By Sally Quale

The Church of Christ Congregational in Norfolk held its regular 10 a.m. service on Sunday, September 15 in the Battell Chapel, as opposed to the usual Church chancel, to mark the opening day of Sunday School classes for the year. Unbeknownst to Pastor Erick Olsen, however, this arrangement also facilitated a surprise celebration of the tenth anniversary of Erick Olsen’s call to serve as the pastor of the Church in 2003.

Near the end of the service, it was suddenly interrupted by Elizabeth Allyn, Minister of Music, and Christina Wignall, Director of Christian Education, who gave warm tributes to Olsen, the choir sang special music, and the Sunday School children rolled in a large bulletin board filled with warm handwritten thoughts about their Pastor, after which celebratory refreshments were served and Pastor Erick surrounded by well-wishers.

The Church of Christ was first “gathered” in 1760, two years after the town’s Act of Incorporation had mandated the “power to procure the gospel to be preached” in the town. Since 1761, when Ammi Ruhamah Robbins was called to serve as its first pastor, or “settled minister,” the Church has had a total of 15 pastors.

Olsen distinctly remembers his first impression of Norfolk in 2003. It was a miserable early spring day, at a time when he was seeking out his own church as sole pastor. He was in the area with his wife Tina, and, knowing a minister’s position was open, they drove around Norfolk, “saw something special about it,” and contacted Michael Sinclair, Chair of the Search Committee.

During the subsequent Search and Call process, Olsen discovered that the congregation shared his great desire and eagerness see the life of the Church grow in a number of directions: strengthening the youth programs, going out into the world and becoming more actively involved in social justice programs, providing stronger pastoral care to the congregation, and becoming an opening and affirming church. The following January, 2004, his installation took place, and the Olsen family including Erick, Tina, and – one by one – their three children Elias, Ellie and Olivia – settled in to the parsonage across the Village Green.

Olsen considers the high points in his past ten years as pastor to include: strengthening the church’s financial status (doubling the giving in the first two years); beginning a work camp tradition among both the adults and young people; creating an endowment policy; initiating a successful five-year Dare to Dream campaign for capital improvements, and preparing with the congregation a church mission statement and a declaration of an open and affirming church policy.

Olsen has encouraged the congregation to explore and develop new relationships with those with whom we have differences, by focusing on the things we agree upon. He mentions the interfaith cooperation that benefits the Food Pantry located at Church of Christ: for several years now, Norfolk’s Church of the Immaculate Conception has been nominating the Food Pantry to the archdiocese for their annual grants to those helping the poor.

Most recently, since the 250th Anniversary celebration of the Church in 2010, Olsen has been leading his congregation, whose membership is currently 260, in an Appreciative Inquiry into “What are our strengths from the past and how can we build on these as we move into the future?”

Speaking with deep affection and confidence as he closed the service on September 15, Olsen told his congregation, “It has been my privilege and my joy to be your pastor for the past ten years, and I hope there will be many more.”