Sunday night was our final Mantua Creek church plant event and I’m so grateful for the friends above and our season together.
As I’ve shared with some, we’re not discontinuing our efforts because we haven’t seen fruit. Indeed, our fledgling mission outpost has touched many lives over the last four years (five years if you count the pandemic year). We’ve had seven baptisms and many stories of impact. Further, two-thirds of the twenty who’ve been part of our core group were not going to church regularly or at all four years ago. Now all (even those who have left us) are meaningfully involved in healthy churches. Make no mistake: together with those who’ve invested prayers and finances (thank you, again!), we’ve truly made a difference—especially with the deconverting, de-churched, and/or church-hurt demographic.
We’re discontinuing because, after four years, we haven’t seen sufficient interest and capacity to fully establish or sustain a localized EPC church. Although we’re disappointed and saddened to end our efforts, we’re excited about the unknown doors of opportunity and relationships that will emerge because of this decision.
Here are some of my favorite testimonies and stories of flourishing from our time together:
- “Thank you for being there for the most trying time in our lives…”
- “MC has given us space to consider what is really important/vital to church. MC has given my kids a safe space to learn and develop their faith.”
- “We have always felt connected even when we couldn’t always attend. We felt carried through pregnancy/delivery with kindness, prayer, and happy anticipation.”
- “When we first started coming, I was questioning whether there was still a place for me in the evangelical church. I was discouraged by the rise of Christian nationalism, and a narrow and wrong application of a Christian worldview in light of current events. It was a huge encouragement to find like-minded Christians, restoring a sense of hope in me. I’m also very grateful for the relationships we have built.”
- “It allowed me to feel more accepting of my beliefs. I’m more excited/less dreadful about church. I feel connected unlike I have for a while.”
- “I have experienced a small community that has grown in care for each other. I have been more intentional in getting to know and care for my neighbors. I have been able to help with the deconversion trend, which has helped me from deconverting myself. MC has also helped me want to go to church on a weekly basis.”
- “I feel like I have gotten closer to God at this church and after being baptized.”
- “When I moved to NJ a little over a year ago, I left most of my friends and previous church family behind. Although family was close by, there was a huge vacuum leaving my PA church where I had been very active. Mantua Creek Church has helped to create a sense of community with other believers and a place to worship and contribute. It has been a joy making new friends in Christ.”
- “It has given me a stable and comfortable church environment… more engaging and not simply listening to a long sermon/lecture. It helps me think about the Bible and my own views.”
- “Mantua Creek has created a true church family. I feel connected to more people than I have felt in other churches. I also appreciate the interactive teaching style that allows for and seeks input.”
- “It has helped me not dread church every week because there are almost no judgmental comments or looks and the services are easier for younger people to understand. It really has helped shape my faith, especially in the last year. It has given me a place where my anxiety is accepted, and I can share my struggles without judgment.”
- “I was a nurse working during the Covid pandemic and saw many, many people die despite all of my best efforts and prayer. This experience came only several years after the death of my aunt who was a second mother to me and whose salvation I was not sure of. These both combined to create a big question at the middle of my relationship with God: Can I trust God to save the people I love?
I got married, we got pregnant, and we struggled to agree on a church. No surprise considering by this point the only reason I was holding on to any idea of even being a Christian was due to my husband’s faith. It was around this time that Greg and Pam invited us over for dinner to see how newly married life was. It was there that some of the pain of separation from God and frustration on not agreeing on Church in our marriage came out. After talking (and crying, a little) they invited us to join them at their small church plant, as a soft and safe place to stay while we figured all this out. We agreed and, in the year and a half we have been here, God has worked in slow and gentle, but significant ways through not only Pastor Greg, but everyone here.
It was during Greg’s visits with my husband and me (late after our son went to bed) that we received little nuggets of encouragement and wisdom that ultimately led to the healing my heart was longing for after years of separating myself from God. It was the friendships that grew that showed me how to have Christian fellowship again. And just as the unraveling of my trust in God did not happen in a day neither did the rebuilding. But the slow and constant love of God shown to me and my husband through Mantua Creek has been instrumental to not only my relationship with God but also to our marriage. Thanks to what God is doing through Mantua Creek, He has been made larger in my life in a way I can no longer pretend to deny. “ - “It has been a pleasure to meet and study with fellow Christians in a relaxed atmosphere. As Southwood is now closed for worship, we feel somewhat adrift as we are not yet settled into another church. Thank you for welcoming us.”
- “The After Party class was a helpful conversation starter leading to discussion with non-Christians about the activities at my church. It has also helped me identify how much fear and hopelessness I have been carrying, reminding me of the true and final solution- Jesus and his final kingdom.”
- “The After Party course was a powerful reminder of what the true After Party is. It renewed my hope not in the 2024 election cycle, but rather in the power of Jesus through the way he loves us and calls us to love others. It really is so much easier and more motivating to fight for peace and not a president.” -Pam
- “It’s been an honor for our church to host The After Party course and help the Church take a stand in politics as a healing community—one that follows Jesus, not some partisan agenda. The diversity of those who participated encouraged me and I saw a few friends I hadn’t in some time. I felt proud to be part of the Church in a way I don’t always feel.”
- “The past few weeks have been extremely difficult for my family and me, and having The After Party course as a constant has helped stabilize me. It’s also taught me more about how to treat difficult conversations, political or otherwise, in a different way than I have before, which I’m glad for. It’s also given me perspective on my ‘exhausted’ profile and introspection, helping me understand why I feel that way… I’m extremely grateful for this course.”
Since it was close to Christmas Eve, our last event was a Christmas party and candle-lighting service (see below).
As we formally close one chapter to begin another, I’m reminded that God’s ultimate purposes will prevail regardless of what you or I do or don’t do—including whether we plant or uproot, build or dismantle. Fleming Rutledge says it well:
“In Christian proclamation, there can be no suggestion that the outcome hangs in the balance, dependent upon how human beings behave. Rather, the way human beings behave is determined by the mysterious grace of God that justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5)… If there is one foundational truth that I have learned… it is this… God doesn’t need us to help him make his ‘dream’ come true; God is on the march far ahead of us, bringing his purposes to pass… The right word for the connection between the purpose of God and human activity is ‘participation.’ We are participants in what God is already doing, but this is by grace alone; we should always beware of sermons that sound as if God is standing back waiting for us before anything can be accomplished.”[1]
Finally, at our closing worship service, using the language of Isaiah 61 in the NLT, I prayed the following for each person who has been part of Mantua Creek. And I pray it today for you as well:
May you be “like strong and graceful oaks that the LORD has planted for his own glory.” May you “rebuild the ancient ruins, repairing cities destroyed long ago.” And in whatever places or church God leads you to next, may you “revive them,” including those that “have been deserted for many generations.”
Happy Christmas and New Year, and may you participate fully in all God has for you in 2025!
Much love,
Greg
[1] Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2018), 18, 26-27.