Why New Hampshire?

When we tell people where we are moving to plant a church, it is very
common for them to ask us, "What is in New Hampshire?". My normal
response has become, "A lack of churches, so we are going to start
one." Of course, this generally prompts more questions, so I will tell
you our story of how we came to this point in our lives.

Our desire to take on the task of staring a church came about when we
were in college. Nathan and I were both active in Campus Students for
Christ, a ministry at Western Illinois University. One of their annual
mission trips was to take a group to New England for spring break to
help with newly started churches. Nathan first attended this mission
trip in March of 2001, and had this to say about it:

"I had felt while there a profound spiritual emptiness, I began to
feel a tugging at my heart. God was trying to tell me something, at
the time I was unsure as to what it was. I knew He wanted me to do
something for Him there. I just knew I had to come back."

The following two years, I also took part in the trips as we helped
new churches in New Hampshire and Vermont become established in their
areas. It was during these trips that we felt a calling to one day
come back to start a church of our own.

In the New England area, there is a great need for churches that those
of us from the Midwest can't understand without seeing it. The older
churches of the area are primarily Catholic or Episcopalian. There are
very few Evangelical churches (less than 2% of the population attend
what could be called an evangelical church). People in the area have
stopped attending church more as time has progressed, and currently
60% of people in the area never attend church. We are looking at 3rd
and 4th generation unreached.

God has moved in our hearts, He has put a burning desire to see this
area reached for Him. "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are
few" (Matthew 9:3). As Isaiah said when the Lord asked who would go
out for Him, "Here am I. Send me!" So we desire to be. Dover is in
the second most populous area of New Hampshire and there are over
150,000 people in the rural metro according to the Census Bureau.
That means that only 3,000 people have an evangelical relationship
with God. That cannot stand, as Christians we cannot be complacent
with that. Help us reach Dover for Jesus Christ.

See also: Why New England Is the New American Missional Frontier