January 19, 2005
Using a small-group concept, this Massachusetts church makes Christ its focus
South Shore Community Church in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, pastored by Rob Reimer (shown left), is a young C&MA church plant that was planted in 1995. But it isn’t a traditional church to say the least. Reimer explains: “We’re a cell church. There are five purposes in the church: Fellowship—loving one another; Exultation—putting Jesus at the center of our lives; Evangelism—reaching people with the good news about Jesus; Discipleship—growing up to become like Jesus in character; Service—feeding the hungry, helping the poor and serving one another in the church.”
An illustration Pastor Rob uses is a circle. He says many churches put the pastor in the center. “Everyone calls the pastor for everything…prayer, hospital visits, evangelism,” Reimer says. “That’s a formula for death. We choose to put a cross at the center. Then everyone, the leaders and the congregation, have lines running off the circle. They share with one another, pray for one another. Everyone goes through the center. That’s New Testament Christianity.”
The group started its first cell in February 1994. Reimer says, “We emphasized how to be vulnerable. Once people were honest about the pain in their life they needed to pray and minister to one another. So, we equipped people on how to minister to each other.” Reimer believes that oftentimes people aren’t vulnerable in traditional churches. He says, “We breed atmospheres of pseudo-community. I remember being a kid and seeing how some friends, who seemed fine, one day stopped coming. ‘Oh the parents got divorced,’ was the reason. Isn’t church a place for the sick at heart? We wanted an atmosphere where people could be honest about addiction, family problems, etc., and get help.”
Beginning with a core group of eight, they started reaching out to the Holy Spirit. “Though we didn’t know how to minister to each other’s hurts, the Holy Spirit did. We wanted to wait on Him and allow Him to lead us,” Reimer explains. “We’d have everyone gather around the person who had shared, and listen—quieting their soul. God would lead us and guide us; He’d show up and lives were changed. They were learning how to minister.”
Then the group began to reach out to their unchurched friends. The original eight became two teams of four on another night besides cell night. They focused on common interests. For example, four started a biking group. Four people who were not believers joined them. A nonbeliever even planned the bike trips. Reimer says, “We’d have dinner; do life. One couple accepted Christ and joined the group!”
The other couple did a dinner and movie night together weekly. One of those couples also came to Christ and joined that first cell. After about 18 months the numbers grew. Reimer says, “We want to reach at least three people for Christ to multiply each cell. We won’t multiply it from transfers. We insist that people are reached for Christ… that’s the mission of the church!”
This approach has resulted in huge growth. South Shore Community Church currently has numerous adult cells made up of more than 250 people. The congregation itself numbers more than 500—150 of whom are under 12 years old.
Reimer emphasizes that some do not join cells. “They come, sit, listen for a while. We have at least 40 seekers weekly.” And the people are building relationships. Eighty percent of South Shore’s folks are involved in evangelism.
Working in New England can be a challenge. The area is the second-least-churched region in the United States; only about 20 percent of the people attend church. Still, Reimer says, “We are growing the church in significant ways. That’s not to pat us on the back—people are hungry for God. But you’ve got to get in the game. Jesus said the fields were white for harvest. They still are. We need people in the harvest field. They are building relationships, praying, loving and seeking to share a bold witness.”
The church has truly impacted the community of 25,000. South Shore’s goal is to reach the entire south shore, south of Boston and Cape Cod, and even into Rhode Island. That area encompasses 700,000 people. Pastor Rob believes that one day they’ll have a cell within reach of every neighborhood.
In Bridgewater alone the group has done various service-type projects. For example, they gave 15 cells $1,000 each to invest in their communities. “Some did phenomenal stuff,” Reimer says. “Some ministered to the poor. They redesigned a broken-down house! Another had a family fun day complete with a carnival. The next year they did it again and 1,000 people came. The buzz around town was incredible.”
Some cells have also served the elderly and poor, feeding them and providing financial help. This, too, is having an impact. Reimer says, “One day I ran into a town politician who knew me. He said we served his elderly mother. He was so moved. That’s what it’s about—random people coming in and doing acts of kindness for no reason other than to show the love of Christ.”
Another ministry they have is to parents who have multiples. Reimer says, “We had one gal whose husband committed suicide and she had triplets who were less than two years old. The church bought her a van, helped her find a house, and paid her mortgage. She had no life insurance.”
The church has also seen physical healing. In one service, they had seven people miraculously healed. One man had severe back problems. After being anointed with oil he felt a rush through his body. Reimer says, “I’ve known him for 12 years, and I never saw this guy that excited! He was healed and was beside himself with joy. His level of enthusiasm was contagious.”
Pastor Rob grew up attending Poughkeepsie C&MA Church in New York . Christ was never at the center of his life, but a break-up experience at 18 changed that. He called out to God in his pain and, he says, “God spoke to me clearly. I sensed Him say of my rejection, ‘That’s the way you treated me your whole life.’ My heart was moved with repentance and I decided to make Him the center. I went from a depressed feeling to joy; the love of God poured into my heart.”
After attending a Christian college he considered going to seminary. He says, “I asked God to confirm it for me. I had 60 people in one month tell me I should.” He enrolled in Alliance Theological Seminary, where he first learned about the small-group-church concept.
After marrying his wife, Jen, Pastor Rob took a job as a discipleship and evangelism/church-planting pastor at Olivet Memorial Church (C&MA) in Brockton, Massachusetts . He says, “I knew that God wanted to do something here in New England. I would not have chosen this place, but God chose me.”
Pray as South Shore Community Church’s small groups reach New England for Christ.