able to attend a session or have other questions related to this process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to one of the working group members directly with your thoughts or concerns.

Thank you,

The Parsonage Working Group
Chris Baker, Audrey Bellinger, Laurie Burt, Jim Cairns, and David Torrey