New Hope United Methodist Church Names New Pastor
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The congregation of New Hope United Methodist Church, serving North Adams and Williamstown, this month officially welcomed its new pastor, Stephen Dale, appointed by Bishop Devadhar to lead the congregation.
Dale joins the Northern Berkshire community after serving two years in Bennington, Vt. He started the Bennington AfterDark community in late 2018, and was invited to serve the Pownal UMC as pastor in July 2019.
Dale has been serving churches in New England for the past 11 years, beginning as a licensed local pastor and completing his master of divinity at Boston University in 2015. Dale was commissioned into provisional membership after a year in Northern Maine, and finally ordained as an elder in the United Methodist Church at annual conference last year.
Previous to Dale's transition, he spent 20 years working in information technology.
"Tech is a big part of how I enter the world, and a big part of how I participate in the shared ministry of a United Methodist Church and its pastor," he said.
Dale said he is looking forward to this opportunity to join the church, particularly in bolstering the ongoing development of 192 State St., a North Adams property purchased by the church in 2015.
"God has begun something wonderful here at New Hope, and God is going to continue to move us forward into undreamt of avenues of service in love," he said.
Dale delivered his first worship service with New Hope on Sunday, July 12, at 10 a.m. on New Hope’s Facebook page and Youtube channel. His next virtual worship service is Sunday, July 19, at 10 a.m.
Previous to Dale, New Hope was served by Pastor Dan Randall and Pastor Courtney Randall, who were appointed by Bishop Devadhar to Global Ministries as Missionaries in the Methodist Liaison Office in Jerusalem. The congregation said goodbye to Dan and Courtney at a drive-by worship on June 21. They had served the church since 2013.
