GREENFIELD — The Second Congregational Church of Greenfield’s newest lead minister is settling into his latest pulpit.
The Rev. Adam Tierney-Eliot started his new job on June 1 and has spent the past two months learning congregants’ names and getting acclimated to the community.
“It’s a very active congregation, which is great,” he said in an interview.
Tierney-Eliot and his wife, Alison, are the parents of three adult sons and have moved to Erving from Natick, where Tierney-Eliot was the pastor of The Eliot Church, a United Church of Christ and Unitarian-Universalist congregation that the reverend said is actually not named after him or his family.
Tierney-Eliot served at The Eliot Church for 22 years, having intended to move on before the pandemic began. However, the public health crisis compelled him to want to provide guidance to his congregants during that difficult time.
Tierney-Eliot, 54, explained United Church of Christ minister positions are filled like most other jobs, by prospects applying. He was invited to preach a service at the Second Congregational Church of Greenfield at 16 Court Square and was selected for the position through a vote at a special meeting held by congregants.
“The congregation’s been very welcoming,” he said.
To Tierney-Eliot, connections between the church and the broader community are central to his ministry, and the number of programs the church hosts, such as regular community meals, were part of the draw to the Second Congregational Church.
“There’s a lot of good energy here,” he said in a statement. “It’s a downtown church where people are in and out of the building all the time, and the congregation is committed to keeping that going.”
Having also been attracted by the quality of the church’s music program, Tierney-Eliot enjoys collaborating with the team to plan worship that includes a broad range of styles, from contemporary and folk to world music and classical pieces.
Tierney-Eliot was born and raised in Maine, where he attended Bates College and the University of Maine, graduating from the latter with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy. He earned a Master of Divinity at the Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago before returning home to serve two small churches in northern Maine, where he stayed for three years. He later went back to Chicago to earn his doctorate in ministry, with a concentration in preaching and worship, from the Chicago Theological Seminary.