Evangelist and perhaps student Jared Flower (pictured) has targeted downtown Springfield for a new ministry. In a recent blog post, he describes finding three available buildings, formerly theaters, which are well-placed for a house of worship.
Flower writes that the greater Springfield region is ripe for evangelism:
The area of New England, is old, set in its ways. Liberal thinking and acceptance of all lifestyles have hardened the regions acceptability of Christ. This region is crying out for an answer.
In Connecticut and Massachusetts alone there [were] over 9,900,000 violent crimes in the past year. Massachusetts is in the bottom 20 percent of unemployed citizens.
…I believe it is evident that a spirit needs to be lifted off of the Northeast, and mighty rushing water needs to rush through the region and clean out and refresh people. People need to be reached and norms need to be broken.
In a separate post, Flower outlines the need to target Springfield specifically:
The Pioneer Valley has fallen into a stagnant period. There hasn’t been a renewal of the Holy Spirit in quite some time. Due to the liberal nature, and tradition of this region, it seems that the city of Springfield has grown cold to the move of Christ in the area.
The area definitely has problems with poverty. Forty thousand people live below the poverty level. The per capita [income] for the city is about $15,000 which is not a lot by any means. I know for a fact there is not one Pentecostal emphatic church for young adults anywhere in the area.
There are about 20 colleges and universities in the immediate area. None of which have a Pentecostal group or organization. This means that there is a need for a program with these demographics.
Of the church locations Flower has pinpointed, two are on Main Street, he writes, and have been renovated within the last five years, "up to date with seats and all multimedia needs." The other location "hasn’t been touched in about ten years," he writes. "It sits off of one of the main streets and has been vacant for quite some time."
"All three of these locations would serve a great purpose," Flower writes. "They are all easy to get to. Parking is either free or especially easy to find, and each location allows for an aesthetic proclamation of a Church."
Similarly, when Amherst-based blogger Tom Devine visited his old neighborhood in Springfield’s Pine Point recently, he discovered that former Mutual Ford Woods area is now in the process of becoming a church.
Many religious groups may choose to see the "abject" nature of the city as an opportunity to gain converts. They might translate what they see as poverty and lack of education to mean that there are people searching for spiritual answers who simply haven’t found them yet.
And maybe poor people are more open to conversion. Maybe they’re just more open-minded in general, having undergone generally more hardship than the rest of society. And yet they lack God in their lives, the thinking seems to go; if the Holy Spirit were present, perhaps they wouldn’t be poor anymore? And thus they also wouldn’t be violent, or criminal?
Under this rubric, people who are materially wealthy have already found the answers, perhaps worshiping the gods of cash and bigger lawns, and obviously they’ve chosen not to live in Springfield anymore?
