Pastor Dr. Matt Brown Announces Retirement

We have been truly blessed to have Dr. Matt Brown serve as pastor of SMPC for 21 years! With both gratitude and sadness, we share that Matt has announced his retirement, effective December 1, 2025. His final Sunday preaching at SMPC will be November 23, 2025.

You can read Matt’s message to the congregation here, or find it below, along with a letter from Personnel Committee Chair Janet Morgan, which expresses heartfelt thanks to Matt and his wife, Donna, and outlines our transition plan.

What’s next?

We have compiled some frequently asked questions about next steps here, which we’ll continue to update as the process unfolds. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Matt, Janet or Clerk of Session Gayle Ireland.

We are blessed with a vibrant faith community and strong lay and clergy leadership at SMPC! We trust God’s guidance and look forward with hope to what lies ahead!

Letter to the Congregation from Dr. Matt Brown

Sunday, May 25, 2025

“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” –– 1 Samuel 7:12

Dear family of faith,

On the border between Israel and Judah, in the days before the anointing of the nascent nation’s first king, there sat two towns, Mizpah and Jeshanah. It was in this region that the Lord strengthened Israel such that the incursion of the Philistines was repelled. Samuel, serving as prophet and judge for Israel, chose to commemorate God’s protection and strength with the placement of a stone as a sort of monument. He named the stone Ebenezer, a Hebrew term meaning stone of help. The above verse from 1 Samuel inspired the spirit-stirring line of a beloved 18th Century hymn –– Here I raise my Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’m come.

By the grace of God, for nearly twenty-one years this place and this people known as SMPC have been the stone of help for our family. Outside of marriage and parenthood the consummate privilege of my life has been serving our Lord alongside you. I am deeply grateful to you and for you. Thus, it is with gratitude for the past and present, along with abundant hope for your future, that I announce my intention to retire, effective on December 1st, 2025. My last Sunday in the pulpit will be on November 23rd.

In order that the congregation may experience a healthy transition to interim and permanent pastorates, retiring pastors covenant to step away from all pastoral duties in the congregation, including funerals, baptisms, weddings, and pastoral care. This difficult, but necessary component of retirement allows a congregation the space needed to form new relationships and dream new dreams. The grief of lost connection we experience is eclipsed by joy of imagining the grace of new relationships God is preparing for you.

This church has long demonstrated an openness to the future into which the Spirit of God leads it. You are blessed with a wonderful staff and the steadfast commitment of a host of gifted servant leaders. The potential for continued vibrancy and growth in ministry is boundless. A letter from Personnel Committee Chair Janet Morgan detailing the transition can be found here.

Donna and I look forward to sharing the coming months with you, and trust that the Spirit’s whisper will grow into anthems of praise as you build new relationships and boldly proclaim Christ’s love to new generations.

Thank you for being for us the embodiment of the words from that fount of every blessing –– Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise!

Grace and Peace,

Matt