First Church in Charlestown, UCC, is first in community service
Present day outreach builds upon storied past
 At First Church in Charlestown, volunteers celebrated this past Martin Luther King Jr. Day by performing a variety of services throughout the city, from painting and cleaning at service sites to packing up books and other items to be shipped to those in need. They joined over 100 volunteers with the City Mission Society of Boston (CMS) who came together on Saturday, January 19, 2008 to honor the memory of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with the first annual CMS Day of Service.
"Rev. King believed the way to greatness was through service to others," said Reverend June Cooper, Executive Director of the City Mission Society. "We wanted to celebrate his memory with a 'day on' rather than a 'day off,' and encouraged people to take some time on that holiday weekend to give back to the community."
The members of First Church in Charlestown, however, believe helping others is more than a weekend project.
"Community service and social outreach are an important witness to Christ's love of all God's children," said the Rev. Ms. Christine Jaronski, senior pastor of First Church in Charlestown, United Church of Christ. "It blesses both those who give and those who receive."
According to Jaronski, First Church has been giving and receiving those blessings since 1629, when a group of Puritans from Salem settled in Charlestown and began holding religious services under the Great Oak near Town Hill.
"Looking back, this church has always had a role in the community," she said. "A former Winthrop Street Church minister was among the founders of the Charlestown Boys Club in the late 19th century and First Church's Rev. William Burnett helped establish the John F. Kennedy Family Service Center (offering Head Start and job training and placement programs) in 1964.
Today, this tradition of service to the community continues through the church's partnerships with Boston Urban Outreach, a program of City Mission Society of Boston that raises social awareness in youth through inner-city projects, and MissionSafe, a local program for at-risk pre-teens, which offers activities and fellowship in a safe place off the streets. First Church serves as a host church for Boston Urban Outreach and provides space for MissionSafe cooking classes and a girls' group.
According to Carl McDonald, Director of Boston Urban Outreach, First Church of Charlestown has been an ideal host location for his groups. "On many weekends and during several weeks of the summer and school vacations, the fellowship hall at First Church is packed with teens and their leaders," he said. "First Church has been host to over 350 guests from as far away as California. Many of these groups come into the church and are awed at the rich history of this building. They leave with a better sense of the relationship of UCC churches to one another. Through this unique partnership with BUO, First Church has broadened its community outreach to over 2500 people throughout the Greater Boston Area."
Additionally, the church still partners with the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, now focused on a clothing program for children, and supports Harvest on Vine, a food pantry based out of a local Catholic church which serves 350 families. On the third Saturday of each month, First Church sponsors Second Chance Clothes, which offers a selection of low-priced, gently-used garments for men, women and children. Parishioners and Charlestown neighbors generously donate clothes, shoes and accessories. First Church members transformed unused office space into a permanent store, and uses church space to store and sort donations. Store coordinators Kevin and Angela Papierski led a work party in painting the new store, and Kevin made shelves and a check-out counter.
"We believe that through the grace of God, a church can be a place where lives are transformed, families strengthened and where we can make connections with other seekers and believers that enrich our lives and lift our spirits," Rev. Jaronski said.
Although certainly one of the oldest churches in the Commonwealth, it is its present-day outreach to the community that builds upon First Church in Charlestown's storied past.
The Rev. Ms. Christine Jaronski, can be reached at the church office at (617) 242-3693.
Share Your Still Speaking Story
 Tell us how God is speaking in and through your church. Have you reached out to the community in unique ways? Initiated a new mission project? Found a new way to minister to those within the congregation? Share your story and help us to spread the good news! Contact Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, Editor, at cochranem@macucc.org.
You may reprint this story by including the following line in your article:
"Source: Massachusetts Conference, United Church of Christ, www.macucc.org/spotlight"
|
