The Beginning
Hey y’all!
Thank you for taking a few minutes to hear about what we have going on in Chester, Vermont! My wife and I moved to rural Vermont with the intent of restarting the Congregational Church of Chester. Instead of simply telling you about our town, we wanted to share ten things about the Chester area we’ve learned in our ten months her.
Chester is every bit of the “Hallmark town” that pictures make it look like.
Smitty’s is great for shopping, but even better for subs.
There are bears. And there are skunks. Stay outside at night long enough and you’ll probably see both.
Sometimes the weatherman calls for two inches of snow, but he really means twenty “surprise” inches.
A lady in our neighborhood keeps a horse in her backyard.
The closest Walmart is 45 minutes away.
Cell phone service is a privilege, not a guarantee.
Chester has five seasons: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Mud.
Being from North Carolina, it is fair to say that the South is stereotypically passive aggressive. Vermont is aggressively passive.
Most people here have never experienced the Gospel.
The latest statistics show that over 99% of people in the greater Chester area are not Christians, and while we’ve met some solid Christians in the community, the statistics are undoubtedly true. Our goal for our first year here has been to discern where a restarted church can thrive in this community. We quickly found out, as strange as it may sound, that a restarted church doesn’t have much of a place in Chester. The Gospel witness in Chester, Vermont needs a fresh expression of what it means to follow Jesus. We thought we were called as church planters, but the Lord had different plans: He called us as missionaries to a culture where we already speak the language.
We’ve had a lot of people ask about what we’re doing in Chester, so we decided to start this site as a way for you to keep up with our lives and church journey. Our biggest ask is that you wouldn’t simply read or watch our updates and go along with your day, but that you would come alongside us in this journey through your prayers. You might be hours away from rural Vermont, but your continual prayers make you an active participant in what the Lord is doing in Chester.
Pray that the Lord would continue to go before us, softening the hearts of the people of Chester, Vermont.
Pray that the roots of the Gospel would continue to be planted amongst the town.
Pray that Marissa and I would faithfully discern and follow the plan God has for us, and that our trust in Him would continue to grow day-by-day.
Every month, we’re going to update this site with what we’ve got going on and how you can come alongside us in prayer. Sometimes, our updates might include specific things you can prayer for, and others, like this month, the prayers might be more general and big-picture focused. Sometimes we’ll include vlogs and recaps of the funny things we get into, and other times it’ll be ways we find the Lord working and how He’s working in and through us. Whatever our updates look like, we want you to be a part of what the Lord is doing in Chester, Vermont.
Please feel free to share our updates with anyone you think would join in praying for Chester and our journey here. We’re always available if you have any questions or want to hear more about what we’ve got going on.
In Christ, now and forever,
Jon and Marissa Bryant
Only one life, ‘twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.
