Press Release from Kinderhook Reformed Church in New York
Launching a unique leadership initiative, the Kinderhook Reformed Church, Kinderhook NY has recently installed the Reverend Paige A. Convis as an Associate Pastor of the church and officially charged her with being the full-time pastor of rural ministry for the Reformed Dutch Church of Schodack at Muitseskill and the Stuyvesant Reformed Church. Members, family and friends of the three churches plus more than 25 pastors and elders from The Ichabod Crane Clergy Association, the Classis of Columbia-Greene Reformed Church in America and the Regional Synod of Albany were present at the ceremony.
As memberships dwindle and resources are stretched it is becoming more and more difficult for small rural churches to find and retain full time ministers. Finding ways to preserve these vital congregations is a challenge. Statistics show that in the U.S. as many as 10-12 churches a day close their doors. In devising this pilot program, the Reverend Rudolph Visser together with the leadership of Kinderhook Reformed Church had a vision of these individual congregations joining hands for the good of all.
“We are excited to come alongside these two churches and in so doing serve our communities together. This too is what it means for us to share in the Missio Dei, the mission of God, or even better said, ‘to be on Mission with God’. With this collegial relationship and an ever growing sense of working together we hope to redefine the role of the church in the community,” says Pastor Visser.
Raised in Flint, Michigan, Pastor Convis was ordained by the Reformed Church of America in October 2015. She received a Masters of Divinity from Western Theological Seminary in May 2015 and a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Theology and Church Ministry Leadership from Trinity Christian College in 2012. She most recently served as a Pastoral Resident at the First Reformed Church of Schenectady. Prior to that, she spent three years as a Pastoral Intern at the Hope Church RCA in Holland, MI. Paige’s fiancé, Justin Foster, is the organist at the First Reformed Church of Scotia and had the honor of being guest organist for her installation. They plan to be married on August 27, 2016 in Scotia and will take up residence at the parsonage of the Reformed Dutch Church of Schodack at Muitseskill.
