By Asst. Pastor John Westerholm.
Valley Bible Church is a community of people who celebrate our hope in Jesus and bring that hope to those around us. Valley, as we call it, is a regional church with people who gather in Haddam from over twenty towns in the Southern Connecticut Valley. These towns range from Cromwell to Old Lyme and from Colchester to Durham though a majority comes from Haddam and East Haddam.
The Church began in 1978 when a group of people who had been attending churches in other towns began to meet together in homes in Haddam on Sunday evenings for Bible Study and prayer. In 1980 the group began conducting regular Sunday morning worship services, and in 1981 called the church’s first full time pastor, Rev. Gary Highlander. Gary was the pastor until 1988. Rev. John Westerholm became the second pastor in January of 1990. Pastor John has been the Senior Pastor at Valley until November 2017 and currently continues on staff in an Associate role. That means he has been in the community and at the church for about three-quarters of the church’s history. In November, 2017, Rev. Chad Hemphill became the Senior Pastor. Chad had served as Associate Pastor at VBC since January of 2010.
Since its beginning Valley Bible Church, Haddam’s newest house of worship, has had a number of staff serving with the Senior Pastor. These included youth pastors Brad Chase (1988 to 2002), Mark Imbriglio (2012 to 2015) and Seth Nuzum who first came to Valley in 2004. Seth leads our Student Ministry as well as our worship music ministry. Associate pastors have included Douglas Knowles (1999 to 2009) and Peter Sanderson (2006-2009). Lisa Swanson has served as the full time Office Administrator since 2007.
From its earliest days Valley Bible Church has sought to be associated with other churches for fellowship, support and to be a part of the larger body of Christ. This desire led to an association with the Evangelical Free Churches of America in 1979. Our desire as a church is to teach and preach the Word of God, but even more importantly to live it.
From a facilities standpoint the infant church led a nomadic existence, meeting at first in the old Haddam Town Hall (a.k.a. “The Academy”), and sequentially through the following Town of Haddam buildings: Olde Schoolhouse Meeting Place (across from the Brainerd Library), Haddam Elementary School, and Burr District School. Because of its central location HES became a preferred and effective venue. Mid-week prayer meetings and choir rehearsals were held in the original combination library/dining hall building at Camp Bethel.
In 1984 the church purchased property on Turkey Hill Road in Haddam. In November 1986, the building opened for worship services utilizing a multipurpose room/gym in addition to classrooms. The Lord’s timing was perfect because at that time asbestos-removal at Haddam Elementary, in conjunction with the construction of the new auditorium, would have evicted the fledgling church, leaving it with no adequate central meeting place. There have been two additional building phases, one for nursery, Sunday School rooms and a kitchen in 1990 and the present two-story worship center and classrooms which opened in 2005. The lower level was converted to a Children’s Ministry Center in 2016. At that time the larger upstairs multipurpose room became the Student Ministry Center. There is a robust children’s ministry called “Journey With Jesus” that meets with a separate program during each of the two Sunday morning services. Students grades 6-12 have their own time to meet on Wednesday evenings from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m.
Since the early ‘90’s Valley Bible Church has had a goal “to be and make disciples of Jesus.” There have been several forms that this has taken since then. In the mid 90’s Valley Bible Church experienced great growth numerically and spiritually through a series of two year discipleship groups. Those continued for five generations of classes from the original two groups. Today discipleship happens primarily through Life Groups that meet weekly in homes. These groups meet to study God’s Word on a deeper level in order to translate the teaching and preaching from the Bible on Sunday morning to daily life throughout the week. One of our favorite phrases is that we seek to “do life and mission together.”
From its beginning, Valley Bible Church has maintained a strong missions presence. This includes involvement and support of those who serve the Lord in the local community, as well as in other countries. There have also been many who have gone on short term trips to locations around the world. One of our main destinations has been to help build a camp with Word of Life in El Salvador.
In 2017 Valley Bible Church began to hold an exciting free family event called “Eggstravaganza.” Its purpose is to give as a gift to anyone in the community. The day consists of games, crafts, food, egg hunts, and many other activities put on by the church to provide a safe and fun time. This year the Eggstravaganza will be Saturday, April 6, 2019 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Valley Bible Church began holding Vacation Bible School even while the church was meeting in the schools. That continues today. VBS is another exciting event held the week after school dismisses at the end of June. This time is for children ages 4 through 6th grade and involves about 150 children and about 100 workers each morning for a week. It consists of games, crafts, and snack time built around a Bible lesson taught through a Bible drama. It is a wonderful week that only seems to get better each year.
Currently, Valley Bible Church holds two identical worship services on Sundays at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Services consist of singing contemporary worship songs with a worship band and a message from the Bible. Everyone is welcome. Dress is casual.
At the beginning of our story, we identified our purpose as a church as sharing our hope in Jesus. It is that hope that gives us confidence as we look to the future. We look with hope, not in our past or in our present but in the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ. We believe Jesus is not only Lord of the church but is also Lord of all history. We believe that all of history moves toward the day when Jesus will be recognized as King of kings and Lord of lords. We are pleased and desire to be a faithful part of his work until that day comes.
Photo by Sally Haase.
