The steeple of the Wellesley Village Church towers over downtown Wellesley as the sun rises.

News

New Associate Pastor for Congregational Care

May 16, 2022

On behalf of the Associate Pastor Search Committee (APSC), we joyfully announce that the Reverend Stacy Elizabeth Swain has accepted our call to serve as the next Associate Pastor for Congregational Care at Wellesley Village Church. Ordained in the United Church of Christ in 2010, Stacy most recently served as Senior Pastor at the Union Church in Waban for over a decade, concluding her ministry there last June. Before that, she worked in key roles at Boston Health Care for the Homeless, as well as other public-health positions in Boston and El Salvador. She holds a Master of Divinity degree from Andover Newton Theological School, a Master of Public Health degree (concentration in Epidemiology) from Boston University, and earned her B.A. at Carleton College. She lives in Roslindale with her husband, Mark Smith, with whom she has two adult children, Kate and Teo.In multiple interviews with the committee and interactions with our pastoral staff, Stacy emerged as a compassionate, caring person and empathetic listener with tremendous skill in all aspects of ministry. Pending approval at a May 22 congregational meeting, she will begin her ministry with us on June 1.We are thrilled beyond words that God has led Stacy and the Village Church to one another and can’t wait to introduce her to the congregation!

Respectfully submitted,

Jade Hargrave & Tom Hodge, co-chairs of the APSC(Lauren Baer, Erin Forker, Steve Pfaff, Suma Raju, Heather Sawitsky, Tom Walter, Alex Zhong)

 

Message from Stacy:

Dear Church,

It is with great joy and deep gratitude that I greet you as your candidate for the position of associate pastor. I am very much looking forward to our time together on Sunday, May 22nd! While I hope we will have many years to get to know one another as we walk together in faith, perhaps one thing you may want to know about me from the get go is that I am passionate about the liberating power of God’s Love. There is no greater joy for me than when I see individuals and communities come alive with God’s Love. I have seen how God’s love brings fullness of life and capacitates us to work for justice and minister ever more fully to this beautiful but wounded world of ours. I hope that together we will have the opportunity to grow in and live from this Love in the years ahead.

With all grace and peace,

Stacy