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04/16/2024 02:07 PMNORTH HAVEN
Since 2013, the Annual North Haven Community prayer breakfast has brought the multiple denominations in the North Haven community together for a day of unified prayer for the community and its leaders. This year, on May 1, will mark the eleventh year the breakfast event has been held, and is a time for unity within diversity of generations and the denominations in North Haven for a singular expression of hope for the community.
What started out as a small event that was based around the National Day of Prayer model has grown into a yearly event that has become a fixture of the North Haven community, said Jim Detweiler, lead pastor of Hope Christian Church.
“It started small and it’s grown into a real community event here,” said Detweiler. “[It’s] an annual event that community faith lines comes together to pray…Out real in the beginning this 10 years ago was to bring our community gathered to pray for our town administrators, our fire chief, First Selectman, police chief, schools, families, churches and businesses of our community.”
Detweiler named the military as a focus as well.
A total of nine churches will be represented at this year’s event. They are the Hope Christian Church, North Haven Congregational Church, St. Elizabeth of the Trinity, St. John’s Episcopoal Church, Vox Church, Faith United Methodist Church, Life Changing Outreach Ministries, Word of Faith Christian Center, and Pond Hill Baptist Church.
The theme of this year’s breakfast is “the generations” and the passing down of faith throughout them.
“We have our veterans coming to do the color guard [leading] the Pledge of Allegiance. We have young people singing worship. We have pastors of different faith traditions,” said Detweiler.
Part of what has made these breakfasts a fixture in the North Haven community is that they have offered the opportunity for a diversity of faith traditions and prayer for town officials, residents, and commerce not just following a tragedy or when in the middle of a crisis, according to Scott Morrow, senior pastor at North Haven Congregational Church.
“It’s nice to know that there's an opportunity to do that and acknowledge all those people and recognize them. That's apart from when there's some really sad event or some particular overwhelming need,” said Morrow.
It’s also an opportunity for the clergy and the community for an “act of thanksgiving for such a tight community,” said Michael Santiago, reverend at Saint Elizabeth of the Trinity Parish.
Making the breakfast an inclusive experience with the multiple congregations in North Haven is a major aspect of the event, said town pastors. Before the event, there appeared to be an unintentional fragmentation of the different congregations, usually joined together just for community - wide worship like Good Friday and the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr..
Deitweiler said a memorial service on the Town Green following the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was the “catalyst” for the community - wide prayer event.
He said, “I remember standing on the green thinking, ‘Why are we only getting together when there’s a tragedy?’”
Whether following a tragic event or not, congregating together as a clergy that ultimately shares the same values only makes the event much more impactful and “recognize that we come from a lot of different worshiping communities, but together, we’re one town, and it’s an opportunity to share those prayers together,” said Morrow.
Santiago said, “It also shows in my eyes the unity within diversity. “Before any of our denominations, we're all human beings. We all believe in something higher.”
First Selectman Mike Freda said that the “unity within diversity” as is to be seen at the breakfast event can be an example of how that mantra “weaves the fabric with tighter threads of the community.” He informed the Courier about the importance of the event for him personally and how the messaging of it inspires him as North Haven’s chief officer.
“Knowing that I’ve got the clergy behind the town government…the abstract benefit of that for me is that it empowers me,” Freda said. “It energizes me to keep going because this is a very difficult job with tremendous stress levels and a multitude of issues.”
He continued, “The abstract benefit does create a tangible outcome for me, and that outcome is to continue to be energized to try to serve all these citizens here and try to help as many people as I can to create positive outcomes in the town. They play a key role for me, all the members of the clergy.”
The breakfast will be held on May 1 at the Best Western North Haven Hotel from 7:30 - 9 a.m.. Registration is free and available at the link https://onrealm.org/HopeChristianChurch/PublicRegistrations/Event?linkString=YWYyNGIwYWUtYTgyMS00ZmFhLTljNzQtYjEyYTAxNGEyODA2.