WEST PARISH OF BARNSTABLE UCC
WEST BARNSTABLE, MA
How Mission Renewed Our Congregation
The mission – with members of three other local UCC churches, undertake a week-long trip to New Orleans to rebuild homes destroyed by hurricane Katrina.
How it came about: in the fall of 2009 the pastor of the Cotuit Federated Church, aware that the newly-arrived pastor at the North Falmouth Congregational Church had served in New Orleans at the time of hurricane Katrina, called the three of us together to discuss the possibility of a joint mission trip. Interested lay members of the churches quickly joined the team. We divvied up the tasks (arranging a job site, transportation and housing, food, and spiritual leadership).
The trip itself: 15 folk from the three churches, including the three pastors, made the trip. We stayed in bunk rooms at St. Paul’s Church in New Orleans. We worked at three job sites for an organization that is rebuilding homes, St. Bernard Project which can be contacted at: 8324 Parc Place, Chalmette, LA 70043; 504-277-6831; http://www.stbernardproject.org/. (The UCC-related sites were full for the week we could go). During the day, under the supervision of Americorps volunteers, we did a wide-range of construction efforts: major demolition, finish carpentry, painting. Most of also had the opportunity to meet the home-owners and learn from them their stories of the hurricane and how it affected them and others. In the evening, after a jointly-prepared meal, we had an hour of debriefing and shared worship.
Learnings: Key to the entire experience were the evening debrief and worship sessions. Here we were able not only to share the day’s frustrations and joys, but also link those experiences to the gospel and to our faith. Group members came away from the experience saying that they had been transformed. Subsequent to the return to their parishes, each group made presentations to their congregations, telling them about the experience and how it had impacted them personally. We then took our learnings “on the road”, sharing them at the annual meeting of the Barnstable Association, the 20 UCC churches of the Cape and Islands.
Follow-up, next steps: As a result of the testimony of those who went in Year 1, another group signed up to go back the second year, and this time were joined by two members of another congregation, the Wellfleet Congregational Church. Their experience was as successful as that of the first group, and we are in the planning stages at this time for going back a third time.
Further information: contact Pastor Reed Baer at West Parish of Barnstable, United Church of Christ 508-362-4445
