Megachurch Thrives in Frigid New England
A charismatic congregation in Connecticut known as Faith Church is seeing 25 percent growth each year.
A Charismatic congregation in Connecticut is challenging the notion that churches in New England won’t grow beyond a few hundred members.
Faith Church in New Milford, Conn., is growing 25 percent annually, and today has roughly 2,000 members in a region considered one of the hardest to evangelize in the U.S. “People are people, and the gospel is the gospel no matter where it is preached,” said Faith Church pastor Frank Santora, 37. “My message is, ‘With Christ on your side you can win in life and you can overcome.’”
Faith Church’s evangelism strategy hinges as much on words as deeds. When fuel costs surged last summer, the church gave $3,000 to a local gas station to offer gasoline at 50 cents off per gallon. At the start of the school year, children received free haircuts and free backpacks containing school supplies. In December the church gave away 200 Christmas trees, and this spring it planned to provide free oil changes. “Faith Church provides a solid foundation for the community working with people,” said Mark Boughton, mayor of Danbury, Conn., and a church member for six years.
Responding to the recession and local unemployment, the church slashed prices at its Sonbucks café and set up an “Acts 4” Christmas tree. Sixty-four families struggling to pay rent or fuel bills hung their requests on the tree for others to respond. “We wanted to send a message to our people that we love them and care for them,” Santora said. “When we respond to a crisis in an uncommon way God responds in a miraculous way. We were able to meet about 90 percent of the needs.”
Ordained through Kenneth Hagin’s Rhema Bible Training Center, Santora joined the church as assistant pastor in 1993, when it had 300 members and was called Bright Clouds Christian Church. In 1997, when he was just 26 years old, Santora was named senior pastor after the former pastor resigned amid scandal. Within a few years the multiethnic congregation outgrew its building, and Santora launched a massive stewardship campaign to buy 40 acres in New Milford, located about 35 miles west of Hartford.
As part of that campaign, the church changed its name to Faith Church and built an 82,000-square-foot ministry center, which was completed in 2005 at a cost of $17 million. The church plans to add an 11,000-square-foot youth center and plant satellite ministries in Connecticut and other states. “Without God success is impossible,” Santora said. “If God doesn’t show up we are not going anywhere.”
Santora is also expanding his personal borders through music and writing. He has penned 90 worship songs since 2007 and will release his first CD this summer with the help of Christian musician Alvin Slaughter, a member of the church’s executive council. He also has signed a two-book deal with Simon & Schuster’s Howard Book division. The first, Turn It Around: Learning How God Can Make a Masterpiece of Your Mess, is scheduled for release in 2010.
—Peter K. Johnson in New Milford, Conn.
(Source: Charisma online)
