SACO — First Parish Congregational Church UCC’s new pastor, Scott Cousineau, brings with him a love for the community and a commitment to service.

Cousineau, 56, preached his first sermon at the church on Aug. 18, located at the corner of Main and Beach streets in Saco.

Cousineau was ordained by the American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts in 1997, and his most recent position before accepting the post in Saco was as senior pastor at the Federated Church of Norfolk in Norfolk, Massachusetts, where he had served since 2007.

Cousineau has a strong connection with the area. He has vacationed in Ocean Park since he was 10 years old, and his mother, retired minister Jan Hryniewicz, now lives in the seaside community.

Cousineau said he and his wife, Renee Kaufman, also a minister, bought a cottage in Ocean Park with plans of some day retiring there, but when the opportunity to work in Saco came, they decided to make the move now.

“This area is already near and dear to my heart. I love the draw of the ocean and the coast. I love how friendly and welcoming everyone is,” Cousineau said. “There’s just something about the sense of community. I’ve always felt at home here, since I was a young lad.”

Cousineau was raised in a very mission oriented family, and volunteer work such as working in a food pantry or soup kitchen was a pretty standard activity.

“I don’t know any other way,” he said.

He always had a desire to help others, Cousineau said. When he was young, he said, people would often tell him he should join the ministry. Though he was a Sunday school teacher and his mother was a minister, he didn’t think ministry was the right calling for him, and he was considering law school.

Then one Sunday Cousineau was sitting in church and he felt called to the ministry. He went out to lunch with the church’s minister later that day and a few weeks later enrolled in Andover Newton Theological School.

First Parish has a strong history of community service, a quality which appealed to Cousineau.

Cousineau feels strongly that church should play a significant role in the community, and the church’s pastor should be a visible presence.

Parishioners at First Parish, as part of Sunday service, welcome all who come to the church, and they practice what they preach.

“They aren’t just words they say, they are words they embody,” said Cousineau.

Cousineau said his wife is looking for a position in a church in the area. The couple is settling into their now permanent home in Ocean Park and taking care of their four dogs.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be reached at 780-9015 or by email at egotthelf@journaltribune.com.

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