After nearly eight years serving at the pulpit of the New Ipswich Congregational Church, Pastor Ken Whitson will be giving his last sermon at the church on Aug. 31, and immediately thereafter starting as the interim pastor for the Greenville Community Christian Church.

Whitson said he began as the pastor at the NICC on Jan. 21, 2017. At the time, he was a part-time pastor in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and was working for an energy consulting company out of Rhode Island, when he saw the listing for a full-time pastor. Living just down the road in Greenville, he decided to apply for the position, leaving both his previous jobs to preach full-time.

He said in his time at the NICC, he’s proud of the strides the church has made, particularly in its focus on children and families.

In his tenure, the church has started a vacation Bible school, implemented an annual children’s craft market and bolstered its Sunday School program.

“I’ve always traditionally had a Children’s Moment in my sermon,” Whitson explained. “I’d have them come up, have a conversation about something Biblical or scriptural, and see how they’re doing and what they think of the faith.”

Whitson said when he started at the church, there was only one child who regularly attended, and many times, she was the only one that would come up for that moment.

“Now, Sunday mornings I get a bunch of kids coming up there,” Whitson said. He said that the church recently re-did its downstairs nursery, as there are now young mothers with infants in need of the space.

The church has also, through a major capital campaign to pay off the church’s mortgage debt. The church itself is historic, but the congregation took out a mortgage on the building in order to conduct a large remodel and major repairs, taking on about $440,000 in debt to do the work. When the campaign was launched, there was still $250,000 of debt remaining. Within a few years, the church was able to raise enough donations to clear the mortgage.

“It was in large part due to — I would say the community, but it went far beyond the community we have here in New Ipswich,” Whitson said. “We had checks come in from Florida, Michigan, California, New York, Kansas…far too many to name.”

Whitson said he initially intended to stay at NICC for five years (a plan that stretched out to eight) before retiring.

“My plan was to retire. Pentacost in May of 2026 was going to be my last sermon, and then I was going to retire, but God had other plans,” Whitson said.

He was contacted by Bill Broughton, the pastor at Greenville Community Christian Church, who was leaving the position, and asked if Whitson would be willing to come on as the interim pastor. Whitson said he was familiar with the church, having attended as a member for several years, and doing Christian education there. Broughton was the one who encouraged him to get back into preaching, he said.

In addition to his familiarity with the church, Whitson said it also opened another door for him — the more part-time work allowed him to get back into teaching full-time, accepting a position as a fifth-grade teacher at Heritage Christian School in Rindge.

He will also continue a part-time position as a pastor at First Baptist Church in Fitchburg, a position he’s held for the past year.

Whitson said when the Community Christian Church settles a permanent pastor, he’d still like to work as an itinerant pastor, filling in for other pastors as needed.