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Community Corner

The West Islip Church of Christ

Founded by a Texan, the church filled in a religious gap that was assumed to be lacking locally.

The West Islip Church of Christ was founded in 1963 by Dwain Evans, a Texas pastor who relocated to the area to bring the church to a place that was lacking one. 

Evans, along with other families from Alabama, New Mexico, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Arkansas, came to the West Islip area in a move that was referred to as "Exodus Bay Shore."

"The West Islip area was chosen based upon demographic study that showed there were many people in the Bay Shore/West Islip area that did not have access to this type of church," said Pastor Jesse Pettengill, who came to West Islip with his wife and three children from Vermont in August 2005 to become the new pastor.

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"While the building was being constructed, the congregation met at the Hebrew School building off the Jewish Center of Bay Shore.  After a few weeks the congregation moved to a store front on Main Street in Bay Shore," Pettengill said.

Five acres of land on Montauk Highway in West Islip was chosen as the sight for the new church's building. At the formal dedication of the one story church and school room in September 13, 1964, former Islip Town Councilman Joseph Giordano was present. Giordano toured the facility with most of the 220 plus members of the congregation.

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With so many of the church members having careers that include engineers, chemists, accountants and teachers, they found it fairly easy to continue that work in and around West Islip. A number of the members were hired by Grumman Aircraft Engineering, Brookhaven National Labs and at several school districts around the county. 

Evans continued as the pastor of the church from 1963 until 1970. Although he lived in West Islip, there was no official parsonage for the church until 1993, when one was built on Tallulah Lane.

The Church of Christ's roots are tied to the Stone Campbell movement of the 19th century. However, the West Islip Church of Christ has evolved into an ecumenical community comprised of people from various denominational backgrounds.

"The Church of Christ in unabashedly Christian," Pettengill explained.  "We have defaulted into a community church that is open to all. We have an ecumenical outlook."

Today the congregation consists of approximately 90 members and their main focus is continuing the work of the founders of the Church. "We have a fairly similar ecumenical outlook and we are concerned that we have a strong benevolent outreach to the community," Pettengill said.

That outreach includes a food pantry, biweekly visits to the Our Lady of Consolation Nursing home, support of Suburban Housing in Bay Shore, an emergency fund for utilities or rent through a referral basis with Social Services, donations to the Timothy Hill Children's Ranch in Riverhead and Health Talents International, Ltd., a non profit Christian organization established in 1973 that works to set up medical assistance in developing countries.

"When the West Islip Fair takes place, our parking lot is available for use at a small fee. All of the funds raised from that day go to Health Talents International," Pettengill said.

The self funded church is also home to the West Islip Daycare Center, which is open year round. (For more information about the Daycare Center, contact Debbie Stellman 631-422-8001).

Pettengill is confident that the West Islip Church of Christ will continue the work that started in the community 46 years ago.

"I am hopeful that we can continue to serve the 'least of these' in works of mercy and ministries of compassion in West Islip and beyond," he said.  "I hope that we develop, with the help of God's spirit, a discerning mind about the complex and ever changing world around us, so that we can clearly articulate God's ideal for human community in relevant ways."

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