not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25 New King James Version)
I drive approximately sixty-five miles (each way) to Sunday morning worship right now. I know- that probably sounds insane to many people! The fact is that in most of the United States of America of 2014, church attendance is down considerably compared to thirty or forty years ago. In certain pockets of the country such as the Pacific Northwest, and especially in New England and the northeastern states, statistics indicate that very few people attend weekly religious services on a regular basis. I want to tell you why I drive approximately sixty-five miles (each way) to Sunday morning worship. It's ironic, because for the twenty-three years that I served as the pastor of First Assembly of God of Framingham, MA, I lived one and a half miles from the church building. The drive to church was very quick and easy. During the time I served as an assistant pastor in Walpole, MA in the 1980s, I lived a whole three and a half miles from the church facility! I was not a pastor who tended to encourage "long distance church"! I believed it was important to be involved in the church you regularly attend and also important to help bring the ministry of your local church to your local community. It's really difficult to do that if the church you attend is located much more than ten miles from your residence. At one time I would have said that I'd "never" drive sixty-five miles each way on Sundays to go to church. Well, I'm a living example of "never say never"! In March 2010 when our small church was closed, I had a few ideas about churches that might be good to attend, but my wife suggested Bread of Life Church in Westminster. It was forty miles from where we lived at the time (in Framingham) but I had been to special events at Bread of Life Church and I liked Pastor Gary Collette and his wife Associate Pastor Janis Collette. In my heart, I knew that was the correct decision.
We later lived for a year in Webster, MA (forty miles directly south of the Westminster/Fitchburg area) and now it's been a couple years in the immediate Boston southwest suburbs. When the trip became sixty-five miles instead of forty, I must confess I did ponder the wisdom of the drive, but I still know in my heart that it's the right place to be! There's a window company which advertises on Boston's WBZ-AM radio- their ad draws on the children's story of The Three Bears; and promotes their replacement window company and its products as "just right!". Well, it's the same thing with Bread of Life Church in Westminster: it's truly "just right!". On our first Sunday there over four years ago, I was so pleased with the ushering staff. In some churches, the ushers and church leaders will practically bombard and smother visitors, leaving them anxious to leave as quickly as possible. Still other churches (including ushers and greeters) totally ignore visitors and very much act as though their presence is an unwanted intrusion. That also leaves visitors wanting to leave as soon as possible. Bread of Life's ushers and greeters are warm and friendly (but not in an excessive or phony way- it's "just right!"). I'd say the church typically has about two hundred people in attendance on a Sunday morning- more on special occasions. It's not a "mega church" but it's not teeny-tiny either. It's a good number. (Now, the church is wanting to grow beyond it's present numbers, and that's just fine with me.) Another "problem" with many of today's "evangelical" churches is the music. It's typically very contemporary worship stuff (which I like) but usually it's so loud that your ears will hurt and pound for twenty-four hours after you leave the church service! Other churches are very conservative and sing a few hymns out of the hymnals as though it were 1963. Once again, Bread of Life Church is "just right!". We do sing some really old traditional hymns on occasion, but ninety-five percent of the music is very up-to-date contemporary stuff; and it's absolutely never too loud! The praise and worship time is great! The singers and musicians do a great job. No kidding, it's one of the best praise and worship offerings of any church in New England- it's "just right!". As far as the sermons, I have never heard a bad sermon at Bread of Life Church. I have done a lot of preaching and public speaking in my ministry, and admittedly I can be a bit critical of certain sermons and speakers. Pastor Gary amazes me as he always gives very powerful and very interesting sermons which contain a lot of "spiritual meat".
Listen, when I say, "just right!", I absolutely do not mean "mediocre". I mean "just right!". And, I want to make an important point. A church could have great music, great speakers, and friendly people and be spiritually dead and very displeasing to God! (Check out what the Lord's message was to the Church at Ephesus in the Book of Revelation, for instance!) The most important thing in a church is that God's anointing is upon it; that there's a move of God that happens every time the church gathers for worship; that people go there to get in touch with God and it happens; and that lives are transformed. That stuff regularly happens at Bread of Life Church. I'm sorry to say that in quite a few evangelical, Pentecostal, charismatic, and even so called "cutting edge" churches of the 2010s, that does not frequently happen, but it does happen at Bread of Life Church. Incidentally, I'm also not saying Bread of Life Church is the only really good church in New England. Oh, no! I know there are probably at least twelve other such churches in the New England region, but I'm telling you here why I'm driving sixty-five miles each way to get there on Sundays.
I know that one of my frustrations when I was pastoring was that I'd served as an assistant pastor in the 1980s at a similarly very good church. I would try to get across to the Framingham church what a really good church is like. We had a couple in the Framingham church who also were active in the church in Walpole in the '80s and one time the husband told me he felt frustrated, saying, "Many people here think the kind of church we are describing is just theoretical, but we were part of it and saw it happen." And, we were. Listen, the last thing I'd ever want to do is steal anyone away from a church, but if you've never experienced anything like I'm describing in a church service, come and visit Bread of Life Church some Sunday and ask God to give you a vision of what He wants to do in your church and believe Him to do it! And, listen, I'm not saying Bread of Life Church is a perfect church, because it is not. There is no perfect church. All churches have problems. All churches are full of imperfect people. It's not a perfect church, but it is a very good church. No one told me to write this piece. In fact, there may be people in leadership at Bread of Life Church who will be uncomfortable with this piece. There's no way a pastor, associate pastor, or church board member could ever "get away with" writing a piece like this about their church. Although I'm a Member of the church, I'm none of those things, and I do have an extensive ministry background so I just thought I would write it.
Particularly if you live in Northern Worcester County, feel spiritually frustrated; like you're not right with God, but you want to be- you especially need to visit Bread of Life Church in the very near future. Bread of Life Church is located on Rte. 2A "22 State Street East" in Westminster right off Route 2. It's on the Fitchburg end of Westminster (as opposed to the Gardner end) and if you're familiar with the Old Mill Restaurant, Bread of Life Church is just a short distance from there. I hope to see you at Bread of Life Church some Sunday soon.
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