Two local churches take steps toward unification

By Ed Pierce

North Windham Union Church and Raymond Village Community Church have started the process of uniting and will be doing it under the leadership of a veteran pastor in the Lakes Region of Maine.

Rev. Brian Donovan will serve as the pastor of North
Windham Union Church and Raymond Village 
Community Church which are uniting.
COURTESY PHOTO 

Rev. Brian Donovan, 52, has led Raymond Village Community Church since last fall and now will administer and lead the spiritual life of both of the churches as pastor.

“The North Windham Union Church and the Raymond Village Community Church have decided to take a Faithful Journey together towards uniting as one Church,” Donovan said. “It is actually one of the core expressions of our denomination to both unite and be uniting, welcoming all people no matter who they are or where they are on their journey throughout life.”

He said that as his one-year designated term as pastor at Raymond Village Community Church was coming to an end, he began looking to find a settled position in the area.

“What I found is what most people probably know that the churches are getting smaller and smaller for so many reasons,” Donovan said. “Still, I found North Windham Union Church who was looking for a pastor and we discovered a new way forward together with Raymond Village Community Church since both of these wonderful communities could not support the full-time pastor they wanted, and I feel God is calling me to be.”

Serving as a shared pastor for smaller churches is not a new concept for Donovan.

“When I returned to Maine last year from serving a church in Salem, New Hampshire, I found two communities looking for a one-year designated term pastor,” he said. “The First Congregational Church of Gray was looking to finalize their Open and Affirming declaration and Raymond Village Community Church was looking to unite with another community, which we found in North Windham Union Church. It was wonderful to complete both of these designated terms successfully.”

According to Donovan, the Faithful Journey of uniting North Windham Union Church and Raymond Village Community Church together will now be his whole focus.

“I am no longer serving the people of the First Congregational Church of Gray, right now,” he said. “However, yes for Raymond as we are all together in this beautiful ministry being created.”

Raymond Village Community Church and North Windham Union Church worship under the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ which has 143 congregations across the state.

Donovan has more than a decade of church and pastoral leadership experience and obtained a master’s degree in divinity from Boston University’s School of Theology. Prior to serving at Raymond Village Community Church, Donovan led churches in Waban, Massachusetts; Boothbay Harbor, and Salem, New Hampshire. He also is the chaplain at the Greg Wing of St. Andrew’s Village Nursing Home in Boothbay Harbor.

Before being called to the ministry, Donovan worked as a ceramic tile installer and a contracting company owner and operator. In 2011, he made the decision to become a pastor and study at Boston University.

“I was called to be a pastor at 13. But I did not listen until many years later because I was brought up Roman Catholic, a wonderful religion and one I honor still,” he said. “Yet, that faith was not mine for a number of reasons. So, I started a spiritual journey. I walked with many different faiths and religions throughout the years, Christian and non- Christian at times. I knew I was searching for a place where everyone is welcome. I finally found it at the United Church of Christ in Boothbay Harbor.”

He says that at the United Church of Christ in Boothbay Harbor he saw their Open and Affirming statement and nearly wept as he knew that was the type of denomination that God wished him to lead.

“It’s a church where it doesn't matter who you are or love or look like or any other human identity, you are truly welcome and loved,” Donovan said. “So, in my early 40s I started pastoring to communities and went off to seminary. I started at Andover Newton Theological and graduated from Boston University School of Divinity. After the seminary, which is intense if anyone is wondering, I passed all the steps to become ordained.”

Since stepping into his new role as permanent pastor of the unified churches, Donovan says he’s excited for the opportunity.

“I love the people. The people in these communities are kind, compassionate, compromising souls,” he said. “I have served many communities, and I can say that these souls are amazingly thoughtful of one another. Are there still bumps, yes, every faith community has them. But these souls are truly living into our faith to be one people, united and welcoming to all. I am reminded of this truth daily.”

The pastor said the toughest or most challenging aspect about his job is not working 70 hours a week.

