RUMFORD – Frank Haines is a working minister. He helped out at the recent yard sale at the Locke Mills Union Church and is playing an important role in an upcoming memorial hymn sing.

Barbara Ferguson, a deacon in the Rumford Point Congregational Church, which is a sister church to the Locke Mills church, said Haines, who only recently became the two churches’ pastor, is pleased with the new leader.

“We just seem to fit. He makes us feel comfortable, like we’re home,” she said.

Haines had been pastoring the United Methodist Church in Rumford for several years before he felt that the Lord was sending him to the two small churches west of Rumford.

“I feel I’ve been called here to uplift the churches and the congregations. Being new helps, with different ideas,” he said.

Both churches are classical New England white Protestant churches. One is at the intersection of Routes 232 and 2 in the village of Rumford Point, the other about 10 miles southwest along Route 26 in the village of Locke Mills. Both have small congregations – 30 in Rumford Point, about twice that in Locke Mills.

Haines hopes to get out into the communities to meet the people, and to try to draw in more younger people, while maintaining strong connections with the older, committed members of the churches.

As soon as he and his wife, Angela, are settled into the Rumford Point parsonage, he plans to join the Oxford Union Association of Clergy and the Bethel Clergy Association.

His first full-time pastorate was at the Rumford United Methodist Church, a group of people he said who were very loving.

He is a mid-life career changer who felt the call to the pastorate after having served 21 years in the Navy.

“I felt an awareness of the presence of God in my life and a sense of not just returning to church but of becoming more involved,” he said.

So, he attended the Bangor Theological Seminary and became a licensed minister.

Now, at Rumford Point and Locke Mills, he’s hoping to form a Praise Band and perhaps find a day when more young people can attend church activities.

“All changes can’t be made overnight, but I’m bringing my spiritual awareness to uplift their spirit,” he said.