BETHEL — Over the past 10 years, Rev. Tim LeConey has helped West Parish Congregational Church deepen its roots in the Bethel community, evolving from a more traditional congregation into a welcoming, outward-looking presence in town life. Whether through youth programs, interfaith events, or partnerships with local organizations, the church has become a gathering space for people of all backgrounds – guided by a mission of inclusion, service, and connection in a changing rural landscape.

What are your church’s core mission or vision and how do you see it evolving in the future?

The core mission of the church is our welcoming and inclusivity to all people.  We are part of a denomination, the United Church of Christ, which is known for its “extravagant welcome” and our welcoming statement, adopted in 2012 and which we are celebrating this month, is this: “West Parish Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, in Bethel, Maine, is an inclusive community united by faith in the God revealed in Jesus Christ.  Because Jesus welcomed and celebrated the diversity created and loved by God, we the congregation declare ourselves to be Open and Affirming.

We embrace people of every age, race, nationality, ethnicity, culture, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, regardless of physical, mental, or emotional ability, family structure, faith background, or socio-economic status….The Congregation is committed to promoting justice and peace for everyone.  Therefore, all are invited into the full life, ministry, joy, and responsibility of participation in this church.”

We often say “Whoever you are, wherever you are on life’s journey… you’re welcome here.”  And we try to live that out in everything we do.  We have a pride flag in front of the church.  We offer a safe, welcoming space for youth, including LGBTQ+ youth, for our Youth Hub for middle and high school aged youth which meets on Thursdays during the school year.

And I have presided at same-sex marriages and civil unions in the past.  As far as how our mission evolves, I think we will continue to try to live into that welcome to all people as best we can including better accessibility to people with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities and people who are visually or auditorily impaired.

What are the strengths or unique resources your church brings to the broader community outside your congregation? Are there opportunities specific to rural areas for churches to serve their communities?

Members of the church are involved in many other community organizations so there is a lot of overlap with what other organizations are doing (including Senior College, Age Friendly Community Initiative, Mahoosuc Land Trust, etc.).  We bring a faith perspective but it is a very open, inclusive one.  We believe it’s important to live out faith and take action so members of the church are politically active including helping on voting day, attending demonstrations, etc. (though we cannot have political events or candidates at the church).

We also do a lot of collaboration with other groups in the community.  For example, we partner with the Gem Theater to host the “Faith and Film” series.  This is a series with films that have religious or spiritual themes and we watch them together and discuss them.  It is open to everyone and it is non-denominational without one perspective dominating so that all people of faith (or no faith) can take part.  One of the things we are best known for is our Christmas Fair and Tea held the first Saturday of December which many people attend year after year and is a holiday tradition in Bethel.

We hope to do more outdoor services and opportunities for “Wild Church,” walks and experiences in nature to try to tap into the spiritual hunger that people have but they might not be looking to find in a traditional church service.

Is there anything anecdotal you’d like to share that helps tell the story of West Parish Congo Church?

Not sure if it’s anecdotal, but one thing is that there has long been a perception of West Parish as the “rich church on the hill” and there has been an association with Gould Academy where maybe the church has been perceived as “the intellectuals.”

We have worked hard in the last 10 years to dispel that notion by being more involved with the community and trying to be as welcoming as possible.  We don’t want to be seen as aloof but as active and contributing to the Bethel community.  This is why we have offered the Youth Hub, the Smile Fund (which assists people with the MSAD 44 area in getting dentures), emergency food boxes for families,  and things like the Faith and Film series.

We also offer service learning trips outside of the state (and country).  In recent years we have taken a group to the Isle of Iona in Scotland for a week with the Iona Community and, this past spring, to Back Bay Mission in Biloxi, MS.

What are your congregation’s demographics? Are there steps you’ve taken to attract younger families?

Like many congregations these days, we are an older congregation (average age in the 70’s)  but we do have several families with children who attend semi-regularly.  We have one child (6 years old) who attends regularly but we have had more young children attend in recent weeks.  We will be offering a playgroup one day a week (tbd) for parents with babies and toddlers beginning in September.

We have a Sunday School class for any children who attend on Sunday mornings.  We also have the Youth Hub during the school year but have not had any youth attend on Sunday mornings from that group (although two of them went on the Mission trip to Biloxi, MS in the spring).

What are the biggest challenges facing your congregation and the wider community right now?

The biggest challenges to the church is an aging congregation with less people doing more work on activities, committees, etc. (this can be said about almost every church these days).  We are trying to discover how and what the church should be to new generations and it doesn’t fit in the old “church on Sunday” box anymore.  Church isn’t even on the radar of many younger people these days.

Therefore, what do we need to do to share the love of Christ with others in our community?  It means going out into the community more instead of waiting for people to come to us.  This isn’t easy and it pushes on the people who are in the church.

As far as the wider community, the lack of affordable housing in the area, more problems with substance abuse (especially with families), and the widening gap between the wealthy and the rest of the population are big problems right now.  There are also the unraveling political situation and greater threats/deepening impacts of climate change that are overwhelming.

Finally, how long you have been pastor where you were previously, how does the church operate (is there a council for instance?), What is your operating budget?

I have been solo pastor at West Parish for 10 years (since September 2015) and previously served as an Associate Pastor in Essex Junction, VT (2000-2005) and solo pastor in Fryeburg, ME (2005-2015).  So I’ve been in western Maine for 20 years.

Yes, there is a Church Council composed of the moderator (lead lay person), pastor, the Treasurer, scribe, and all of the chairs of the various committees (Deacons (responsible for worship and pastoral care), Trustees (finances, building, and staff), World Service (Missions), Christian Education, Stewardship, and Music).

The congregational model is that the congregation makes all of the decisions about the life of the church, usually during the Annual Meeting (held in late January) and when needed.  It is not a top-down model where a regional or national group tells the congregation what to do (such as with the Catholic or Methodist churches) … instead the congregation makes its own decisions through voting.

We are in covenant with a wider Association of churches, the state level (Conference), and the national body of the United Church of Christ.  In covenant, each body speaks to the other, but each is free to make its own decisions.

Our operating budget for 2025 is about $178,000.