“I know that sounds funny, but it is hard to break away and be careful of your time when there are so many wonderful people to talk to and wonderful things to engage with,” Donovan said. “I think the next hardest part is finding ways to faithfully engage everyone in the community. We want to be that calming place of God’s Love where everyone is welcome; but showing people throughout Windham and Raymond is the tough part before they come in and experience what God’s love can really look like through us.”

He says the united churches can expect love, care, and a warm welcome from him as pastor.

“I like to believe I am someone who will always listen and be here for anyone,” Donovan said. “I also try to bring the Bible to life in ways that are relatable to our world today. Help us find the way forward as a community caring for the world while being aware of the imbalance our world has always had. I hope people see me as just another person in our community who loves them.” <

New pastor to lead Raymond Village Community Church

By Ed Pierce

Raymond Village Community Church has introduced Rev. Brian Donovan as its new spiritual leader.

Donovan, 51, will administer and lead the spiritual life of the church and the surrounding community, and he assumed his new duties for a one-year term as pastor at RVCC on Oct. 30.

The Rev. Brian Donovan will lead the Raymond
Village Community Church as its new pastor
and started a one-year term at the church on
Oct. 30. SUBMITTED PHOTO 

He has 10 years of church and pastoral leadership experience and obtained a master’s degree in divinity from Boston University’s School of Theology. Prior to his new duties in Raymond, Donovan has served at churches in Waban, Massachusetts; Boothbay Harbor, and Salem, New Hampshire. He is also simultaneously leading worship at the First Congregational Church of Gray.

A graduate of Novi High School in Michigan, Donovan lives in East Boothbay and is the chaplain at the Greg Wing of St. Andrew’s Village Nursing Home in Boothbay Harbor.

Prior to his calling to the ministry, Donovan worked as a ceramic tile installer and has also worked as a framer, a marine electrician, and as a contracting company owner and operator. In 2011, he made the decision to become a pastor and study at Boston University.

“We are pleased to welcome Pastor Brian as our new leader. We are excited to enter this phase of our church life. With his direction and guidance, we will continue to uphold community involvement as a strong trademark of this church,” said RVCC Moderator Tom Wiley. “We invite you to join with us as we welcome Pastor Brian at our new worship time of 11 a.m.”

Raymond Village Community Church worships under the Maine Conference, United Church of Christ which features 143 congregations spread across the State of Maine.

“I am grateful to be called to serve the community of Raymond through the Raymond Congregational Community Church and bring God's message of love to all people in this changing time,” Donovan said. “Change, though sometimes scary, is also the exciting part of living in this 21st century. My hope is that everyone within the church and throughout our community will embrace the need for change; so, we can discover and provide God's faithful love for all people that our community needs, in the way they need it, today. And I do mean All people, no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome, accepted, and loved. I pray you will join us and be part of the exciting changes God is creating through us for the town of Raymond."

This summer, worship at the church featured a rotation of temporary pastors while a permanent pastor could be found including Rev. Chan Roach, Rev. Jane McIntyre, and Rev. Deborah Loomis Lafond. <

Windham Hill United Church of Christ installs new pastor on Sunday

Rev. Sharon Rankin, the new pastor of Windham
Hill United Church of Christ, is looking forward
to working with her congregation for the church
to become more involved in the community, to
be relevant, and to make a difference.
SUBMITTED PHOTO  

By Lorraine Glowczak

Sharon Rankin, who accepted the invitation to be the new pastor of Windham Hill United Church of Christ (WHUCC) will be officially installed on Sunday, Nov. 14^th at 2:00 PM.

Rev. Rankin replaced Rev. Sally Colegrove upon her retirement this past summer.

Although Rankin fills the new position, she is not new to this family of faith and thus the reason for the congregation’s choice.

