Mid-Coast Presbyterian Church

About Mid-Coast

Who we are...

We are a Church of the Presbytery of Northern New England, started by a handful of committed Christians who felt the need for a Presbyterian and Reformed Presence in Mid Coast Maine.  We are a diverse congregation, with members who come from many different faith backgrounds and geographic areas.  We celebrate our diversity knowing that our unity is in the love of God expressed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  We warmly welcome all visitors and hope that you will consider becoming a part of this growing congregations, joining us in the journey toward better understanding the Grace of Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

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Our Mission...

We, the people of Mid-Coast Presbyterian Church, are a community of faith called into existence by God to be a part of the Body of Christ in the world.  By God's Holy Spirit, we are called to a faith which seeks understanding and which is alive in the world.  We are called to be engaged in mission, offering the gifts which we have been given to a world which stands in need of God's love and healing.  Therefore, we are dedicated to:
    * Worshipping God, Who is our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer;
    * Educating ourselves and all people in the ways of God, as they are given to us in the scriptures;
    * Demonstrating God's love, forgiveness, justice, and peace within this geographic community and throughout the world;
    * Offering our hands, minds, hearts, and material resources, as the Lord does prosper us, as vehicles of healing in a hurting world;
    * Reaching out to all God's children, particularly those who need special care-the lonely, the sick, the frightened, the hopeless, and the poor, throughout the global village.

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Our History...

Mid-Coast Church began with the dream and determination of Holly Lockhart who wanted a Presbyterian congregation on the Maine Coast.  In the fall of 1985, with the help of the Rev. Carl George of the Leeds Community Presbyterian Church and the blessing of the Presbytery of Northern New England, she discovered like-minded people in Bob and Marcia Foulger who had just moved to Bath.  Together they worked from a list of new residents, inviting them by phone and letter to form a church.  A committee of seven to ten people met throughout that summer to plan, pray, and accept assignments for making the dream a reality.

In the fall of that same year, the group initiated two worship service a month - renting adjacent rooms at what was The Golden Fan Inn (later The Atrium) at Cook's Corner in Brunswick.  The committee agreed to "kick into a kitty" until they raised not only the rent money for worship every other Sunday through the end of the year but also enough to secure the services of the Foulgers' daughter Sarah, an ordained Presbyterian minister.  Worship drew approximately twenty-five per Sunday, including the presence of the newly-retired Rev. James Underwood and his wife Ethel, resident of Cape Elizabeth and who agreed to lend expertise for two years. 

By the beginning of 1986, the group decided to meet every Sunday and named Hal Lockhart as the first Treasurer.  A steering Committee, led by Sarah, was faced with the news that the Inn could no longer commit to any long-term arrangements.

Providentially, Ray Harrison, a frequent worshipper, offered his association with leaders of the Topsham Grange on Pleasant Street as a link to a new worship space.  A nucleus of thirty to forty regularly met for worship and church school, and this pattern continued until the congregation was chartered by the Presbytery in October of 1987.

The desire for a church home led to the purchase of property across Main Street from the Grange in early 1994, including the conversion of the "farmhouse" near the Street into offices as well as the building of a Sanctuary, Kitchen, Fellowship Hall and the West Room -- with the new building dedicated on October 23, 1994.  In addition to its worship and educational life, Mid-Coast Presbyterian took a leading role in the Tedford Shelter, Mid-Coast Hunger Program, and Merrymeeting Aids Support Services.

Transitions in the Foulger family took them to Washington D.C., and the Congregation arranged for an Interim prior to calling Pastor Bruce Langford who was called to the ministry here in September of 1998.  Over time the Congregation expanded ministry to all the generations - with new initiatives in children's and youth ministry, monthly Potlucks, outreach through Bean Suppers.  A new Education/Administrative Wing was completed in the spring of 2004.  New mission activity included the Bright Start Day Care and Latch Key, a partnership with three congregations of the Amatola Presbytery in South Africa, building with Habitat for Humanity, and major support for the Sudanese Presbyterian Fellowship of Portland.  Pastor Bruce retired from Mid-Coast Presbyterian September 2006.

Transitions continue.  Our Interim Pastor is The Rev. Dr. Richard E. Sanner.  Pastor Dick has served over 25 churches as Interim Pastor in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New Jersey.  He has undergraduate and graduate degrees in management and theology and holds the Th.D. from Boston University School of Theology in Social Ethics and Sociology of Religion and has a special interest in congregational development.  Pastor Dick has three sons (two in Manhattan and one in Bar Harbor) and three grandchildren.