When asked what quality defines a Methodist, Pastor Richard Rego took a quiet breath and simply replied “grace.”

Rego, a Massachusetts native, recently took over the altar at the First United Methodist Church of Boothbay Harbor. Pastor Rego arrives after a long stint as pastor on Martha’s Vineyard and also the corporate world where he has worked for a variety of well-known companies.

He is a licensed local pastor; local pastors are not ordained but licensed to preach and conduct divine worship and perform the duties of a pastor. They are appointed, but need not make themselves available as itinerant ministers. Local pastors may also serve in extension ministries settings, according to the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, the leadership development agency of the United Methodist Church.

“Maine is kind of like the local pastor capital,” said Rego. “For a long time I was the only full-time local pastor in New England.” 

Rego is a graduate of Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta, where he has a twin brother.

“It was good I left. They called us the frozen chosen,” said Rego. “Match them, patch them, and dispatch them.”

Rego  has been married to wife Karen for 42 years and has two children who both live in Massachusetts. His calling to the cloth came at a young age; while helping his father wire their house in Dorchester, he slipped off a ladder but felt two hands grab him and lower his body to safety. He believes it was the hand of God. 

His first appointment was in Brockton, Massachusetts where he performed upwards of 30 funerals a year at a crisis ministry. With the Boothbay region being among the oldest by median age on the country, he is aware of the unique needs a community may have. 

“The richness of it is believing that person is in God’s hands,” said Rego. “The older a congregation gets, the more important those types of messages become.”

After being appointed to his hometown of Mansfield, a bishop reappointed him to Martha’s Vineyard where he stayed for nine years. He initially fought the calling but a series of life events brought him to where he is today. In defining what being a Methodist represents, he said it’s rooted in community, a spirit that has defined the denomination since its founding. 

The denomination springs from John Wesley’s evangelical revival movement within the English Anglican church. Methodism, or the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity which derive their inspiration from the life and teachings of Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother Charles Wesley were also significant leaders in the movement. It originated as a revival within the 18th-century Church of England and became a separate Church after Charles Wesley's death. Because of vigorous missionary activity, the movement spread throughout the British Empire, the United States, and beyond, today claiming approximately 80 million adherents worldwide, according to the General Board.

The name “Methodist” was originally a pejorative coined by Anglican students making fun of the group’s adherence to its strict methods, including prohibitions against drinking, dancing, and card-playing. The “method” is less strictly applied today, according to a Martha’s Vineyard Times profile on Rego.

“One thing Christ always did was invite himself to supper,” said Rego. “Another pastor once said Methodists are the most ‘eatingest’ of people, I know that’s not a word. It’s breaking bread together is where relationships begin.”

With the church, the idea that when you find a need, fill the need, he said.

“The problem is that the needs are getting so great in the community,’” said Rego. “It’s part of what we do.”