Eliot Presbyterian Church | Lowell, MA

Presbyterian Church in Lowell, MA

Heather Prince Doss

Pastor’s letter: Discernment

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4/26/2023

Dear Eliot Family:

You may have heard over the past several weeks that the session of Eliot has been engaged in a process of discernment around the future of our Day Center and ministry with our neighbors experiencing homelessness. We began operating the Day Center in May 2020, in the height of the Coronavirus pandemic when the Lowell Transitional Living Center shelter went to half capacity and places like the library and Dunkin Donuts closed, leaving homeless people with nowhere to spend their days. Over these three years, our Day Center has become an important resource in the community and our neighbors experience a sense of dignity here. Still, we had no long term plans when we embarked on this mission. With the pandemic winding down, it was time to discern whether we should continue this ministry or any ministry focused on our neighbors experiencing homelessness. 

In November 2022, the session retained a coach, Chip Low, to help us with our discernment. Together we committed to this purpose: to discern together the will of God for Eliot and make a decision about what God is calling us to be and do in relation to our neighbors through the Day Center. Over the next five months, we listened to each other, to the congregation through a survey, and to the movement of the Holy Spirit. On April 5, the session voted to continue ministering to our neighbors in general and to express that commitment through operating a Day Center. Click here to see a brochure that will tell you more about our process, the survey results, and the motions adopted by the session.

There are a few important points that I would like to highlight for you. The first relates to the results of the survey. We want you to know that we listened seriously to you. What we heard through the survey was two-fold: that ministry among the homeless is challenging and sometimes uncomfortable AND that you think it should continue. We noted your concerns about safety, care for the building, and the scope of this ministry. I hope this means that when the going gets tough we can encourage one another to look for creative solutions and persevere in love. The second important point is that this ministry is a ministry of the whole church — not just the pastor, the staff, the session, or a passionate few. We are shaping a future that will impact all of us and the surrounding neighborhood. Whether or not you engage with the Day Center directly, you are part of this mission through your prayers, participation in congregational life, and financial contributions.

This decision represents an inflection point for Eliot. It is the first major decision about our mission in a decade and the first major cultural shift for Eliot since West African families began worshiping here in the mid-1990s. Living it out may result in changes to how our community looks and acts, just as we changed when Cambodians and then Africans became part of this church. As we learn together what this ministry will ask of us, I trust in the power of God to see us through to a future that we have only begun to imagine. And I trust in you, the people of Eliot, to traverse this new season with grace, compassion, and joy.

With love,

Pastor Heather

Pastor’s Letter

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Friends in Christ,

When I look back on 2022, the defining feature for me was a period of rest and renewal during sabbatical. The concept of rest in the seventh year of work is deeply biblical and for me was spiritually necessary. I celebrated my 40th birthday during this sabbatical, so the season became an opportunity to reflect not only on seven years of ministry at Eliot but also on who I am and who I am becoming personally and professionally. My time in New Orleans was especially precious. I volunteered at the National Jazz Museum, listened to excellent live music (jazz and other genres), enjoyed a weekend retreat with my closest seminary friends, and practiced hobbies like swing dancing, jogging, painting, and reading novels — things that often get lost in the shuffle of everyday life. I also worked with a spiritual director who guided me in meditative practices that reconnected me with God and with the Spirit within. I was also grateful to spend a few weeks after New Orleans visiting with Eric’s family who came up to New England and my family in Tennessee. The birth of my second niece, Elodie, was a particular joy. I came back to church after all of this feeling more whole and more energized for our shared ministry.

You, also, were blessed by this sabbatical time. You heard from five different preachers who each proclaimed the Word in their unique style and voice. In welcoming Jeremi Taitt, you helped prepare someone who is training for life as a clergyman. Many of you participated in conversation groups designed to build community among our members. A Cambodian New Year celebration happened for the first time since 2019, complete with the traditional feast! Our Day Center staff reported that their cohesion as a team improved during my time away and they felt reassured in their own abilities for the work of serving and leading. The session, too, rose to the occasion of leadership to keep the ministry of the church moving forward in those 15 weeks. 

Because of that shared leadership, we did a stunning amount of good, godly work in 2022. Even in a year marked by my long absence, we served hundreds of our unhoused neighbors at the Day Center, installed a new floor downstairs, relocated the nursery upstairs, painted a mural on the back of our building, baptized four children, welcomed 11 new members, made a documentary video of our history, and sent a dozen or more women to win the soccer trophy at the CWF annual conference! What a rich and blessed year, marked by the contributions of many.

As we move into 2023, there are still areas for growth and discernment. We have continued to offer hybrid worship even as the pandemic has wound down. Will that be a permanent feature of our ministry? If so, what does it mean for how we build community and conduct faith formation for children and adults? Eliot, like other churches, is struggling with volunteer commitment in a post-pandemic world. How then will we take care of our building, teach the faith to our children, and minister to our neighbors? And what about the Day Center? What is the future of this ministry that started as a pandemic response: Is it still needed in the neighborhood? Are we called to continue it? Do we have the energy and resources to do so? 

This is a season to reflect thoughtfully and to seek the Spirit’s guidance. Even so, we may not reach full consensus, and we may have to live with changes that cause discomfort. But I am confident that God has a purpose for Eliot Church, however grand or humble it may be. Already God has enabled us to do more than we imagined possible, and I trust that God’s provision will continue as long as we continue to seek God’s kingdom together. 

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Heather