“Sharon was already well-known to the Windham Hill congregation because she was a member of our church for many years as a layperson before she began her pastoral ministry,” Eric Lund, WHUCC Church Moderator said. “She served on almost every board or committee imaginable and was much loved as a friend by so many in the church. Now that she is ordained, she has been much sought after by other UCC congregations in the area. We were fortunate to be able to get her to serve now in a new capacity as our pastor.”

Although the call into the clerical field occurred at a young age, the role as a minister is Rankin’s second career. After 38 years as a Maine state employee in the community care and social work divisions, Rankin retired to follow her call to ministry.

“I worked on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota as a teenager and that was the beginning of feeling ‘the call.” I just didn’t know where or how it would look at that point.”

A contributing factor in not knowing the direction into the ministry was how she was taught in her childhood religion. “I was raised Pentecostal when women were not allowed to speak from the pulpit,” Rankin said. “But 25 years ago, I attended a UCC church in Portland and there was an interim pastor who spoke that day. It just happened to be Rev. Nancy Foran, now the retired pastor of Raymond Village Community Church. She was the first woman I heard preach from the pulpit and was my inspiration to follow that inward call.”

Once Rankin discovered that women could indeed be the “hands and feet of Jesus” as she calls it, she began taking classes. Because she and her wife, Rebecca, were raising a family and working full time, going to a seminary was time prohibitive and expensive, so she took one or two classes at a time attending the Bangor Theological Seminary and taking courses at St. Joseph College, and then moving on to the Maine School of Ministry where she received her certification. Rankin was ordained in March of this year.

Retiring from state service in 2019, Rankin has served as a licensed supply pastor in many local churches over the past sixteen years, filled the pulpit for a pastor on sabbatical leave and most recently completed a six-month designated term ministry position at the Second Congregational UCC Church in Norway, Maine before being called to Windham Hill UCC as a three-year designated pastor. 

Under her guidance, the congregation has plans for the future to become more involved in the community.

“We want to be relevant and to a make a difference,” Rankin said. “We want to continue to be inclusive in the community. I know what it is like from personal experience when churches put that judging hat on. I’ve always loved the Planet Fitness’ motto, ‘Judgement Free Zone’. That’s what we are about.”

Projects for the future include updating the parsonage. Rankin and the church members are in the process of discerning how best to use the parsonage to support the greater community needs. WHUCC hopes to work with other churches in the area as they seek the best use of this building.

Always an inclusive religion, WHUCC is taking inclusivity a step further, changing certain terminology to encompass both genders and updating antiquated language to a more modern understanding. But perhaps just as importantly, the congregation is creating a path to retain its deep spiritual roots after being presented with challenges by the pandemic having had to close its church building for well over a year and offer all on-line worship services.

“We at WHUCC are excited to see where God is leading as we begin our ministry together,” Rankin said. “While it has been challenging to feel rooted as we have weathered the storms of COVID, we have not lost our rootedness in God’s love. It is that root system that binds us all together here at Windham Hill where our spiritual roots are nurtured and watered.”

Members of the congregation are looking forward to celebrating their new pastor this Sunday at the installation ceremony. They are pleased with her knowledge and personal virtues. “I could give a long list of qualities that make Sharon a great pastor,” Lund said. “What immediately comes to mind are her compassion and her energy. She really cares about the members of our congregation and is also full of good ideas about how the church might respond to the needs of the Windham community. Being a pastor is a second career for her and her many years serving earlier as a social worker also developed capacities in her that is very much needed in an effective pastor. I encourage members of the community to visit us because Sharon also puts together very meaningful worship services and is a very good preacher.”

Along with in-person worship on Sunday mornings at 9:30, services can be viewed live on Windham Hill’s Facebook page (Windham Hill UCC).

