Town’s oldest church helps launch its newest church with a global vision

 

 

By MAUREEN DOHERTY

NORTH READING — North Reading’s oldest church is helping to launch the town’s newest church.

Full Glory International Ministries Inc. began holding Sunday worship services in the Chapel of the Union Congregational Church, 148 Haverhill St., in March. The church is now welcoming the community to its official Ministry Launch this Sunday, July 14 from 3-6 p.m.

The ministry launch will include performances by two groups of guest singers, the Royal Worshipers and The Gathering of Worshippers.

Bishop Stephen Chege is the presiding bishop of Full Glory International Ministries (FGIM) and both he and his wife Hanna look forward to welcoming the community to their launch, along with Pastor Charles Chege, FGIM Residential Pastor of the North Reading church. (Bishop Chege and Pastor Chege are not related.)

A native of Kenya, Bishop Chege speaks three languages: Kikuyu, which is his primary language or mother tongue; Swahili, which is the national language of Kenya; and English.

“In Kenya we have 43 tribes so each tribe speaks its own native language,” he explained. He said Kikuyu is a tribe in Central Kenya.

FGIM is a Protestant denomination in the Pentecostal tradition and he has traveled all over the United States and Africa doing mission work.

“I started coming to the United States in the year 2009 and I have been doing missions here and going back,” he said. In the 10 years between 2009 and 2019 he had traveled to the U.S. 17 times visiting 20 states. “Also in Africa I was going to another 10 countries doing missions, and outreach,” he said.

A CHANCE MEETING

Presently, Bishop Chege and his wife live in Massachusetts. On his way to work each day he would pass by the Union Congregational Church on Haverhill Street. He works at Communitas in Wakefield, a day program that teaches life skills to people with disabilities.

“When we came here we thought we would grant a church,” he said, but each of the churches he approached could not accommodate them for various reasons, such as conflicting service times.

“So every time I pass through here I saw this church but I never thought I can be part of them. But one day, we were coming from Woburn and I hear my wife say ‘this looks like a good place. I wonder if we can get in?’ So we go in and we met the pastor at the entrance to the sanctuary. We greet each other to just say hi to you. We did not know he was the pastor,” he recalled.

That pastor was none other than Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes who recalled the moment they met. It was Sunday, December 17. They had just finished their annual Christmas Pageant and many church members were hustling about taking down the pageant scenery that had been set up in the sanctuary.

“I was getting ready to go home and I was talking to all the people who were helping out with the scenery, and Bishop Chege and his wife came around the corner. In Africa they still dress up for worship – suits and hats and everything.”

Based on their dress Rev. Hughes said he thought to himself that they were looking for a church. “I just didn’t know that they were looking for a church to start another church!” he said.

“When I realized that they were looking to plant a church we got talking. I showed them the chapel and that was sufficient for their needs, and from there we needed to bring it to our Council,” Rev. Hughes said.

After the bishop met with the UCC Council to work out the details of their association and it was ultimately approved, a covenant service was held in the sanctuary to formally launch the church. Rev. Hughes and Pastor Gayle McGlauflin, UCC’s Minister of Discipleship conducted this service in March prior to Easter.

Rev. Hughes continued: “They do their worship service at 11:30 a.m. and we do ours from 10 to 11 a.m. and what’s really nice is that because our coffee hour is at the close of our service and the start of their service some of their people will come and we’ll have coffee and conversation. There have been some real friendships established already.”

“Occasionally some of our people will go up for part of their service, which is much longer than your traditional New England Congregational Sunday service, and on occasion they’ll come to our worship service,” Rev. Hughes said, noting that this has included singing songs in Swahili.

FGIM services are generally two hours long. “We start at 11:30 a.m. and end at 1:30 p.m.,” Bishop Chege said. “We are in the preliminary stages of running a church. That is why we are doing the launch. In Africa we have 12 branches there.”

MISSION-ORIENTED

“Our church is mission-oriented. We do missions in Africa and after we do the launching here I will be going back to Africa to do preaching, outreach and missions,” Bishop Chege said. He does not expect all of the new congregants to be of Kenyan descent or even African. “I am opening the doors to everyone. Everybody is welcome,” he said.

Rev. Hughes said, “I’ll also add that one of the blessings in this is the two faith communities are very different obviously culturally, ethnically. But also, I think our theologies are very different, our worship styles are very different, and yet despite those differences there is a growing respect and a sense of community which, frankly, I think is definitely needed in our society these days.”

“Exactly,” agreed Bishop Chege. “Just to add to what he is saying in regard to the culture, the way we worship, we are one common faith with Jesus is the common denominator. So when we are worshiping … we focus on that common denominator that binds us together, who is Jesus, that is number 1. Number two is outreach. When we are here we are still doing some demographic study on how do we reach out to people here? As days go by we hope to know how we can reach out. We can complement each other because we are all one in the church of Jesus Christ.”

Technology has allowed FGIM close some of the gaps in their worldwide mission by teleconferencing with people for morning or evening prayers. “It opens doors for more people,” Bishop Chege said.

Rev. Hughes recalled a comment he often hears during ecumenical events held in town, such as the Sunrise Service on Easter. “Invariably someone will come to me and say ‘we really should do this more often. We’re really all just the same.’ And my response is always to say, ‘I understand what you are saying and we do have a lot of things in common but there are genuine differences between communities of faith in terms of beliefs and how the churches operate, but the last time I looked all the steeples were pointing in the same direction. And ours would be pointing that way if we had a steeple!”

CENTURIES OF HISTORY

The First Parish Congregational Church in present-day Wakefield was formed in 1644 when the land comprising present-day Reading, Wakefield and North Reading was all part of Reading. The inhabitants of present day North Reading therefore had to travel a long distance to attend Sunday services.

“They petitioned the legislature back in 1717 to form a new congregation known as the North Parish. There were 37 members of that church who lived north of the Ipswich River,” Rev. Hughes said. By 1720 they had reached an agreement with the Rev. Daniel Putnam, a recent graduate of Harvard, to serve the North Parish.

“They gave the first pastor the land and built him the house and the only thing he had to do was provide the glass and nails, which were the two most expensive things, which only goes to show that churches haven’t changed that much!” Rev. Hughes said. Rev. Putnam served the church for 40 years. “Eliab Stone who came after him was here for 61 years. The first two ministers of this church were here for 101 years.”

Now, more than 300 years later, the pastor who is the third longest serving minister of the Union Congregational Church and his congregation have made it possible for a new church to flourish by its side.

“Theologically, our worship styles are very, very different but there is a growing appreciation and mutual respect that we are all doing the Lord’s work,” Rev. Hughes said.

“The love they have demonstrated to us proved without a doubt this is a church of Christ,” Bishop Chege believes.

For planning purposes, FGIM asks guests to confirm their attendance at the Sunday, July 14 launch by calling Bishop Chege (978-876-0181) or Pastor Charles Chege (978-866-5410).