Grace Methodist pastor to bid farewell

In the next month, the Rev. John Cole will be saying a lot of goodbyes. The pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Valley Stream will be retiring at the end of June, wrapping up four decades of religious service.

Cole, 70, has been at the church for the past nine years. It was his sixth and final appointment since he was ordained in 1971. Before coming to Valley Stream, he was associate director of the Methodist City Society in Manhattan. He left there so he could end his career at a local church.

Originally from Maine, Cole attended Duke University and was in the Harlem Domestic Peace Corps for two years doing community development work. He traveled to Sierra Leone in West Africa before coming back to the United States to enter the seminary.

His first appointment was in Bushwick, Brooklyn, with stops in Park Slope, Astoria and Jamaica along the way. Upon retirement, Cole will be moving back to Astoria, where he has kept a house since his days as a pastor there.

“I have enjoyed tremendously all of my years of service,” he said. “I’m happy to be going into retirement.”

The nine years at Grace United Methodist Church has been a blessing, Cole said. He described it as a “United Nations” church with congregants from many backgrounds. That diversity is one of the church’s greatest strengths, he said.

He said the lay people of Grace United Methodist have been a pleasure to work with. Cole said they are active in the church, open minded and supportive. The thrift store and youth organization are very active as well, he noted.

As pastor, Cole has been the C.E.O. of the church, overseeing all of the administrative functions. Some improvements have been made to the facilities during his tenure including a new roof and windows for the school. There were also upgrades to the computers and financial software, and the church has launched a website. “I think we’ve entered the electronic age. You have to do that,” he said. “The only thing we put on the sign in front of the church is our website.”

Leading children through confirmation is one of Cole’s favorite annual activities. He meets with them once a week for six months leading up to confirmation, talking about what it means to be a Christian and a Methodist. “It’s a lot of discussion,” he said, adding that he has seen about 100 children confirmed at Grace Methodist in his time there.

He will also miss presiding over weddings and funerals — weddings much more — and being there for people in their time of need. The most important part of his job has been preaching at Sunday service. “Sermons are the key to any pastor’s success in a Methodist church,” he said.

Cole said he spends about four hours a week preparing his sermon. He bases it off the weekly reading, which are determined three years in advance. In the week before, he reads the Bible selection and chooses a related topic to speak on. By Saturday, he prepares his final notes. “I don’t write my sermons out,” he said. “I have a page full of notes.”

While preaching, Cole said he doesn’t stay up front, but likes to walk around the church. Engaging people directly, he said, is most effective. His messages reach about 170 people on a typical Sunday and more than 300 at Christmas and Easter services.

Cole has been involved with the Valley Stream Religious Council, a group of religious leaders from around the community. He also has been chairman of the board at the Monica Village senior housing complex and has participated in several memorial services in Valley Stream.

“It’s good to get to know the community,” he said. Evoking John Wesley, whose teachings started the modern Methodist movement and exclaimed that the world is his parish, Cole added, “If we’re not involved in the world, we’re not doing what Christ wants us to do.”

Part of that community outreach has included work with the Boy Scouts. Grace Methodist Church has been sponsoring Cub Scout Pack and Boy Scout Troop 109 for more than eight decades. Many of those scouts will be attending Cole’s retirement party on May 30.

His plans for retirement include singing in a church choir and continuing to study the Bible. Cole said he will maintain his role as the chairman of the Board of Directors for the Brooklyn Methodist Nursing Home and will be involved with Anchor House, a Christ-centered drug treatment program. He may even attend some peace and justice demonstrations in Manhattan.

His replacement, Matt Curry, starts July 1. “I think he’ll be very happy here as a pastor,” Cole said. “This is a great place for a younger guy to come in and try to grow the church.”