“You May Have to Close Your Doors.”

The story of a declining church that wouldn’t give up.

“You May Have to Close Your Doors.” This was the suggestion of the District Superintendent in 2005 after a meeting with the board of the North Deering Alliance Church in Portland, Maine. The church had been in decline for years and it was difficult to keep pastors for more than two years at a time. But this group of Maine Yankees was not going to succumb to defeat. God had established the church nearly sixty years earlier in the shadow of Old Orchard Beach where A.B. Simpson had for years reminded the camp meeting congregation that the world was waiting for Gospel-saturated missionaries. “We can’t close,” they agreed, and sought God’s direction.

In 2008, Pastor Richard Francis was called to minister part-time while continuing his duties as president of the New England Bible College in South Portland. Francis took the church through a series of lessons on becoming a healthy church. The first principle emphasized was that if God was going to bless the church with growth, it would come from people in the city who were presently without a church home. Secondly, the church should represent the ethnicity of the city. In recent years, Portland has become a major resettlement city, and immigrants from several dozen countries now find their homes in shelters, city housing projects and apartments. The neighborhoods of Portland are nothing like they were fifty years ago. North Deering Alliance must reach its “Jerusalem” with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and we must be prepared for whomever God sends us.

The members embraced this idea hoping that a few more people might be added to the rolls. They remembered a time when the church was more active and longed to see it return to the activity of bygone days, decades earlier. If only they knew what they were in for!

That first summer, the church teamed up with a youth group from New Hampshire and spent five days blitzing the city parks. Teens armed with Gospel materials from Child Evangelism Fellowship converged on seven city parks using a “five day club” format. Much to their surprise, nearly every child drawn to each club was of African origin. In most cases the names were unpronounceable to these New Englanders. Yet, the harvest was rich. At the end of the week the team left and the church members asked themselves, “What do we do now?” Pastor Francis brought in Rev. Jean-Pierre Tshamala, a Congolese pastor and former student of New England Bible College. Rev. Tshamala had been involved in the start-up of a Bible Training center for international pastors and was looking for a church to partner with and a facility in which to do the training. North Deering Alliance would soon become that spot. Pastor Tshamala became the much needed advisor for connecting with the many African communities within the city. Within one year, Pastor Tshamala was the assembly’s new Associate Pastor.

Over the next year, the church held many events including international services, dinners, and multi-cultural praise and worship gatherings. North Deering soon found itself a center providing assistance for new immigrants in need of food, clothing, furniture, and household goods of all kinds. Formerly empty areas of the church now fill up with donated items for furnishing households. And the church is experiencing unprecedented growth! The last international service in March saw Christians from thirteen countries attending. With such a diverse mix of people, language can be a challenge. Several translators serve at various times, and simultaneous interpretation now occurs in French through the aid of receiver headsets.

The church has provided sacrificially in other ways as well. Most of the African immigrants are asylum seekers or refugees. Consequently they lack the legal status to obtain paying jobs. The church family has reached deeply to provide funds for rent, transportation, and legal expenses. In return, the New Americans assist older church members with snow shoveling, lawn mowing, cleaning and other service projects. The fellowship has been sweet, and the bonds of brotherly love are strengthening every day.

The youth ministries have been reactivated. Partnering with Word of Life Clubs, the church now serves children and teens from grades one through twelve. Youth from other ethnic churches attend since youth ministry is often difficult for them to accomplish. Youth leaders and helpers receive training from Word of Life for skill building and administrative assistance. A Youth Pastor intern, Tristan Ingram, now works in this area. Tristan is a senior at New England Bible College who expects someday to be serving the Lord full time. The greatest obstacle working with these young ones is language. Some of the youngest children are “new arrivals” and have very limited English capability. The church hopes to recruit some multi-lingual helpers soon.

So how does this all look to the original members? Has their church been hijacked? Not at all! Pastor Francis is careful to take the temperature of the church and listen for any discontent. “So far, the church has welcomed these New Americans as much-loved members of the family. The love of Jesus Christ is overwhelmingly evident.” One retired dairy farmer in the church was heard to utter the words, “This is right. This is what we should be doing!” Others are eager to learn new songs in Swahili, Lingala, Kinya-rwanda, French, and Spanish. Times of prayer are more frequent, fervent, and spirit-filled. Interest in local outreach has been rejuvenated, and a contagious evangelistic zeal has been injected into the congregation. It’s an exciting place to be any day of the week!

A frequent worship leader from the Congolese community is Amani Sebaziga, pastor of Jesus First Ministries. His style is clearly African and he sometimes senses the need to hold back when leading worship in the American congregation. As the months have gone by and style boundaries have been stretched, his unique mix of African sound and contemporary Christian music is appreciated by the entire congregation.

What is the church’s vision today? North Deering Alliance is poised to become a multi-ethnic center for worship, cross-cultural education, and Biblical training for church expansion and multiplication. Recently the pastors met with representatives from several ethnic churches desiring to work more closely in “unity and reconciliation”. After combining with a Burundi fellowship on Easter Sunday, both congregations sensed a connection that only God could have forged.
One of Pastor Francis’s dreams is to gather as many ethnic congregations as possible from Portland to meet together at the Old Orchard Campground for a uniquely cross-cultural praise and worship celebration. In the spirit of A.B. Simpson’s vision for carrying the gospel of Jesus Christ to an unreached world, we hope to show that the world has now come to us. These fervent evangelistic believers are reaching America for Christ and are not ashamed to show us how it’s done!

And to think we almost closed our doors….

Great Commission Fund

C&MA missionaries are financed through The Great Commission Fund (GCF). You can designate gifts to the GCF, which enables missionaries to reach lost people for Christ, trains national leaders, provides medical help to needy patients and helps start new C&MA Churches in the US. 

Compassion & Mercy Associates (CAMA)

Compassion and Mercy Associates (CAMA) is a Christ-centered relief and development agency committed to the social demonstration and verbal proclamation of the gospel. CAMA staff members seek both physical and spiritual wholeness for the people they serve.  They have translated short-term relief into long-term development projects that emphasize local ownership and sustainability, capitalizing on local strengths and resources.