The congregation of Northern Valley Evangelical Free Church, New Tripoli, recently welcomed their new pastor, Kenneth Spence.

Spence, who has a Master of Theology degree in Christian Education from Dallas Theological Seminary, became the church's permanent pastor in December 2014.

He spoke with The Press about his goals for the church.

"I want this church to provide solid Biblical teaching to our congregation and to the community through our ministry and through our small groups during the week," Spence said. "I want the church to be a body of believers who teach God's word and live by it, a living vibrant body of Christ in the community, engaged in sharing the love of Jesus both locally and worldwide."

He said another goal of the church is to connect with the immediate community by seeking to provide ministries beneficial to individuals and families in the area.

"We will do this by being interested in our neighbor's welfare in general, providing specific support and education for the children in our community, dealing with topics of concern to many in our community, such as Godly parenting and healthy finances and using our facility for support of our community," the pastor said.

The church offers Sunday School for children and adults at 9:15 a.m. followed by a 10:30 a.m. church service and two mid-week Bible studies from 7-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays.

"A men's breakfast is offered three times a year," he said. "And, we often do a summer children's ministry one or two days each month and focus it on Operation Christmas Child, sponsored by Samaritan's Purse."

Northern Valley Evangelical Free Church has a long-standing commitment to Operation Christmas Child, collecting items to fill shoeboxes for children in Third World countries.

"In December, we delivered 500 shoeboxes," Spence said. "A couple years ago, we did more than 2,000 shoeboxes."

During the year, church members will gather items for the shoeboxes.

"As the church grows, we will increase our goals in the community," Spence said.

A pastor for 43 years, Spence served as pastor at Northern Valley Evangelical Free Church, Cress-kill, N.J.; Faith Evangelical Free Church, Acton, Mass.; Faith Evangelical Free Church, Trexlertown, and Bethlehem Evangelical Free Church, Randolph, N.J.

He has also served as district superintendent for the Eastern District of the Evangelical Free Church of America.

A 1961 graduate of Bergenfield High School, Bergen County, N.J., Spence earned a Bachelor of Economics and Business Administration degree in 1965 from Wagner College, Staten Island, N.Y.

He and his wife Joan, who will be married 50 years in July, live in Center Valley.

The proud parents of four children, Michelle, Kenneth, Daniel and Christy, the couple has 17 grandchildren.