Representatives from a variety of Rhode Island Conference churches welcomed Transitional Conference Minister The Rev. Marilyn Kendrix into the fold at a special service on Sunday - and they were, in turn, welcomed into the new Conference office at Edgewood Congregational Church in Cranston.

"As your Conference Minister, I like to think of all of you as members of one church," Kendrix told those assembled. "I don't think about my ministry as to 30 churches. No, I think of us all together, a congregation together, one church, the body of Christ. Because i think that together we can find new ways to serve god by loving one another."

"That's what I believe is the real gift that bringing our three conferences together will be," she said. "We have some real gems here that folks in Connecticut and Massachusetts want to know about and want to join together with us to be that much more effective, have that much more impact."

Kendrix, who has experience working in corporate transitions prior to being ordained to ministry, is helping to shepherd the Conference while it goes through the process of joining together with the Connecticut and Massachusetts conferences to form one, unified conference.

After Sunday's service, those in attendance were invited to take a look at the new Conference offices, which are now being housed at Edgewood Congregational. The offices were moved there from rented space in Pawtucket. 

View a Photo Album from the day