Unitarian Universalist Church Begins Transition

The Rev. J. Mark Worth will serve the Unitarian Universalist Congregational Society of Westborough for two years, before the church selects a new settled pastor.

That two-year transition is important to the church, Worth says.

"I think it's important to do transitions well," he said.

"People might think of a transition as a time when nothing is happening. But really, there's a lot happening. It's a preparation time so that when they do have their settled minister, she or he will come in with things in place that need to have been done during that transition so that it's a successful settled ministry."

Worth came to Westborough as an interim pastor last month. The Rev. Cindy Frado retired from the Westborough Unitarian Universalist church in June, ending a 16-year tenure.

Now, Worth said,  among the questions the congregation must ask is, "'Pastor Cindy was the public face of this congregation for 16 years. Who are we now, without her?'"

Worth said he served as minister of a church in Castine, Maine, near Acadia National Park, for 22 years. He spent 15 of those years also serving a church in Ellsworth, Maine.

After 22 years in Castine, "it was time for a change for them, and time for a change for me. That's a long time. But it was not time for me to retire yet," he said.

For that reason, Worth put name into the Unitarian Universalists' national headquarters' candidate pool for interim ministries.

Serving the Westborough congregation was appealing because "it's a congregation with very strong lay leadership. They've come through a successful ministry under Cindy Frado's leadership," he said.

Worth said two people inspired him to become a minister.

"My father was a Methodist minister in the Upper Peninsula" of Michigan, Worth said. "So when I was a teenager, I thought I wanted to be a Methodist minister like my Dad.

"And the other person who inspired me in those days was the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Because from my Dad, I could see some of the pastoral side of ministry. From Reverend King -- and we often forget he was a Baptist preacher -- he was using the ministry to make the world a better place, and to call our nation to be the best it could be.

"I found all of that inspiring and exciting. But, by the time I graduated from high school, I decided I wasn't a Methodist. And it took me a while to find a church home where I was comfortable.

"I still have a warm place in my heart for the Methodists. But I'm much more comfortable among the Unitarian Universalists, where I have a wide leeway for religious beliefs."