Second Congregational Church of Manchester Introduces New Minister

Second Congregational Church of Manchester is thrilled to introduce our new minister, Pastor James Mercurio. He is married with 5 adult children and comes to us after serving multiple churches in the Eastern region of Connecticut over the past 14 years. Pastor Jim is also a pastoral counselor for hospice and has begun working on a doctorate of ministry in a program at Hartford International University (previously known as Hartford Seminary).

He feels compelled to engage each generation where they are and find methods to bridge our divides. “When we simply look at differences, we don't receive a complete picture of a person or their God-given identity," Pastor Jim explains.

Jim hopes to continue to nourish and develop this understanding by observing people objectively and providing opportunities for people to engage and learn from each other. His experiences with churches has brought him from UCC (United Church of Christ) to UMC (United Methodist Church) and back to the UCC. Pastor Jim also has a love of writing prayers, worshiping, and preaching. Much of his work has been on the Internet for years.

“We look forward to seeing what God will do with us as we embark on ministry together,” Pastor Jim states.

The Second Congregational Church's community action and food pantry piqued his interest, and he is looking forward to being a source of inspiration, hope and creativity. Pastor Jim is also excited to meet everyone and hopes that you will find him to be approachable and humble, and most of all, he hopes that you see him as a human trying to live up to the values of Christianity. His prayer and hope are for us to find our time together in ministry inspiring and evolving as we continue our human journeys living into Christianity.

Pastor Jim has begun livestreaming church services on our church Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/385northmain and plans to introduce more new technologies in the new year. He will be offering a “Blue Christmas” service on December 21st at 6:30 p.m. which will also be livestreamed, and a traditional Christmas Eve service on December 24th at 7:00 p.m.

Second Congregational Church is located at 385 N. Main St., Manchester. For more information, please contact our church office at (860) 649-2863 or email secondcongo@385.necoxmail.com .