Week of June 1st:

• We are excited to announce the names of the people who volunteered for the Transition Team. They are Kevin Holt, Doreen Lopez, Dennis Healy, Daune Sebastian, Tom Aitken in a consultant role for finances within the merger, and Ken Langevin. 

• Starting this week and through the month of June, we are looking for your considerations for a combined name with Salem UCC. There will be a basket with slips of paper located in the Narthex. We look forward to hearing all of your ideas! Reach out to Kevin or a member of Council with any questions.

 

Week of June 8th:

• We are still looking for your considerations for a combined name with Salem UCC. These slips of paper and the basket will be located in the Narthex until June 29th. We look forward to hearing your ideas, and thank you to those who contributed so far!

• On June 9th, we completed a walkthrough of the parsonage. At a later date, we will be notifying the tenant as we have more information on how we will proceed with the property about the merger. 

 

Week of June 15th:

• We are still looking for your considerations for a combined name with Salem UCC. These slips of paper and the basket will be located in the Narthex until June 29th. We look forward to hearing your ideas, and thank you to those who contributed so far!

• We also reached out to a name for legal counsel as we navigate this process a few days ago. We haven’t heard back but will keep you posted. 

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Week of June 22nd:

• Sunday, June 29th is the last day for providing your suggestions for a combined name with Salem UCC. Thanks for all of the ideas so far, and last call for any others!

• We did reach out to legal counsel last week. While that one name didn’t work, we are exploring some other options on that in the days/weeks to come.

• Wednesday, June 25th is/was our first meeting with our transition team we approved at our June 1st congregational meeting. Their purpose is to help with assisting with some preliminary merger tasks that have been created by the council (this list may grow in time, as we will discover more ideas for things to take care of). If you have insight for this group, please talk to Kevin Holt, Doreen Lopez, Dennis Healy, Daune Sebastian, Ken Langevin, or Tom Aitken. 

• Finally, we will have an easel out in the Narthex for people to write down any insight/thoughts/questions for the merger they have. We will look at those questions, and plan to answer them via Mailchimp later that week. If you have any questions about this, please talk to Kevin Holt. 

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Week of June 29th:

• Finally, we are starting to plan to worship the third Sunday of each month at Salem UCC. Due to the delay in communication, we will tentatively start in September. 

• Finally, we will have an easel out in the Narthex for people to write down any insight/thoughts/questions for the merger they have. We will look at those questions, and plan to answer them via Mailchimp later that week. If you have any questions about this, please talk to Kevin Holt.

• We are working with Salem UCC to plan our first combined transition team meeting in the next few weeks, details to come. 

• We have also reached out to a few names for legal counsel, as well as some churches, an insight about legal counsel, fees, and insight to a potential budget for merging. We may have found a promising lead on legal counsel, and as we hear more, we will keep you updated, as well as the insight on budget/merger considerations from other churches.

 

Week of July 7th:

• As of right now, Salem UCC and Pilgrim Faith UCC will be having their first transition meeting after worship on Sunday, July 20th, 2025. 

• We are still pursuing legal counsel in a few places, and hope we can have a finalized name soon.

• Finally, a general timeline for the merger is in the works to be reviewed, and will hope to have this out for everyone to see in the next few weeks, depending on Council/pastoral review and transition team feedback. 

• This week’s question from the Easel: Is there a transition plan for worshipping at Salem?

  • Short answer, yes! First, we will start worshipping at Salem UCC the third Sunday of every month starting in September 2025 (September 21st is the first day we will be over there). 

  • Second, in collaboration with pastoral leadership, the Council, and the Transition Team, we are working on a timeline. Kevin will be sending out a timeline, after review by all invested parties, to the congregation as well, and any updates to this will be communicated in a timely manner. 

  • For a full worship at Salem UCC, we are hoping to be there 100% somewhere between February-June 2026, and this timeline will be updated, as more meetings and work is completed. I hope this answer helps!

 

Week of July 14th:

• As of right now, Salem UCC and Pilgrim Faith UCC will be having their first transition meeting after worship on Sunday, July 20th, 2025. 

• Finally, a general timeline for the merger is in the works to be reviewed, and will hope to have this out for everyone to see in the next few weeks, depending on Council/pastoral review and transition team feedback. 