Rankin lives in Windham with her wife, Rebecca. They have two adult children and four grandchildren. <

Windham’s Faith Lutheran pastor accepts position with Maine Council of Churches

By Lorraine Glowczak

Rev. Jane Field has accepted a full-time position with the
Maine Council of Churches and says she has enjoyed serving
as pastor at Faith Lutheran Church in Windham. Her last day
at Faith Lutheran will be on Sunday, July 25. 
PHOTO BY LORRAINE GLOWCZAK 

For the past five years, Rev. Jane Field has led the ‘small and vibrant’ congregation at Faith Lutheran Church, 988 Roosevelt Trail, on a part-time basis, while also balancing her schedule as a part-time Executive Director of Maine Council of Churches (MCC), a faith-based advocacy organization comprised of seven denominations that speaks out about issues and works on public policy as it involves hunger, poverty, compassion, justice, and peace.

On June 23, the MCC Board of Directors offered to extend Pastor Field’s position to a full-time basis due to the exemplary work they believe she is doing as a leader in the faith community.

“Jane is a wise woman of deep faith who is creative and forward thinking,” said MCC’s Vice President Carolyn Lambert. “All of us on the [MCC] board recognize that ‘the church’ is changing and has been for a longtime. Jane is leading the MCC, creating the organization as an example of what ‘the church’ can become… in order to be what the church is called to be. The church was never meant to exist/live within a building. Its purpose has always been to be out in the community offering compassion and seeking justice for all people - for all God's creation. And that's exactly what Jane does: she takes the Church out into the community seeking other individuals and other groups with whom to collaborate to do God’s work of Shalom."

Field believes her experiences as a pastor of a small-town congregation has helped her fulfill the mission of MCC and her role with the organization.

“I enjoyed the ways in which being the pastor of a local congregation grounded me and made me better at my other job, as Executive Director of the Maine Council of Churches,” Field said. “Because I was dealing with the real world every week at Faith Lutheran, I was better equipped to meet the needs of all the congregations and clergy we represent and serve at MCC.”

Field enjoyed Faith Lutheran congregation’s warm and welcoming nature as well as their ability to be flexible during challenging times.

“As their mission statement puts it, they are a ‘small and vibrant’ congregation—I’m glad it says ‘and’ instead of ‘but’,” Field said. “In this era when we are redefining what ‘being church’ means, it’s actually an advantage to be small and nimble.”

Although Field will miss her Faith Lutheran family, she has come full circle, working on public policies and advocating for justice, equality, environmental sustainability, and more – which is where her initial journey began.

Field did not set out to become a minister or anyone’s spiritual leader. While working on her master’s in Public Policy from Princeton, Jane discovered there was a missing component in the master’s level program that didn’t fulfill a certain need.

“What I had intended to do was to serve society through advocacy and politics,” she said. “During my participation in the program [at Princeton], I realized I was asking questions with a more human perspective that were not easily answered in the mathematics-focused curriculum. This inspired me to search further.”

While at Princeton, she interned at a domestic violence agency in Trenton, New Jersey. Wanting to discover more about domestic abuse, she learned there was a class at Princeton Theological Seminary that focused on this very issue. Princeton Theological Seminary, a seminary associated with the Presbyterian Church, is not a part of Princeton University but the two institutions have a reciprocal agreement, so she took the class for credit. It was here that Field discovered the more humanistic approach she had been looking for.

“After receiving my degree in Public Policy [in 1987], I decided to pursue a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York City,” she said. “And though my plan did not include getting ordained, you know what they say: 'If you want to make God laugh, make a plan.'"

In 1990, Field graduated from seminary and was ordained as a Presbyterian Minister of Word and Sacrament six months later. She moved to Wilton, Connecticut to serve as the associate pastor of a Presbyterian Church. After nine years there, she worked as a Development Officer and Community Educator at a domestic violence agency in Stamford, Connecticut, before returning to the ministry, serving Presbyterian, Episcopal and Methodist churches in that area. During this time, she became a mother by adopting a young girl from Guatemala. 

Although Field enjoyed her life and work in Connecticut, she had been yearning to return to her family roots in Maine. In 2015, Field and her daughter moved to Portland to be near her extended family. It was then that she accepted the role as part-time Executive Director of MCC. In July 2016, she also accepted the call to serve as the part-time pastor of Faith Lutheran Church.

