Dover Congregaqtional UCC Church Welcomes New Minister

At a special worship service on Sunday, June 10th at 10:00 PM Rev. Dr. Keith Stuart will be installed as the new senior minister at Dover Congregational UCC Church in Westlake.  Rev. Stuart is a dynamic speaker who so impressed the members of Dover Church when he visited on March 25th that he received a standing ovation after the unanimous vote to call him to be the new senior minister.

Rev. Stuart, 54, was raised in Greenville, Kentucky, and has been the pastor at First Congregational UCC in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, for 11 years.  Rev. Stuart led the charge for First Congregational to become an Open and Affirming church that welcomes everyone, including those of different sexual orientations. He says church members were deeply affected by the illness and death of one of their own, an HIV-positive young man who had been disowned by his family. Dover UCC became an Open and Affirming church in 2008.

Dover Church moderator George Bufkin summed up the feeling of many church members, “Rev. Keith Stuart is a dynamic speaker who brings a wealth of experience to Dover Church.  There is tremendous anticipation of his arrival on June 10th."