 

Week of July 21st:

• We had a successful meeting with Salem UCC yesterday (Sunday, July 20th), and are planning a next meeting with the combined transition teams on Sunday, August 24th to start getting smaller group meetings started. More information to come on this!

• Next, we are working on a general merger task list, which will be ready for others to view in the next few days.

• Also, we are in the process of securing legal counsel (thank you to Rollo and Tom Aitken for the recommendation), and to Doreen for following up on this lead. His name is Ken Fical, and as we have more details on legal steps, we will keep you posted.

• Finally, in the next few weeks, we are working on having a merger moment, similar to a mission moment, during worship. This is to help increase communication, and to possibly hear from you with any questions you have so we can best support you. Thank you for your partnership, support, and trust so far. We are all here to help, so please reach out to a member of Council or the Transition Team with any questions, always!

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Week of July 28th:

• On Thursday, July 31st, some of us (Daune, Ken L, Doreen, Kevin) will be meeting with three realtors for proposals on the property to examine our best options for the property. 

• From the transition team we had at Salem, Salem UCC will have several teams and are looking for people to be on the team. If you are interested in being a part of a merger team, please reach out to a member of the Council/Pilgrim Faith Transition Team directly, or Kevin Holt, if you are unsure who to reach out to.

• We are still finalizing the Pilgrim Faith Merger To-Do List, and will be available hopefully in the next few weeks, if not sooner. 

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Week of August 4th:

• As of Friday, August 2nd, the Transition Team recommended a name to Council for the Real Estate of the property. After a unanimous vote, we will be moving forward with John C. Kmiecik/Bill Erdman from Century21 Property Group. We thank other realtors, as well as the transition team, and the Council for their support, guidance, and wisdom as we move forward with this, and a special shoutout to Ken Langevin and Doreen Lopez for helping to facilitate conversations with relators at our Thursday, July 31st meeting. 

• The Pilgrim Faith Merger To-Do List will become available for people to view via Mailchimp/copies in the Narthex this week. Please note- this is a draft, and will most likely be shortened and/or revised again, but we felt people should know what we are trying to accomplish both in the remaining time at Pilgrim Faith, as well as once we are at Salem.

• The Transition Team at Pilgrim Faith and Salem UCC will be meeting after worship on Sunday, August 24th at Salem UCC. We will finalize names for groups, and start deciding on when these groups will meet. These groups include worship, youth, building/remodeling, mission, finance, and social media. Please reach out to Kevin Holt if you are interested. 

• Next, we will be going to worship at Salem starting the third Sunday of every month starting in September. We won’t go in November, due to the scheduling of the celebration and legacy service, which will be held on November 16th.

• Finally, we will be holding a special Celebration of Legacy service at Pilgrim Faith to celebrate and remember our time over the years on Sunday, November 16th. We are looking for people to help plan this, and this service would be really special, so please come help us with this. If you are interested, reach out to Pastor Dan or a member of the Worship/Spiritual Life Team. Please tell everyone you know about this service, we want it to be very special!

• Question from the Easel Last Week: Will there be a Children’s Time at the new church?

• We asked Pastor Steve about this, and yes there will be a children’s time

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Week of August 11th:

• We are looking for people to serve on the following combined teams with Salem UCC: property group, finance group, remodeling group, worship group, youth group, outreach/social media group, and mission group. If you are interested, reach out to Kevin or a member of the Pilgrim Faith Transition Team (Daune, Ken L, Tom A, Doreen, Dennis, or Kevin). 

• Our next combined meeting with Salem UCC will be after worship on Sunday, August 24th, hosted at Salem UCC.

• Don’t forget we are worshipping at Salem UCC every third Sunday of the month starting in September (except for Sunday, November 16th- our service of celebration and legacy- more information to come). 

• Finally, some questions that appeared on the easel last week we didn’t answer in time:

• Will we be rewriting job descriptions?

• Yes, the job descriptions will be most likely rewrote, and if you have any specific concerns, please reach out to Kevin. 

• Has a new name been chosen?

• A new name has not been chosen, but we anticipate this happening soon. We have also taken all prior names that were provided, and will be bringing this forward at the next time we talk about the new name.