submitted by Stew Gillmor, 8/18/19
The Reverend Joan Cooper Burnett, Acting Pastor at Congregational Church in Killingworth is a very interesting person. The church, located at 273 Route 81, is nearing its 200th anniversary next May. I enjoyed her sermon while visiting the church several weeks ago and followed this with a long chat a week after. Reverend Burnett grew up in Memphis, graduating from the University of Tennessee at Martin with a BS degree. Upon graduation, Reverend Burnett entered the corporate arena where she served in management positions for several years. She re-entered school as a graduate student at Boston University where she earned her Master’s degree in Human Resources Education, focusing on organizational development, curriculum design and human resource management. Answering a call to ministry, Reverend Burnett suspended her entrepreneurial ventures and entered Yale Divinity School where she studied theology and earned a Master’s of Divinity degree.
While at Yale, Reverend Burnett served as Pastor of the Black Church at Yale, which she described as a beloved and rewarding experience in ministry. The Black Church at Yale was founded at Yale in 1973, to help students in a turbulent period in our recent history. The independent non-denominational multicultural church of graduate and undergraduate students from a wide range of religious, geographical, and economic backgrounds made for a great experience for a new pastor. Leading a diverse group of students was a task requiring insights from God, particularly leading students of color in an increasingly secular institution with three centuries of tradition. Though a challenge, she feels it was very rewarding. Upon graduation and ordination in the American Baptist Churches, USA, she became Chaplain at the Connecticut Baptist Homes in Meriden.
More recently she served as Pastor of the First Baptist Church in Middletown. There she led a congregation and was deeply involved in missions work  with Middletown’s homeless population, including food sharing. In 2007, Reverend Burnett became the Protestant Chaplain at Wesleyan University for five years. Here was another challenging yet rewarding opportunity, to help students living in a secular and changing university whose founders and leaders for over a half century had been Methodist teachers and leaders, yet a university which shed its Methodist heritage almost a century ago.
Reverend Burnett joined as Acting Pastor at the Killingworth Congregational Church less than a year ago. This church is welcoming to all and is heavily involved in mission and outreach. It welcomes and hosts numerous community organizations including AA, Nursery School, Boy Scouts, United Girls Choir, Lions Club, Senior Center, and Green Hill Martial Arts. The Killingworth Congregational Church beginnings trace back to 1735, but their current building, as mentioned above, will see its bi-centenary next May. The church is actively engaged in its PRESERVATION 2020 capital campaign to restore and preserve the historical structure.
Information may be obtained at (860) 663-1789 or HERE. As Haddam News has expanded to welcome readers in Killingworth, it is a pleasure to bring to our newest audience news of Reverend Joan Cooper Burnett.
Photos supplied by Rev. Burnett and Sally Haase.
