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East Bridgewater (MA) Church Celebrates 125 Years of Ministry
EAST BRIDGEWATER, MA (August 18, 2004) - Community Covenant Church recently
celebrated its 125th anniversary with a Saturday picnic and a special
Sunday morning
service and luncheon.
Volunteers coordinated games for children similar to those played when
the church was
founded in 1879 during Saturday's picnic, according to pastor Don Olson.
East Coast
Conference Supt. Robert Dvorak preached at Sunday's worship service and
presented a plaque from the Evangelical Covenant Church to church
chairperson David Sawyer. Olson read greetings from nine previous
pastors and spouses during worship, which also featured an anniversary
choir comprised of current and former choir members.
Following worship, the congregation shared in a light lunch. Rev.
Richard and Helen Swanson, who served two interim pastorates at the
church, were among the special guests during the weekend. Other special
events will be held later this year as previous pastors have agreed to
visit and preach.
This past Sunday, Rev. Wallace I. Starratt preached during the morning
worship. He was pastor of the church from 1953-60 and helped the
congregation celebrate its 75th anniversary in 1954. Rev. Richard
Swanson and Rev. Christopher Ek have also agreed to preach during the
fall. The church has organized an archive display to help tell the story
of the congregation and that display will be present throughout the year.
Community Covenant Church was spawned out of a "week of prayer" in
Brockton, Massachusetts, which actually lasted three months, records
show. From this spiritual awakening came the Swedish Evangelical
Independent Mission Church in nearby Campello, which was founded August
5, 1879, in the home of August Dean and officially incorporated in 1881.
Carl W. Holm was the first chair of the church, which originally
held services in a building called Drake's Hall and later in a local
Methodist church.
Professor J.G. Princell divided his time between New York and
Massachusetts as the church's first pastor. Within 10 years of the
church's founding, the congregation (now called the Swedish Evangelical
Congregational Church of Brockton) had increased to
130 members under pastor August Pohl. Axel Bergstedt served the longest
pastorate in
Community Covenant's history. He took over as senior pastor on the eve
of the church's 40th anniversary, September 1, 1919, and provided the
church with stable leadership for the next 28 years as the
congregation's worship services evolved from the Swedish to the English
language and the church dealt with financial depression and World War
II. After Bergstedt left the church in 1947, he served a number of years
as a chaplain for the Scandinavian Seamen's Mission in Boston.
The church relocated from Brockton to its current facility in East
Bridgewater in 1981 and changed its name from Covenant Congregational
Church in Brockton to Community Covenant Church. The congregation
averages 155 in worship attendance, according to the most recent
Covenant Yearbook statistics. Pastor Olson says a three-year
stewardship campaign to refurbish the current facility will begin in the
fall.
To learn more about the church , its celebration plans and its
ministries, call Olson at
508-583-3360 or visit the church website at www.CommunityCovenant.com.
Copyright © 2008 The Evangelical Covenant Church. |