Field recently took the time to reflect about her work for the past five years.

“I was so lucky to have inherited a mission development fund created by the congregation and the pastor who preceded me when they sold some property rights to a cell tower company,” Field said. “The purpose of the fund was to identify local organizations serving neighbors in need and then commit to providing funding and volunteer ‘hands-on’ engagement of our members. We guided the church through a process of narrowing down the choices to two worthy projects—and ultimately decided to develop both. We spearheaded the efforts to found a local chapter of the Fuller Center for Housing, recruiting other area churches to provide start-up support—it’s now a going concern with an independent Board of Directors who are implementing projects to rehab housing for the elderly and veterans. The other was to partner with St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in running the Essentials Pantry.”

Marilyn Walsh, a founding member of Faith Lutheran Church who was on the Call Committee that hired Field, said there is much that will be missed about their pastor.

“Jane is so caring and giving,” Walsh said. “And she would drop everything to assist our members when they were experiencing a hardship. When I found out my 24-year-old grandson, who had a brain tumor and was told he would only have six months to live, I called her, and she was at my house within a half-hour. Jane did that for all of us, no matter the time of day or night.”

There is one more lighthearted way Walsh said that she and others will miss Field immensely.

“Her wit and her sense of humor,” she said. “Jane always had a way of making us laugh and in doing so, an important point or lesson would be made.”

Walsh said members of the ‘small and vibrant’ church wish Field the best of luck.

Rev. Jane Field’s last day to serve Faith Lutheran Church will be Sunday, July 25. <

Pastor Sally Colegrove of Windham Hill UCC retires from her ‘little white church on the hill’

After a total of 38 years in the ministry, Rev. Sally Colegrove
will retire on June 30 as the pastor of the Windham Hill United
Church of Christ where she has spent the last 18 years of her
career. In her retirement, Colegrove looks forward to 
volunteering in community theater, renovating two of her
homes and traveling once the borders open back up.
SUBMITTED PHOTO 

By Lorraine Glowczak

The members of Windham Hill United Church of Christ (UCC), located at 140 Windham Center Road, will bid farewell to their pastor of 18 years, Rev. Sally Colegrove, on June 30. After 38 years in the ministry, Colegrove has decided to retire to enjoy new adventures.

“One thing I’m looking forward to is volunteering and spending time in the dramatic arts,” Colegrove said. “Maybe community theater, maybe stage directing.”

Her passion for the cinematic arts isn’t a new one. In fact, Colegrove attended the University of Connecticut upon high school graduation in the early 1970s to study writing and directing for television. Realizing the financial rewards of this career are limited, she shifted her focus following her last year in college and took a few business courses.

“The writing and directing career would have allowed me to starve, so I changed my mind and took business courses following my last year of college,” she said. “As soon as I graduated, I accepted the first job offered to me. I was hired in the accounts payable department at the Greenwich [Connecticut] Hospital and within six months I was promoted to the manager of a multimillion-dollar accounting system.”

But how did these experiences and choices lead Colegrove into the field of ministry and to Windham Hill UCC?

Born in Greenwich, Connecticut as a descendent of all seven proprietors of the town, Colegrove grew up attending the First Congregational Church of Greenwich, the town’s founding church. 

“I participated in all the youth programs and was an active member of the church from a very young age,” she said.

She continued her involvement in the church into adulthood and while working at the hospital. Having free time after work, Colegrove inquired about serving the church and was asked to lead confirmation classes as well as other high school church programs. After two years of volunteering, Colegrove discovered she enjoyed spiritual leadership and decided a career in the ministry was what she really wanted to do.

“I applied and was accepted to Yale Divinity School, but I still needed a job,” Colegrove said. “The church hired me as a youth minister so I worked and attended school at the same time. This meant I took the ‘long, slow program,’ starting school in 1978 and graduating with a Masters of Divinity in 1983.”

