Reflections on God's Work
Part 10
God is at work. In 2023, the Beacon feature articles will seek to capture a snapshot of the ways God is working in churches across our conference. We pray that these articles encourage your faith and spur you on to join God in the work he is doing in your local congregation.
~Kelsey Jurkovich, Publication & Literature Committee
“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 ESV).
While there are many words I could use to describe Living Hope Ministries, one that has been echoing in my mind is “perseverance.” To help you understand how this word relates to the identity of Living Hope, I will give you a glimpse of our history:
In August of 1948, a summer Bible school was initiated in the Watson, New York, area. The following year, Pine Grove Community Church held its first Sunday school session. The church held Sunday morning services, Bible studies, as well as a summer Bible school program. During this time, the church was pastored by Leon Martin (1952-63), Vernon Zehr (1964-94), and Nathan Zehr (1986-2016). In the early 1990s, due to some practical reasons, the church needed to relocate and found themselves at the end of Van Amber Road in Castorland, outside of the community where the church had been planted. The church remained in Castorland until 2020.
I was ordained in 2008 and began to serve as assistant pastor alongside Pastor Nate Zehr. As I think back on those first few years of pastoring, some of the images that have stuck in my mind are the times of standing in the foyer after the service with Vernon Zehr. He would look me in the eyes and every time he would say, “Keep on keeping on.” It wasn’t until 2016 that I started to understand the vision in that simple statement. Pastor Nate was stepping out of his role as senior pastor and gave me a box of papers and items that he had collected over the years as pastor. In that box was this newspaper clipping:
The words “plans to temporarily relocate” hit me square in the heart. Now I was starting to understand why Vernon gripped my hand and his almost desperate look into my eyes. Although I never asked Vernon what all was behind the statement “keep on keeping on,” I’m pretty confident I know. Vernon passed on his love and vision for the Watson community to his son, Nate, who in turn gave that vision to the congregation. Pastor Nate would often say, “Watson is where I feel at home.” That’s why I am confident that the meaning in that statement, “Keep on keeping on,” was “Persevere, don’t give up on the vision, God has called this local church to the Watson community—that’s still the plan.”
In 2019, we changed the name of the church from Pine Grove Mennonite Church to Living Hope Ministries, and on the first Sunday of 2020, we stepped away from the facility in Castorland and stepped toward the community of Watson. That step landed us just outside of the town of Watson in Lowville, where we started meeting at Abundant Life Community Church. Three months later, we were able to purchase land in the town of Watson and shortly after, started having services under a tent at the property. For about two and a half years, we met under the tent in the summer and at Abundant Life in the winter. On the first Sunday in October of 2023, we had our first Sunday service in the new building. We were back in Watson!
Living Hope has seen tremendous growth in the past three years, and I am convinced it is because of the many faithful men and women who did not grow weary of doing good and did not give up. I still scratch my head at times and wonder how 30 years can be a “temporary relocation,” but realize that when we persevere, “in due season we will reap.” I believe we are entering into that season at Living Hope because we “Keep on keeping on!”
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For a more complete history of the beginnings of the Pine Grove Community Church see Arlene Yousey’s book Strangers and Pilgrims pages 221-224.
This is such a blessing to hear. Thank you for persevering. We’re believing and praying that God will continue to do great things in the church there, beginning in Watson, but reaching out and affecting the whole world.