The Meeting House Church

Location: Salem, MA
Church Planter: Matt Kaminski
Website: www.themeetinghousechurch.com

When you think of Salem, Massachusetts, what comes to mind? Most likely your thoughts turn to witches, the occult, and paganism. Salem’s downtown is marked by the occult as well as tourist traps making a few dollars from the tragic events of the 1692 witch trials. The atmosphere in sections of Salem’s downtown is sacrilegious, irreverent, and oppressive, especially around October 31^st.

But the heart and soul of Salem is not the pagan community. Salem is a city of 42,000 people similar to most small cities in Massachusetts; parents are working hard to raise their children; people are gathering regularly at downtown cafés; twenty-something’s are trying to get a start in life; and people are hanging out at one of Salem’s fantastic parks.

Where is the good news of Jesus in this city? Good question. Evangelical churches have not survived the test of time in Salem. Most of the Christians who presently live in Salem love living here. Salem is a hidden jewel on the north shore of Boston.  But Christians have found more fertile and friendlier soil in churches outside of Salem. So, a city from where the first missionaries in the United States were sent to the Far East is ironically in need of missionaries inside its borders.

The Meetinghouse Church, compelled by the wonderful grace and love of Jesus, is settling into Salem neighborhoods. We’re a church structured as a network of home groups who meet every Sunday in homes. Once a month we gather our groups corporately for worship and the Lord’s Table. At the Meetinghouse Church, the gospel of Jesus is central, discipleship is our focus and our goal is to impact Salem with the gospel one person at a time, neighborhood by neighborhood.

The pagan community and the tourist traps aren’t going anywhere soon. They’ve got too much invested. But Christians taking the gospel outside the city is not an option. Central to the gospel is the missional call of every Christian to be salt and light to its community. We love this city and those who live here. It greatly needs the gospel of Jesus to be spoken and lived within its city limits.