WESTHAMPTON — There was a spark and life that drew Rev. Carol Smith to the town’s Congregational Church. The church’s newest minister hopes to continue putting that spark and life back into the community and churchgoers, all of whom she welcomes to her service.
“We welcome everybody,” Smith said inside the church sanctuary on Tuesday. “You don’t have to have a specific set of beliefs to be here, you have to have a desire. A desire to get to know God and God’s people.”
Since starting at the Westhampton Congregational United Church of Christ in July, Smith has tried to relay that message to churchgoers and townspeople alike. On Tuesday, Smith sat with the Gazette to discuss the ways she has been building relationships and fostering a sense of community at one of the town’s go-to gathering spaces.
“My goal since being here is to reconnect with everybody and get them reconnected to the community again,” Smith said.
Smith emphasized that while a church in any town seeks to serve churchgoers and all who have a desire to connect with their spiritual side, they also must serve the community. She said the United Church of Christ, is a “large justice seeking, peace seeking church and we’re involved in many types of missions.”
“I think part of the mission of a church is that they serve the people in the town and that means many things,” Smith explained. “It’s a spiritual place for people to come and be renewed, to pray and find a purpose for what they go and do out in the world. And it should also be a place that is open to community.”
While the Enfield resident lives just over the Massachusetts-Connecticut border, she is no stranger to Westhampton and the area. She said before she became a pastor, she was the Westhampton church’s first “field ed” (education) student under Rev. Tad Allman-Morton approximately 15 years ago, a program that you must take before being ordained.
Outside of Westhampton, Smith completed a chaplaincy program at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield and currently chaplains at the Beaven Kelly Home in Holyoke. Smith completed her theological studies at Hartford Seminary and received a Master of Divinity from Bangor Theological Seminary. She previously served as minister at a church in Huntington for 10 years, which is now closed.
While Smith has been trying to foster a sense of community, she said she was brought to Westhampton for a specific purpose, helping to restructure the church’s bylaws.
“We have some chores to accomplish as a designated-term pastor,” Smith said. “One of the things that we’ll be accomplishing is to review the bylaws and structure them to be the right size for this congregation.”
Smith was hired as a designated-term pastor, meaning she will be at the church for three years. At that time, the local United Church of Christ committee can invite her to stay as a settled pastor.
Restructuring the bylaws is an important task, Smith says. As churches grow and develop, she said bylaws need to be changed to adapt and fit the church’s size. Smith said since bylaws are legal requirements, it is important they fit the size of a church.
The church gets about 50 visitors each Sunday, which Smith said is a pretty good turnout, but she said that number dropped slightly while the church was in search for a new minister.
“Sometimes people just kind of don’t come if you don’t know who the pastor is that day,” Smith said.
Among the bylaw changes that might be considered include committee reorganization to make sure they can fill all seats. Smith noted that the church has a law firm on retainer when the time comes to start changing bylaws.
“What I’m really concentrating on, is in part to look at what is practical for congregations today,” Smith said. “We often come to the future with decisions we made in the past and this congregation is really trying to be forward looking.”
While Smith has lived in Enfield since 2003 with her wife, she has been a resident of the Nutmeg state since the 1970s when her family moved from New York City, where she was born and baptized at Marble Collegiate. She said she has been going to church since she was a kid regularly with her family.
“My family were very much churchgoers,” Smith said.
While in college, Smith would lead a spiritual camping retreat through the Smokey Mountains, camping out and going on “rock-slides,” a fond memory of hers.
Having attended church her whole life, Smith said she practiced several denominations, mainly Lutheran and Baptist. She added that her diverse religious background, having practiced several denominations, caters toward the United Church which allows her to understand churchgoers of many different backgrounds.
“No one’s excluded,” Smith said. “Everyone is welcome here and it doesn’t matter if you’re gay, straight, trans. Doesn’t matter if you’re Republican, Democrat or Green Party.”
Before becoming a minister, Smith served many years in child care, giving her extensive experience working with children along with having three children of her own. Part of her service includes a Pray and Play table at the front of the sanctuary, where kids do different activities.
Smith said her background in child care helps her coordinate the church’s Good Works children program, a nonreligious after-school program for children in kindergarten through sixth grade. She hopes to continue guiding the church’s programs and services, such as the town’s food pantry.
An avid farmer growing crops like butternut squash, swiss chard, tomatoes, cherries and apples, Smith said she brings much of her philosophy gardening into her service.
“I love to garden. Hands in the dirt is where I get a real spiritual connection and that’s how I look at my people,” Smith said. “They are the garden, this is the garden building, and I’m here to help them grow.”
Smith’s office hours are from 9 a.m. to noon on Tuesday and Friday, and Sunday service starts at 10 a.m. at the Westhampton Congregational Church, located at 1 Tob Hill.
