LIVERMORE FALLS — Pastor Kay Webb said she feels like she’s come home.

She also feels that God has a plan for the small Eaton Memorial United Methodist Church where she began her quarter-time pastor duties on July 1.

When Webb’s husband, Wallace, was pastor of the church for nine years in the 1990s, it was this congregation that approved her moving forward in ministry to become a pastor herself, she said Wednesday.

Filling the Eaton Memorial pulpit one Sunday in May, she felt a call to return and pastor the small congregation when their pastor, Amy Sawtelle, left earlier this summer.

Webb also works three-quarter time as the executive director of the United Methodist Economic Ministry in Salem, a program that oversees community outreach, a food cupboard, thrift shop and housing repair with mission teams that work on local homes.

Working with these mission teams from all over New England is a part of the work done in Salem and when a group of 14 multi-aged parishioners from the North Kingstown United Methodist Church opted to spend a week in rural Maine through the Economic Ministry, Webb brought the team to the Livermore Falls church providing housing for the week in the parsonage next door.

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“It brings some hope to them,” she said of her local parishioners. “I wanted them to know that other people in the United Methodist Church cared about them.”

The Rhode Island church pastor, the Rev. Lori Eldredge, wanted to provide a hands-on mission opportunity for the six youths and eight adults, ages 14 to 59, who came with her to Maine.

The group has tackled a long list of repairs and improvements including building new side steps for the church, painting, stripping wallpaper in the parsonage and planning a painted mural for the back of the garage facing the church’s parking lot. The mural will include painted doors opening into a sanctuary with a stained glass window painted on plywood attached. The mural will be visible from the Knapp Street parking lot.

Fortunately some of the adults have carpentry experience, Eldredge said. Since arriving here Sunday, “the crew has been working non-stop,” she added.

Group members also participated in the church’s food pantry Tuesday as they greeted visitors and lugged groceries for them, Webb said.

Members of the Livermore Falls church have stopped by with food and a welcome for the work group, Webb added.

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Webb, the pastor’s wife for many years, appreciates the support of this church that sent her on to the next level of ministry. She served in Phillips for two years and worked at the Economic Ministry for 12.

“Now it’s exciting to come back as pastor,” she said.

The church is starting discussions about becoming a satellite for the Salem ministry, housing mission groups that will work on area homes.

“It’s an exciting time for the (Livermore Falls) church,” she said, even though there are some challenges with the building to overcome.

abryant@sunjournal.com


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