Connecticut Calling

By Lynn-Hoden Arthur

The Northern Movement of Free Will Baptists began in New England in 1780, when Benjamin Randall and a handful of fellow believers established a Free Will Baptist church, which continues today in New Hampshire. Hundreds, then thousands of churches followed, spreading across the New England countryside and eventually into the western frontiers of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan.

Even today, when driving through New England, you find towns where streets and avenues are named after famous Free Will Baptist ministers and leaders, and the Freewill Baptist name is common on historical markers.

Sadly, two centuries later, the denomination has no presence in three of the six New England states—Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut—and only one church in Maine. Why do so few Free Will Baptists remain in New England? Part of the answer is obvious. In 1910-1911, the Randall movement merged with Northern Baptists, and though a scattering of congregations refused to go along with the merger, the great majority of Free Will Baptist churches, colleges, and institutions simply disappeared into another movement. New England Free Will Baptists never recovered.

Since the National Association of Free Will Baptists formed in 1935, the Free Will Baptist population has centered in the Southeast and Midwest, in states such as Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina. New England seems a world away, and it is challenging to get workers to leave their families to minister so far out-of-the-way. It’s much easier and more comfortable to stay close to “roots” and families. But in Genesis 12, God told Abraham to “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee.”

I truly appreciate men like Jim and Joel Nason who have labored faithfully in New Hampshire for a quarter of a century; Jim Martin and Brian Williams who are starting churches in Rochester and Buffalo, New York; Darryl Grimes in Erie, Pennsylvania; and Bill Reynolds in Rhode Island. These states had virtually no Free Will Baptist presence, but God has blessed their efforts. I pray the same will become true in Connecticut, where our small group of Free Will Baptist believers remains isolated from the rest of the Free Will Baptist world.

I am grateful to Tennessee pastor Tim York, who graciously includes us in his Tennessee church services via Skype and FaceTime. But worship via Internet lacks fellowship on a personal level—no conversations over coffee, no sounding board in spiritual matters, no face-to-face friendships. We need other Free Will Baptists in Connecticut!

We’ve been praying for someone to start a church here in Plantsville. We invite you, the reader, to come for a visit and get to know us. Connecticut is a small state (roughly 60 by 100 miles). Only Rhode Island and Delaware are smaller. Yet Connecticut boasts a population of nearly 4 million, making it the 29th most populated state in the U.S. What a tremendous opportunity for evangelism and church growth.

Called the Constitution State, the Nutmeg State, and The Land of Steady Habits, Connecticut played an important role in the federal government of the United States. The Fundamental Orders adopted by the Connecticut colony January 14, 1639, contain many of the principles upon which the United States government was later founded.

Much of southern and western Connecticut falls into the New York City metropolis, an area widely referred to as the Tri-State Region. Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, the west by New York, the north by Massachusetts, and the east by Rhode Island. Our town of Plantsville borders Cheshire and lies between Hartford, Waterbury, and New Britain.

Are you the one God is calling to Plantsville, Connecticut…or perhaps one of the other 169 towns across the state? Are you ready to answer His call? Or will you choose to ignore His still, small voice? Interestingly enough, the state motto of Connecticut is Qui transtulit sustinet: “He Who Transplanted Still Sustains.”

For more information, please contact Cliff Arthur by email: CliffordArthur@cox.net, or by cell phone (203) 233-5712.

About the Writer: Lynn Hoden-Arthur and her husband Cliff meet with a small group of Free Will Baptist believers in Connecticut.