Winthrop Congregational Church,
United Church of Christ
No matter who you are. No matter where you are on life's journey. You are welcome here!
Wash Your Hands, Call Each other, and Keep Praying: Our Christian Response to COVID-19
Our church community endeavors to accept and embrace all who enter here. We welcome individuals of every race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, family structure, marital standing, socio-economic status, age, physical and mental ability to join us in the ministry of our church. All are invited to participate in worship, fellowship, and leadership
**We will not be having in-person worship at the church building through June 30th. Please go to the church Facebook page for updates regarding worship activities in this time of social distancing (https://www.facebook.com/WinthropUCC).
Beloveds in Christ,
The church council met on May 12th, 2020, to continue our discernment on how we will function as a church in the midst of COVID-19. As you can probably imagine, this is a big task that will not be accomplished in one meeting. We are waiting for some promised guidance from the Maine Council of Church as well as a checklist for religious communities from the state government. A few things are clear though: in order for us to return to worship in-person and to use our building, we will have to be able meet high standards of cleanliness and infection control. If you visit the government of Maine's website, you can see the checklists of safety measures that hairdressers and restaurants have to comply with. Ours will likely be very similar.
Given that our faith compels us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to care for the most vulnerable in our midst, we are taking this illness, for which there is still no cure or vaccine, very seriously. And, given the size and financial means of our congregation, even if we wanted to try to meet in person again in June, it is likely that we wouldn't have the resources to meet the standards that public health experts will provide over the next two weeks.
I have read accounts of churches in Washington state, Arkansas, West Virginia, New York City, and Calgary, Alberta where COVID-19 has run through the congregation, causing suffering and death (this includes a congregation that was physically distancing and limiting numbers in worship). We do not want our church to be a place where people get sick. We also believe that what is essential about our church is the relationships we have with God and with one another, relationships that we can nurture in other ways than being physically present together.
We have begun to assess what our needs and capacity as a church are and to research companies that we could hire to help with the cleaning, in particular. We will also send out a survey and make calls around our congregation to see what plans people are making to care for themselves and how that will affect their attendance at in-person worship services. The Council will meet again in two weeks to see where we are. And, we made the decision to continue to worship via Zoom at least through the month of June while we prepare for what church will look like next.
Thank you for your good will and willingness to learn new technology. Thank you for checking in on church folks and being kind to people at the grocery store. Thank you for being the church, even as we are apart. We will update you with what we learn just as soon as we can.
Pastor Chrissy
**We will not be having in-person worship at the church building through June 30th. Please go to the church Facebook page for updates regarding worship activities in this time of social distancing (https://www.facebook.com/WinthropUCC).
Beloveds in Christ,
The church council met on May 12th, 2020, to continue our discernment on how we will function as a church in the midst of COVID-19. As you can probably imagine, this is a big task that will not be accomplished in one meeting. We are waiting for some promised guidance from the Maine Council of Church as well as a checklist for religious communities from the state government. A few things are clear though: in order for us to return to worship in-person and to use our building, we will have to be able meet high standards of cleanliness and infection control. If you visit the government of Maine's website, you can see the checklists of safety measures that hairdressers and restaurants have to comply with. Ours will likely be very similar.
Given that our faith compels us to love our neighbors as ourselves and to care for the most vulnerable in our midst, we are taking this illness, for which there is still no cure or vaccine, very seriously. And, given the size and financial means of our congregation, even if we wanted to try to meet in person again in June, it is likely that we wouldn't have the resources to meet the standards that public health experts will provide over the next two weeks.
I have read accounts of churches in Washington state, Arkansas, West Virginia, New York City, and Calgary, Alberta where COVID-19 has run through the congregation, causing suffering and death (this includes a congregation that was physically distancing and limiting numbers in worship). We do not want our church to be a place where people get sick. We also believe that what is essential about our church is the relationships we have with God and with one another, relationships that we can nurture in other ways than being physically present together.
We have begun to assess what our needs and capacity as a church are and to research companies that we could hire to help with the cleaning, in particular. We will also send out a survey and make calls around our congregation to see what plans people are making to care for themselves and how that will affect their attendance at in-person worship services. The Council will meet again in two weeks to see where we are. And, we made the decision to continue to worship via Zoom at least through the month of June while we prepare for what church will look like next.
Thank you for your good will and willingness to learn new technology. Thank you for checking in on church folks and being kind to people at the grocery store. Thank you for being the church, even as we are apart. We will update you with what we learn just as soon as we can.
Pastor Chrissy
We are now gathering at our School Year Worship Hours
See you at 10 AM on Sunday mornings.
See you at 10 AM on Sunday mornings.
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We are an Open and Affirming Church.
What does that mean? No matter who you are... No matter what your occupation... No matter what your race or ethnicity... No matter what your age... No matter where you live... No matter what your sexuality or gender identity... No matter where you are on life's journey… You are God's child and you are welcome here. When do we worship together? Summer hours (Fourth Sunday of June through the Third Sunday of September) : Sunday, 9:30 am School year hours: Sunday, 10:00 am Where are we located? 10 Bowdoin Street, Winthrop, ME 04364 [on the corner of Main and Bowdoin streets] Click here for map. How can you reach us? Tel: (207) 377-2063 E-mail: wccucc@fairpoint.net Webpage: www.wccucc.org |
Church Office Hours
Cyndi's Office Hours Tuesday & Thursday: 9 am - 1 pm Pastor Cataldo's Office Hours Tuesday and Thursday: 9 am to 1 pm Mobility issues? Each floor of our church is accessible via elevator. |
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Minister: Pastor Chrissy Cataldo ~ Music Director: Christine Letcher ~ Office Administrator: Cyndi Hall
Our church is part of the United Church of Christ. For more information on The United Church of Christ (UCC), go to www.ucc.org.
More information on the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ can be found at www.maineucc.org.
More information on the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ can be found at www.maineucc.org.