Colegrove was ordained at First Congregational on June 5 of that year and was hired soon after as the church’s Assistant Pastor. She enjoyed serving her home church with over 1,600 members and, although her vocation kept her busy, she found time to visit Camden, Maine to sail as often as she could. Considering Maine her second home, Colegrove eventually purchased a house in the small coastal village to have her own place to stay during her getaways and as a solid future investment.

In 2001, after approximately 18 years serving her hometown church, Colegrove made the decision to make Maine her permanent home and began searching for calls for ministry in the area. Just when she started to explore her options, the most disturbing event happened 32 miles away from Greenwich, across the Long Island Sound in New York City - the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC).

“As soon as we received the news, we [members of the church and of the town] watched as the devastation took place. Not on television, but from across the sound. We could see with our own eyes from the shoreline into Manhattan as the WTC billowed with smoke. We watched as both towers fell,” Colegrove said.

That evening, Colegrove and other First Congregational clergy set up an impromptu prayer service at the church as many in the congregation, as well as the greater Greenwich community, either worked in Manhattan or at the WTC. Colegrove relives that day.

“There was no phone service, no way to communicate. We all desperately wanted to know how those we knew who worked in the city were but there wasn’t a way to find out. One member would have been on the 90^th floor of the WTC on that day if it were not for the fact she was on maternity leave.” That member eventually told Colegrove she had lost 200 people she knew because of the tragedy – 12 of which were her close personal friends.

Colegrove made the decision to stay in her position, and thus withdrew her inquiries to Maine congregations. “It was too cataclysmic for the church and the town, and it didn’t feel right to leave just yet,” Colegrove said.

Eighteen months after that horrific event, Colegrove resumed her job search and received several offers from churches throughout Maine, Windham Hill UCC being among them. But having experience with a large parish like First Congregational, Colegrove believed it would be best to accept a job from one of the larger churches.

With only 120 members at the time, Colegrove believed she did not have the skills needed to lead Windham Hill UCC, or what she lovingly termed ‘the little white church on the hill’. However, a few things kept pulling her toward this faith community.

“Every time I thought about accepting one of the larger churches, I would become sad and knew I would miss my little white church on the hill. This thought kept pulling at me. There was just something special about this place and this church. Plus, I kept receiving calls from the chair of the search committee every day for a month offering me the job.”

Of course, we know Colegrove accepted the call to pastor Windham Hill UCC and she has been very pleased with her decision. In the past 18 years, she has witnessed the congregation grow to over 200 members, enjoyed the ‘thinking outside the box’ worship styles to be more inclusive, saw the building of a fellowship hall and columbarium, watched as successful adult ed classes and book discussion groups developed and continue to this day, led congregation and community travels to seven different countries, took part in trips to Honduran and Maine missions and now appreciates the newly established and successful annual Festival of Trees.

“We’ve been busy and I have been very lucky these past 18 years,” Colegrove said. “The church moderators have been very supportive in guiding me with the work of a small church and I could not have done it without their help. I thank everyone and want to give a special shout out to the moderators during my stay: Phil Moody, Dick Roy, David Pinchbeck and Eric Lund as well as Cora Moody who was the musician and her colleague from 2003 to 2014.”

Colegrove will hold a special place in Windham Hill UCC’s heart.

“Sally is warm and outgoing and has truly been a friend to so many in addition to being their pastor over the past 18 years,” the present Church Moderator, Eric Lund said. “We will all miss her a lot but are glad that she will still be part of the Windham community.”

In addition to theater involvement, Colegrove will also spend time renovating her two homes here in Windham and in Camden. She has also been encouraged to publish the letters she wrote to her congregation every day during the first 100 days of the pandemic. And travel – when the borders open back up – is on the top of her list.

“Although I have traveled to 40 different countries, there is still a lot I haven’t seen in the world.”

No matter where Colegrove may journey, it is without a doubt upon her return she will find herself driving along the tree-lined Windham Center Road to sneak a peek at her ‘little white church on the hill.’ <