This is a printer-friendly version of an article from Zip06.com.
11/30/2016 07:30 AMFor 23 years, Scott Morrow has been the pastor at North Haven Congregational Church. When he originally accepted the job, he hadn’t planned on staying for so long, but like his career in ministry, things fell into place.
“I’ve lived in North Haven now longer than I’ve ever lived anywhere else and it feels like my hometown now,” Scott says. “I really loved the town—it’s a very caring community. After I’d been here for about two years, my wife and I had twins and we really liked the North Haven schools and wanted them to go through the school system here.”
The twins—Amy and Jesse—are now in college and Scott and his wife of 24 years, Carol Amico, have enjoyed raising their family in town and becoming a part of the community. They enjoy the various events such as the concerts on the green, the Memorial Day parade, and school sporting events and concerts.
While Scott is settled in North Haven as a pastor, he didn’t always know this was the path he would choose. In high school, his family moved to Houston and began attending a new church. When he was young, his family’s church was very formal, but at the new church, the focus was more on what people could do to help others through things like the food bank, hospital visits, and more.
“That was the first time I realized that what happened in church on Sunday might make a difference for the other days in the week,” says Scott. “I wondered if I could help other people to have that same opportunity to take what happened in church on Sunday and weave it into what they were doing the rest of the week.”
Scott attended a Quaker college in the Midwest, still unsure about pursuing a career in the ministry. He had frequent conversations with the minister at his church about his career goals and his faith.
“He was a powerful mentor for me and I really appreciate that he listened to me, didn’t argue, and just suggested there might be another way to look at it,” says Scott. “He left the decision up to me—that’s really important in ministry, as with a lot of things. It’s important to do it because you decided you feel led to do that.”
After graduating college, Scott worked for a Quaker organization in New Hampshire on various social justice issues. Five years later, he decided to attend Yale Divinity School. When he began, he still wasn’t sure of his path, thinking he may be a hospital chaplain, but after he had an opportunity to be a student minister, he knew he’d found his calling.
“That’s what really changed my mind and say, ‘This is what God wants me to do,’” says Scott, who graduated in 1989.
Scott spent the next five years as an associate pastor at a congregational church in Orange. In 1994, he became the pastor of North Haven Congregational Church. He was nervous to take over leadership of a congregation on his own.
“I was pretty nervous about having all the responsibility, but the church is very active, warm, welcoming and it was very patient and very forgiving,” says Scott. “We’ve grown together.”
While he had originally only planned to spend a short time there, his path led him down a different road. During his 23 years with North Haven Congregational Church, he has seen many relationships develop.
“It’s really amazing because it means that I have come to know the town much better and within the church, I know families so much better,” says Scott. “I have people that I baptized who get older and go through confirmation and come back to get married. That’s a really special for the church and special for me as a pastor to be involved and follow someone’s growth through their milestones.”
In addition to being a part of bigger events like baptisms, confirmations, and marriages, Scott spends much of his time preparing for the Sunday service, which is held at 9:30 a.m. He also attends meetings with various committees, such as the outreach ministry, the Women’s Fellowship, and religious education. Scott leads classes for those new to the church, confirmation, and youth fellowship. Outside of church, he enjoys tennis, folk dancing, and traveling to the beach.
He stresses that the congregational church, which is part of the United Church of Christ, is “very welcoming, very open, and pretty liberal.” One of the focuses of the church is on supporting social justice issues.
“This church is a comfortable and welcoming place to come with questions or with a sense of searching or wondering,” says Scott. “The church is really interested in supporting social justice and open to leadership and involvement by women, various racial and ethnic backgrounds, and welcoming of gay, lesbian, and transgender people, which is important to our congregation.”
Another thing that Scott has come to appreciate about the town is the way that the different North Haven churches work together on things like holiday food drives and most recently a concert that was held at Hope Christian Church. The North Haven Congregational Church is celebrating its 300th anniversary this year.
“I’ve had a wonderful time learning about the history and celebrating the growth of the church and town together,” says Scott. “We are all grateful that there’s such a diverse religious community now.”