by David Dixon, Executive Director, Eastern PA Alliance District
On April 2, 2023, Nate Howard, our District Superintendent, walked through the doors of Missio Dei Alliance Church in Shamokin Dam and set up a small circle of chairs in the lobby.
Soon a little over a dozen people arrived to discuss whether to close the doors of their church for good. As they prayed together on that Palm Sunday, they concluded that Jesus was not done building His church in Shamokin Dam.
Two men in the group, Chris and Cody, stepped forward to say they would lead the small group until next steps could be figured out. Each person left that day not knowing for certain what would happen but with a glimmer of hope that God was up to something.
Over the next few weeks, our district team began to coach and interact with the new leadership to discern what the next steps might be. When we met with the small group on Sunday, June 25, I shared with the congregation that the plan was not to simply bring in another pastor. If we desired to see the church become a multiplying church, perhaps there was a better way to approach this scenario.
As a group, we began to talk through what it might look like for Misseo Dei to work with other regional Alliance churches for coaching, support, and eventually, even a replant. The desire of the group was not to simply get back on their feet. They desired to be a multiplying church where disciples are made, leaders raised up, and churches planted. They wholeheartedly wanted to embrace the vision for regional multiplication, so we began to pray and work in this direction believing that this was how Jesus was leading.
Regional Collaboration
Unbeknownst to us on that hot June morning, the Lord was already at work in the hearts and minds of the elders and leadership of Lewisburg Alliance Church. They had been prayerfully asking Jesus if he was leading them to take a larger role in owning their region. (We refer to their region as the Central Region, spanning from Mifflinburg to Berwick.) In their growing conviction that the Lord was moving them toward this, they reached out to Chris and Cody at Missio Dei and the District Office to offer their support and desire to take part in replanting the church in Shamokin Dam.
Over the next several months, leadership from Missio Dei, Lewisburg, and the district gathered to prayerfully plan out what this partnership might look like. In the first meeting, I asked, “If all of this works out, what will it look like for this to be truly successful?” I can’t remember who said it first, but one of the responses came back, “When we have planted another church together.”
That’s multiplication thinking. That was one of many moments where we saw the Spirit at work and helping us along the way.
With that multiplication goal in mind, a plan was laid out for the Missio Dei people to engage in small groups together through the end of the year. At the same time, Lewisburg began to build a residency program and search for a candidate who would come on staff with Lewisburg for a season, with the goal of becoming the next pastor in Shamokin Dam.
A New Season
This continued through the beginning of 2024, and we are now excited to announce that Andrew Brackmann and his family will be moving to Shamokin Dam in August to begin serving in this role. Andrew and his wife, Emily, and their four children, are coming from Valley View Chapel in Long Valley, NJ where Andrew has been serving faithfully for the past 13 years.
With Andrew set to begin August 20, this moves the partnership between Shamokin Dam and Lewisburg into a new season. Together with the leadership of Lewisburg and the group from Missio Dei, Andrew will help create a development plan that will see the Shamokin Dam church have a strong emphasis on disciple-making, move toward being an accredited church again, and lay the foundation for the Shamokin Dam and Lewisburg churches to plant a new church in the Central Region. The “re-launch” of the Shamokin Dam church will likely be Fall 2025 or Winter 2025.
Please be in prayer for Andrew and his family as they adjust to living in Shamokin Dam. Please pray for Dave Muckel and the leadership of Lewisburg Alliance as they develop Andrew and walk with the people of Missio Dei. Please continue to pray for Chris and Cody as they walk through this next season of their church. Lastly, please pray for this multiplication vision to be realized so that the Gospel may go forward in Eastern PA.
