join us in 2023
The Chapel – Hanover
We are endeavoring to plant a daughter church in South Hanover as a part of our heritage as an “Outreach for Christ!”
Why Hanover?
For our first plant we decided on Hanover for three reasons:
- We already had a core group of people who were coming from Hanover. They could help start the new location.
- According to our studies, South Hanover is a fast-growing area in need of more biblically grounded churches. There are many large new neighborhoods being built all around the area. Over 60% of Hanoverians consider themselves non- religious. Only 10% are considered evangelicals.
- Lastly, as the church planter of the new location, the Strattons are well connected in the Hanover community. Josh grew up in South Hanover and has formed a lot of relationships over the years. This provides us with the best opportunity to network and invite people to our new church.
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Our Vision
About the Strattons
Josh and Amy live in Hanover. They met at college at Bloomsburg University and their passion for ministry and the church drew them together. They were married in 2004 and settled in Hanover. They have three children: Brie 22, Josi 8, and Levi 5. They love going on family trips and playing board games. Josh has a Master of Transformational Leadership from Bethel Seminary and has worked in ministry for 20 years. He loves playing disc golf and doing video editing for fun. Amy is a ELL teacher for Hanover public schools and has a fun side-business focused on health and fitness. Brie has quite the talent for baking and loves to show it off. Josi is completely in love with horses and Levi is convinced he is destined to become a ninja.
The Calling:
I have been in ministry for 20 years and I have always been excited about church planting. I was drawn to the idea of creating something new that was able to reach our community in different ways. But, I never felt like I had the right partner or the clarity around a vision to plant. About 5 years ago I had an Opportunity to visit New Life Community Church in Chicago. They’re one church in 27 locations all around the city. Every location I saw was reaching their neighborhood for Jesus in intimate ways. They weren’t asking people to drive long distances to connect with them. They were building faith communities in their own backyard. I was overwhelmed by the sense of mission and connectedness the pastors had for each other and their vision. No one was on their own. I will never forget the pastors all worshiping together in unity during one of their regular churchwide pastoral meetings. I wanted this for our area, a church on fire for reaching their neighborhoods. Around that time our Sr. Pastor, Scott Morgan came to me with a desire in his heart to plant a new church. He felt rather than building a bigger building, this was the best way to reach outside of Littlestown. God was pulling us both in the same direction.
The Vision:
The Chapel has a big vision to reach 1030 by 2030 for the Gospel. For us “reach” doesn’t mean just sitting in a church service on Sunday morning. We dream of a church where in 10 years 1030 people are actively engaged in the four areas of our vision.
Connecting:
We believe that life is better together, so we prioritize joining together in small groups for mutual caring, support, and service. We dream of a faith community where everyone in your family feels like they belong and have partners to overcome life’s challenges.
Growing:
We believe that maturity is measured by how much we are like Jesus Christ. As his disciples, we’re committed to thinking, speaking, and acting like Him. We’re also committed to helping as many others become disciples of Jesus as possible. We dream of a faith community where we help each other build and grow our relationship with God.
Serving:
We believe that generosity is a superpower! It lifts others’ burdens and opens doors to share the good news of Jesus Christ to those outside the church. We engage with our community through can-do service, helping generously to lift burdens as the messengers of Jesus Christ. We do good works to build good will to share good news. We dream of a faith community that is an influencer for Jesus. Our church will show Hanover Jesus by making a difference in Hanover.
Reaching:
We believe that every neighborhood needs Jesus, so we’re endeavoring to reach the communities around us with the gospel of Jesus Christ by planting healthy churches to transform our community one neighborhood at a time. We dream of creating something worth replicating. We will be a community that is actively engaged in starting new locations from day one.
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How You Can Help
Pray
Join the Prayer Team
If you join our prayer team, we will be keeping you up-to-date with our launch team and sharing prayer requests through bi-weekly emails. We will also send you a prayer team refrigerator magnet and a monthly calendar .pdf to keep track of your prayer times. Joining this team means you are committing to pray for one year at least three times a week for the church plant. Also, we hope you will keep up with our prayer team emails as they come out.
Give
Partner With Us
Why expect everyone who calls the Chapel their church home to help start a new congregation? Because every neighborhood needs Jesus. For too long the church has said to the world, “Come to us.” Church planting is us meeting people where they are and sharing Jesus. It’s putting the “Go” in the “Gospel.” Every neighborhood needs Jesus. That’s why we ask you to join this sacrificial effort… so that every community can have a church where they can experience the love of Jesus.
Join
Join the Launch Team
Interested in joining us as we plant a new Chapel location in South Hanover? Fill out the form to let us know and we will be in touch with you!