On an average Lord’s Day morning at a traditional New England grange hall in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, a small but faithful band of four families, a preacher, and visitors meet to worship the Lord. On the surface, this fact offers nothing unusual, surprising, or exciting. Other churches in the area meet at the same time. This grange building previously has been the meeting place of two other churches. What makes this budding church out of the ordinary is that it has been planned and prayed about for nearly two decades.

About 19 years ago, the Lord moved Charles and Betty Burger—a couple with two children and Betty’s retarded sister living with them—from the Cambridge, Mass., congregation to western Massachusetts. They moved there to be part of a new work of the RPCNA, but that work folded after the first year. For a number of reasons, they were kept in the Berkshires, remaining members of Cambridge. Their family grew to number 11 souls (Charles, Betty, their eight children, and Betty’s sister, Peggy). They and the Cambridge congregation kept praying for a work in the Berkshires. The congregation struggled through vacancies and limited funds and kept on praying.

There has never been a Presbyterian church in Berkshire County, and no real Reformed church exists in the county either, though a few of the ministers the Burgers have known have had Reformed theology in their background. Like all of New England, Berkshire County is a spiritual wasteland. Though the Burgers live a few miles from where Jonathan Edwards preached in Stockbridge, the degree of light in this county is a flickering match. The darkness feels thick enough to cut.

In that darkness, in the fall of 2001 the Cambridge session proposed that the Burgers begin a Bible study. It took until June 2002 to get it started. A few others joined them. One family became regular attendees, the Rosses (Thea and her three sons). The Rosses and the Burgers had been friends in their homeschool group for years. In fall 2002, the Rosses began worshiping weekly with the Burgers in their home and traveling over two hours with them to Cambridge to worship once per month.

The Bible study attendance fluctuates but continues every Lord’s Day evening. In fall 2003, the session declared the Berkshires a preaching station. They rented the grange and supplied preaching twice monthly. The Rosses and the Burgers continued to worship in Cambridge once a month.

The supplied preachers encouraged both families. In addition, the fellowship dinners at their homes after worship enabled them to get to know the men preaching for them and their families. New friendships have grown. It has helped to know that people throughout the presbytery are praying for the group. With visitors from Cambridge, those at dinner sometimes have numbered 25. The weekly dinners continue to provide food and fellowship for regulars and visitors alike.

From the beginning, the Cambridge congregation has heartily supported the mission group with their enthusiasm, their prayers, their money, and their willingness to occasionally drive over two hours to worship with the Berkshire Mission. They have also supplied most of the preaching, with the Atlantic and St. Lawrence presbyteries helping as well. The work was advertised in the local Shopper’s Guide as well as by word of mouth. All the visitors so far have come in response to the ad.

Visitors did come regularly, but none came back—until March 2004 when John McCray and his wife, Pat Jones, joined the group. They pitched in and were an immediate encouragement. They live in Cambridge, but didn’t know the Cambridge RP congregation. They have a second home in the Berkshires, where they spend most weekends, and they were looking for a Reformed church there.

In the summer, another family—Matt and Michelle Moore and their two children—joined the group. They too were looking for a Reformed church. Preaching was increased to three times monthly.

In September 2004, the families met with the Cambridge session to assess the needs of the group. They decided to supply preaching every week, if men could be found to fill the pulpit. The Rosses and the Burgers would cease going to Cambridge once a month. This constituted a major step, as it cut them off from regular communion and fellowship with others at the Cambridge congregation. But it was a necessary step for the group. The session planned quarterly communions. Thus far, the Lord has provided men to fill the pulpit each week.

Into the pitch-blackness of western New England, the Lord has lighted a lamp. We (the Berkshire Mission families) pray it turns into a bonfire. In the meantime, we are grateful to God and praise Him for the beginnings of answered prayer of 19 years, for regular preaching and the men who have sacrificed to give it to us, for the folks from Cambridge who have traveled to boost our numbers and improve the singing, for the fellowship of this little band of four families who are getting to know one another better, for the work of the Cambridge session, and for the general support of the Cambridge congregation. Please, pray for us, that the lost would be saved and the Lord’s people drawn to the preaching of His Word. Pray that our contacts with family, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances would bear fruit. Pray as we minister in a number of sad situations in families around us. Pray for continued harmony among us as we experience growing pains. Pray for New England—that the land that was once a “city set on a hill” would again be ablaze with light.