For the first time in 16 years, The Evangelical Church of Bermuda has a new pastor.

The Paget church will host celebrations next weekend in honour of their newly appointed pastor, Dr. Richard Christen.

The celebration begins with a the Thanksgiving-Installation Dinner on Saturday, November 15, followed by the Installation Service at 3 p.m. on Sunday, November 16. Dr. Jim Jeffery, President of Baptist Bible College & Seminary, will be the guest speaker.

Dr. Christen was born in Pennsylvania and was ordained in 1960 in New York.

He and his wife Sherrill have served since then across America including in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, New York and California.

Dr. Christen also serves on the National Council of 18 of the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches, the boards of the Association of Baptists for World Evangelism (ABWE) and Baptist Bible College/Seminary of Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. He and his wife have three children and 11 grandchildren.

Dr. Christen arrived on May 21, 2007, as interim pastor of The Evangelical Church following the retirement of Pastor Bernie Payne, who served at the church for 16 years.

On May 25, 2008, during a members meeting to call a pastor, Dr. Christen received an overwhelming vote in favour of calling him as ECB's full time pastor.

He and his wife arrived on the island October 23, 2008, to take up his full time pastoral duties.

Pastor Christen is the tenth ordained pastor of The Evangelical Church.