“The spirit of Christ is the spirit of missions. The nearer we get to Him, the more intensely missionary we become.” Henry MartynThe last New England church planting from our fellowship of churches prior to 2008 took place in 1995. That’s a long time. But challenges call for character and the momentum is turning.
Beginning with the first, small step in 2008 – the Storrs, CT, church was begun through the generous giving of the New England disciples. The Storrs’ church encompasses the northeast corner of Connecticut and the University of Connecticut as well. This congregation was begun with about 18 disciples. However, no one except staff (Danny MacDougall and Sherie Gayle) moved in order to plant it. So disciples who had been driving one direction, just turned their cars around and headed down another path. From those days until now, the congregation has more than doubled with about half of the membership now consisting of college students. Felipe and Brandyn Bascones presently serve as the evangelist and women’s ministry leader for Storrs (recently appointed in September of this year!).
Step number two was a different animal. Glenn and Danielle Petruzzi stepped up to the challenge to lead this church planting. Their experience in campus ministry would come in extremely handy as they tied in to our fellowship’s one year challenge and took some young friends from the New England churches to begin this fantastic work in Portland, Maine. Beginning with a handful of unemployed and under-funded but willing disciples, the Portland church grew to around 70 disciples in only three short years. After sending off disciples to the Burlington planting and more, they are now around 60 members. Over time about 10 disciples moved from New England permanently to be a part of this mission effort. Of this number, one was a married couple who picked up and traveled northward.
The third church planting of this decade took place in Burlington, Vermont. This also was unique as a small group of committed disciples who have hunkered down for years with no staff and long driving distances were joined by eight disciples who moved up from other New England churches. Mike and Kristen Balzer, who had been trained in Portland, moved over to spearhead the charge. The official kick-off service took place on September 29, with 85 in attendance. There was an inspiring baptism of a University of Vermont coed at the initial “new beginnings” service. God is certainly moving in Vermont to see many hear his good news.
As you can see – progress is being made. Now we are giving in the millions of dollars for missions annually (joined in IMS by Chicago and several Midwest churches, as well as the Northern Virginia church). However, there remain glaring challenges. Not many are “going” even now and the few who are seem to almost exclusively be very young. There is also a special need for men to step forward and lead the way.So in the summer of 2014, a church planting in Providence, Rhode Island, has been placed on the table. Jimmy and Anita Allen are going as the staff couple, and they are the radical opposite of young. The New England churches have rallied to a new challenge – to all be a part of the sending and to once again send our best. The first devotional, which primarily focused on disciples in Boston with an interest, saw over 20 Christians contemplating a dramatic move to another metropolitan area, and most of those present from Boston were over 40 years old.
A church service to prepare our hearts and check out who would show up in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on September 22, saw 53 people come out to worship our great God. Many family members, friends and interested parties came to see what exactly was going on and stayed in fellowship well into the afternoon (see photos below).
In 2016, the IMS is making plans to send a team to Waterbury, CT. In a similar way, a small group decided to have an outdoor worship service in Waterbury just to see what would happen. On September 22, 42 people came out, saw God’s beautiful creation and met one another during an inspiring service (with disciples from two congregations in attendance and several friends).
As we continue to push ahead with 2020 plans to plant churches across New England so that 90% or more of the population has a Sunday morning drive that will not take more than 30 minutes, let’s all catch the missionary spirit. We cannot all go. But many of us can and must if the world is to hear about Jesus!
In fact, New England is probably the easy part. We need many to go to Europe. We need plenty to go all around the world! And we have to all pray. We’ve got to find the convictions and hearts to give joyfully and sacrificially. Perhaps you can visit and teach and serve in another area. Lincoln and Irene Gifford, an elder and elder’s wife in Hartford, recently spent their summer vacation in Brussels, Belgium. Maybe you can Skype. There must be a renewed stirring and burning in our hearts of the missionary spirit.
The Holy Spirit is compared to the wind (John 3:8). Where is He blowing you? Are you willing to be moved as His missionary today? What is the next great adventure of your life?