New Readers of The Mother Church, First Reader Lyle Young and Second Reader Suzanne Cowin, are fluent in English, of course—but they're also fluent in Spanish. For the first time in its 125-year history, The Mother Church made Spanish speaking a prerequisite for the two people appointed to these special positions. A sizable percentage of the Boston neighborhood that surrounds The Mother Church is Hispanic, so Sunday and Wednesday church services in Spanish have now been added (as of June 9, 2004) to a schedule that, in recent years, has only included services conducted in English.
"We're here to walk with the community, to make that connection with our neighbors," says Mr. Young. "The Mother Church is asking how to connect more with its local community in Boston, and Spanish services are a step in that direction."
In other words, the message is global, but delivering the message is always local.
