HOULTON, Maine – Last week, Shiretown Baptist church members signed papers to purchase a 4-acre property at 231 Smyrna St., Houlton.
The approximately $79,000 purchase is the first step in building a much needed new church, said Pastor Jeremiah Chasse.
“A lot of our people are really excited about it. It’s a big project and something that will require a lot of faith,” Chasse said.
The Smyrna Street property was purchased in a short-sale and after their offer was accepted by the attorney, it took several months for the bank to accept it.
For about three months the church members thought it was the direction they were going but were not certain.
“We were in limbo for over three months and finally we got the call from the real estate agent,” he said. “We finally put ink to paper and got the deal done and we bought it.”
The church has been growing slowly but surely for the past several years, said Chasse, a Houlton native who returned with his wife, Sarah, and five children three years ago to become the church’s pastor.
“Before I got here, the church had been growing and before 2020 they were talking about doing the things we are doing now,” he said. “Do we build, do we build somewhere else, do we add on to where we are now?”
But the COVID-19 epidemic stalled talks and then the former pastor’s father died and he had to leave the church, Chasse said.
“I stepped in and moved up here and of course there is a transition process that happens – gain people, lose people – when you switch leadership,” he said.
Then about two years ago the church began to slowly grow again.
And now the sanctuary at the present Randall Street church is near its 90-person capacity each Sunday, he said.
“If you’re close to being maxed out and people walk in the doors and they can’t find a place to sit they won’t come back,” he said.
In the interim they have made adjustments like adding more chairs and having the kids leave for junior church right away.
“It’s been awesome what God has done,” he said.
The membership had considered building at their current location, there wasn’t enough room for a larger church and parking.
At the new property there is a barn and two homes on the property. But Chasse said they will tear down the homes, and re-side the barn.
The plan is to break ground this year and next year start building the planned 6,000 square-foot church which is nearly double the size of their current church.
Because they are currently bursting at the seams, teens do not have a place for their Sunday school class, the fellowship hall is too small for group meals or lunch after church and fitting into the sanctuary is a challenge.
The new church will give the members more nursery space, more Sunday school classrooms, bigger fellowship hall, more bathrooms and a larger sanctuary, he said.
How will they pay for the new church?
“We will have to trust God for that,” Chasse said.
