The 1920s were a time of economic progress for many. Transportation, new conveniences, electricity, refrigeration, communication, the radio, entertainment — all of these created a new climate. Along with progress came social tensions. The economic bubble of the 1920s burst in the 1930s with the Great Depression — tough and transitional times. Boothbay and the Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church were affected, but certainly not in the same way as were large cities or those communities without some of Boothbay’s special assets like shipbuilding and strong tourism. While Boothbay shared many of the stresses and strains of changing times and financial challenges, life in Boothbay also enjoyed some very good times. People from near and far found solace from the sea and the beautiful shoreline, and there were increased opportunities for social interaction at the Strand movie theater, the Pavilion (a gathering place for youth), and the Opera House, which provided numerous opportunities for young and old happily to gather for various events.

Boothbay was not isolated from the rest of the world. Expanding missionary activity in the church at large impacted the Congregational Church in Boothbay with programs from visiting missionaries and youth like Austin McCormick who took an interest in the larger mission of the church.

During the third and fourth decades of the twentieth century there was also a seismic shift in theology. Karl Barth had emerged onto the theological scene with his publication of his shorter commentary on Romans in 1919. In his dialectical theology he asserted the otherness of God and yet the nearness of God in Jesus. He pointed to the fact that everything depends on God’s grace, while his vigorous ethics brought him to challenge Adolf Hitler at the ecumenical gathering in Barmen. In the Barmen Declaration of 1934, primarily authored by Barth, he pointed out the “errors of the ‘German Christians’ of the present Reich Church government which are devastating the Church and also therefore breaking up the unity of the German Evangelical Church” and then declared: “Jesus Christ as he is attested for us in Holy Scripture, is the one Word of God which we have to hear and which have to trust and obey in life and in death” denying the authority of other powers to dictate the proclamation of the Church. Once asked what he thought was the most important theological insight he had discovered, Barth responded: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.”

Theology emerging in Germany touched Boothbay by way of one of the most popular supply pastors at the Boothbay Harbor Congregational Church: the Rev. Dr. Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City. Fosdick was also a professor of practical theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. As such he was in constant dialogue with Reinhold Niebuhr who was responsible for enlisting Paul Tillich to join the Union staff and brought Barth, Emil Brunner & Dietrich Bonheoffer to Union as visiting lecturers attempting to recruit them for the staff also. Fosdick’s sermons inescapably brought with him glimmerings of the theology emerging from Germany.

The excitement Fosdick’s preaching generated in Boothbay is evident in a 1924 article from the Boothbay Register:

DR. FOSDICK PREACHES NOTABLE SERMON: (To) OVERFLOWING CONGREGATION

“The chancel and vestry were filled, many sitting on the steps of the altar, in the choir loft, and in the chairs placed in the aisles, while hundreds stood in the side aisles and at the rear of the pews and filled the vestibule. Some unable to get near enough to hear the sermon, remained outside on the lawn to await members of the family who got inside.ⁱ

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, notable pastors served the church from week to week. The Rev. Dr. Peter MacQueen (1923-1924), born in Scotland, had given over 2000 lectures in New England alone and was a world-famed traveler, a war correspondent and an author. Prior to MacQueen was the Rev. Walter Bradford, Jr. (previously serving the church in Bristol). Following MacQueen the called pastors were: the Revs. George Woodward (held in high esteem and said to be a student of “modern political life and well versed in social problems) William Kirschbaum, Jr., (whose sermons were described as deeply interesting & instructive & well attended), Louis Harris (during whose pastorate the church was incorporated), Elton Bassett (described as “a very pleasing speaker” and apparently encouraging a very active church program), and Kenneth Gray (whose sermon titles were captivating). Those pastors rode the waves of some very difficult times as well as enjoyed some remarkably good times managing to keep the church on course through it all.