SUTCH A HISTORY: New Leadership Years (1981-1987) at First Church, Willoughby

Isabel Sutch died on November 30, 1996. A Memorial Service was held on December 2, 1996. We will always remember our beloved Isabel Sutch. Thank you, God, for Izzy!

Having returned to one service in September 1981, the congregation was given the privilege of answering a survey in 1982 as to preference regarding number of services and time. The majority felt strongly to keep the hour at 10:00 AM with a concurrent hour for Church School. This remained our Church's pattern for worship and Church School for many years.

The Rev. Dr. Peter M. Bach was called to be our minister, beginning his ministry on March 1, 1983 to serve a Church that had one pastor for forty one years. Many within the congregation were families who had grown up for their entire lives with Dr. Gross. It was a real challenge for a minister to undertake this task because it is human nature to be slow to accept anything different, however slight it may be. Dr. Bach has proved equal to this endeavor in every way. Dr. Bach and his family, his wife Barbara, an active registered nurse and an accomplished soprano, and two daughters, Christina and Allison came to us from Niagara Falls, New York.

Dr. Bach, a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary and Princeton University, was awarded his Doctor of Ministry in small group counseling from Drew University in 1977. Like his predecessor, Dr. Bach serves both within the local community and the higher governing bodies of the Presbytery and General Assembly. Presently he serves on the Board of Trustees of Ohio Presbyterian Retirement Services and the Breckenridge Village Council as well as serving as Pension representative and Moderator of the Division of Congregational Growth and Vitality in the Presbytery of the Western Reserve. Dr. Bach has been very active in the Committee on Ministry in our Presbytery, serving as moderator of the Committee in 1985 and 1986 while consulting with many Churches within the Presbytery.

In the late 1970's the world powers began competing with each other in building larger and more powerful nuclear weapons, enough to destroy God's handiwork many times over. In order to combat this serious threat to world stability and tranquility, the Peacemaking movement in our denomination became a major focal point in local Churches and higher governing bodies. Our Church took official action to work during the decade of the 1980's for peace by the Elders signing the Shalom Covenant in October 1983. Since then in small and large ways, the congregation has been involved in active peacemaking, culminating in the presentation by the Women's Association of a quilted Peace Banner on World Wide Communion Sunday, October 4, 1987.

Many positive steps were taken in the first few years of Peter's ministry. Here follows a list of the significant changes in our ministry:

The IF Group for individuals and family to share fellowship together

Young Mothers and Others Counseling Group

The Parting Song in Worship

Emphasis on Shut in Communion on a regular basis

Leadership and Involvement at the Highlands

The Reopening of the Church Library

Children's Time and other strategies for Family Worship

Emphasis on the Board of Deacons and their role in our ministry.

Adult Bible Study under varied leaders

These positive changes have promoted interest in our Christian faith and kept alive the great tradition of our Church in service and in fellowship with the world.

While the congregation was experiencing the changes which occur in new leadership, the denomination finally accomplished its prime objective of over 100 years, to have reunion with the Southern branch of Presbyterianism and end the split which has its roots in and around the Civil War. In 1985, action was finalized to bring about reunion and the birth of our new denomination, The Presbyterian Church, United States of America.

That great statement of Matthew 25:40, "in as much as you have done it to one of the least of my brethren, you have done it to me" becomes a rallying cry for our Church in mission to others, especially in our effort to combat hunger and poverty in our community and in inner city Cleveland. The Church voluntary contribution basket for the Willoughby Food Bank, the monthly bake sale for the hunger centers in Cleveland, the two cents a meal program of our Presbytery to which our families have committed themselves, our continuous commitment to North Church and Garden Valley, are strong indicators of our Church doing what Jesus would have us do for others.

A highlight of the pastorate of Dr. Bach was the coming under care of the Session of one of our Church's own members for preparation to the ministry. Tim Thomas, who served as summer intern in 1986 at the Church working with our youth, met with the Session on numerous occasions, culminating in the Session's official endorsement of Tim as a potential candidate to preach God's Word. In April 1987, the Presbytery meeting in Ashtabula, Ohio took formal action, receiving Tim as a candidate under care, whereupon Tim, having worked at Breckenridge Village Fairmount Health Center as Summer Intern Chaplain, began his formal Seminary education in September 1987, attending the same seminary where both Dr. Gross and Dr. Bach graduated, Princeton Theological Seminary.

The Long Range Planning Committee was named in 1986 at the Annual Congregational Meeting "to investigate and recommend plans for the next five to ten years." The Church structure since 1962 had undergone no major changes, and the Committee was empowered to study whether or not we need refurbishing, a major building program, or what. The concept from 1962 was to add another wing and a new sanctuary "if the growth and finances were sufficient". Several substantial gifts have been given to the Church, each with a specific request that the gift be used for a major capital program. Therefore the report made in the spring of 1988 brought these and other factors into consideration.

This Long Range Planning Committee report is still the basis for future develop, much as our predecessors had foreseen in the first Church. May our future be as bright as our past and our present, and may we be filled with the same spirit which has always been present in our Church, The First Presbyterian Church of Willoughby, Ohio!

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