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Date: 12/16/2020
SOMERS, CT – Rev. Scott Spence is the new pastor at Somers Congregational Church.
The church has was established over 300 years ago, offering a community for people of all ages, backgrounds and beliefs. Prior to his move to Somers, Spence served as pastor and teacher at St. John United Church of Christ in Robinson, TX, and First Congregational United Church of Christ in Waterloo, IA.
“It’s been great. It’s been a wonderful community. A nice small New England town,” said Spence of his new position in Somers. “I’ve served in a small Texas town, so I know that there’s value and a sense of interconnectedness that comes from a smaller community that I really value and treasure. That’s a good starting point to begin a ministry. The congregation has been really great here and really welcoming.”
Spence has a bachelors degree in history and government from Centre College in Danville, KY and a masters of Divinity from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Austin, TX.
“I grew up in Richmond, VA, as a Methodist and a Presbyterian and a little bit of everything in the Protestant world,” responded Spence. “I’ve always had the call of ministry, but it took me a while to figure out it as I got older. I went to college at Centre in Kentucky where I met my wife. Then I moved to North Carolina while she was teaching there and that’s where I was called to ministry; I knew I was called to be a pastor. I felt this is where God was pulling me towards to serve my community and to serve others.”
Spence worked in museums doing public history as well as working for the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. At the age of 26, he went into seminary doing campus ministry at the University of Texas and did a yearlong internship at a Presbyterian church in Mobile, AL, where he worked in urban ministry and community organizing. It was during this internship that Spence’s strong passion for social justice and community outreach began.
“I saw that many of the issues that we faced as a community; issues of poverty, access to help, community development, racism, etc. – were systemic in nature,” he stated. “Churches are called to be welcoming places and communities that strive to follow God and create a better world. No matter where we are located or where we worship we all have a role to play in this.”
He continued, “Being a pastor gives me a sense of being in community with folks. God created a sense of wanting to be in community, wanting to be together, supporting, loving and affirming one another and helping others. It’s always been there. I think this past year has reaffirmed that need of community in people even more.
“In being a pastor, you’re a part of peoples’ lives through their ups and downs and everywhere in between and being able to walk beside them in their faith journey,” he said.
Spence told Reminder Publishing that he came to Somers because of their sense of history and roots combined with a desire to live out their faith in different ways.
He said, “The world is rapidly changing and that also applies even to church. They believe that God is still speaking and that they are called to be that beloved community in Somers and beyond.”
Somers Congregational Church has been able to move forward, finding creative ways in rebuilding, which is still continuing through COVID-19. The church with host services via Zoom, hosting a food pantry and trying to be a safe community hub for residents.
“It shows that there’s a strength in the community that they’re still together despite some of these challenges,” Spence said. “It’s a lot more Zoom, a lot more phone calls, folks wearing a lot more masks. It’s still good, just a little different.”
Spence is looking forward in seeing what’s next and to see what lessons they’ve learned along the way.
“We’ve experienced – not only here in the region, but throughout the world and in our country – a real set of crises in the past year,” Spence concluded. “It is my hope that as we come through this on a church level we’ll continue to have that sense of community. To continue to have outreach for our friends and neighbors and continue to be a welcoming place. Then on a larger level, have those tough but needed conversations about what we learned from this pandemic and what it means for us as a country and what it means to us as a beloved community.”
Somers Congregational Church is located at 599 Main St. in Somers, CT. Sunday worship services begin at 9:30 a.m. For more info, visit their website at thesomerschurch.org or call (860) 763-4021.