Massachusetts Conference Edition
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by Marlene Gasdia-Cochrane, Editor
June/July 2007
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Mike Penn-Strah with Fran Lajoie (former administrative assistant for the Northeast Area) during Penn-Strah’s anniversary worship celebration last year. |
In March, the Rev. Dr. Michael Penn-Strah, (Associate Conference Minister, Andover and Essex Associations and Central Association Board of Directors and Church & Ministry Committee), accepted a call to become the South Central Connecticut Regional Minister. With that position comes the added benefit of being able to live a more full family life with his wife, Sara Penn-Strah, who, since August, has been the Pastor and Teacher of First Church of Christ, Woodbridge, Ct. He leaves the Conference ‘with a full heart.’
Mike Penn-Strah is no stranger to transition and in fact that seems to be where he shines.
Before coming to Massachusetts, Penn-Strah helped transition a small German Reformed congregation in Pennsylvania to meet the needs of a growing population. He and Sara organized a new church start aimed at bringing together a multi-cultural, open and affirming congregation. And he helped reverse the declining membership trend of a merged Evangelical and Reformed congregation in Pittsburgh.
Since he answered the call to serve with the Massachusetts Conference, Penn-Strah has seen many changes and worked with many churches in transition. He helped guide those churches through the selection of interim ministers, understand the search and settlement process, develop materials, assist with negotiations, and help them celebrate installations and new beginnings.
Penn-Strah has served under the leadership of three Minister and Presidents in that time – Dr. Nancy Taylor, Interim Minister and President Steve Sterner, and the present Minister and President Jim Antal. He has always kept the mission of the Conference – to nurture local church vitality and covenant – at the forefront. He coordinated interim ministry work in the Conference, has served as the staff liaison for the Transitional Ministry Steering Team, was a member of the Timothy Project steering committee and staffed the Conference Commission on Ecumenism.
Following the July 2006 reduction in staff and re-organization of the Conference, Penn-Strah was assigned to help coordinate the Central Association’s Search and Call and ministry matters, and to work with other Associate Conference Ministers to provide staff support to churches in transition.
In addition, Penn-Strah was part of the Listening Process Steering Committee formed to: “discern the key needs and priorities of the major constituencies of the Conference” following the election of the Rev. Dr. Jim Antal.
“Times of transition offer a unique opportunity for congregations to reassess their ministry, the mission field in which they live, and the kind of leadership they need to live more faithfully as disciples of Jesus Christ,” Penn-Strah has said in the past.
“When I accepted your call to this position nearly five years ago it was the first time I had served on a Conference staff,” said Penn-Strah. “You – the ministers and lay leaders in our congregations and my colleagues on our conference staff – warmly welcomed me and graciously nurtured me into this new calling.”
Minister and President Jim Antal said Penn-Strah has shared enormous gifts and a tireless commitment to the local churches, their pastors, the Associations, and the Conference. In a letter to local churches, Antal wrote: “Mike’s boundless energy and his enthusiasm for all kinds of ministry have made him an exemplary Associate Conference Minister, as has his fearless resolve and commitment to God’s prophetic call to do new things. On many occasions I have relied on Mike’s wisdom as well as the fresh insight he brings to familiar challenges. All of this, along with his strength and compassion, has made him a colleague we all treasure.”
And a colleague that lets his light shine.