A Church You Should Know
apohaqui Community
shippers each weekend, meeting in two locations.
Church, New Brunswick
By Charlene de haan
The Grover Mission
ACC explains its mission using
the simple concepts of “near
and far” – concepts that, Vincent points out, even young
children already know from
listening to Grover the Mup-pet on children’s television.
“ACC exists to help people
who are far from God come
near to God and become passionate Christ-followers.”
This simple strategy, patterned after the first-century
church, encompasses five priorities: core habits of the faith,
radical generosity, authentic
friendships, vital communities and extreme living.
Members are encouraged
to ask, “Am I living with extreme imagination of how I can
impact my circle of influence
for the kingdom of God?”
The Sticky Factor
An obvious example of impact
is through community service –
and service actually grows the
church as well. “When you
serve, you stick,” declares Vincent. “You feel connected, and
you make a lasting impact with
your life. Getting people serving has a far greater ‘sticky factor.’
People come to serve more easily than to join a small group.”
The majority of weekly Life Groups “get out of their
living rooms,” Vincent reports, as they respond to the
question “What would the kingdom of God look like if
it were truly manifest in our community?”
Would the kingdom look something like this? Imagine a
caller from the Red Cross phoning to ask “Are you the church
that does extreme makeovers for local community groups?”
In Apohaqui the Red Cross needed a new welcome area and
office makeover, with doors and windows replaced. A contractor in the congregation examined the need and estimated
a volunteer work crew might do the work over three or four
days. Hearing this, the Red Cross agreed to pay for supplies
if the church could provide the labour.
Members volunteered at projects across the community in June 2008. one group
brought new life to a flower bed overrun with weeds at sussex Middle school.
apohaqui Community Church (ACC) was dying in
1996. It had been the local Baptist church since 1873
in a rural community about 60 kilometres east of Saint
John, N.B. Apohaqui – the town’s name means “where two
rivers meet” – has a population of 250. It’s also the hometown
of a former premier of New Brunswick, Frank McKenna.
But in 1996, a remaining core of six church members
invited pastor Kevin Vincent to pack up his family and return
to the neighbourhood where he grew up and to a small 13-
metre by 20 metre church with no running water.
When Vincent agreed, the congregation had an opportunity for a fresh start, and it made the most of it by inviting in other people from the surrounding community. Their
ranks swelled to a couple dozen by the time they started
meeting in an elementary school. Today they draw 550 wor-
