Pastor's Page
The First Congregational Church of Barkhamsted is currently served by Reverend Charles Hall. You can contact Pastor Charlie by calling (860) 379-2923.
Charles Hall has been a Congregational minister for more than fifty years. The last fifteen years have been with the church and community of the rural farming village of Peterson, Iowa.
Charles refers to himself as a parish-priest type, emphasizing personal visiting, hospital chaplaincy, youth and Sunday school and working with the officers and committees in planning and carrying out the mission of the church. This style of ministry leads him to be involved in community life: holiday projects, senior citizens, the historical museum and annual tour, organizing Lenten services, involvement in the school baccalaureate with area churches, and in responding to the needs of families who have no church. The Peterson church has a fund to quietly help community members and a reputation for being a group to which people turn in times of need, whether they are members or not.
A native of Massachusetts, Charles has served congregations in Iowa, Michigan, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Maine.
He has been an active member of the Congregational associations of churches and often has served as moderator and as a publisher of monthly newsletters. For the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches, he has served on the Spiritual Resources Commission, a long-range planning committee, and the “Congregationalist” magazine as the composer of a monthly page of news from the churches.
Seminary at Bangor followed his graduation from Boston University. Ordination took place in the East Machias and Machiasport Congregational Churches in Maine in 1960.
Connie, of Plymouth, MA, and Charlie married in May of 1956. They have two daughters, Dianna and Natalie, their husbands Wally and Tom, and three grandchildren. Connie passed away with Alzheimer’s in 2000. She is very much a part of who he is.
His main hobby is a lifetime work of making scale models of American sailing vessels from plans in books, museums, and the records of retired sailing-ship captains he knew in Maine.
Ministers look for a church where he or she can be helpful, which means having something different to add to the group. ..and ministers look for a church where they will fit in, which means being similar and able to enjoy life with their parishioners. Charles likes a ministry where he can be useful and a good companion. He hopes, that with God’s blessing, we may do this together.
Reverend Charles Hall, Pastor of the First Congregational Church of Barkhamsted.
