The following item has been transcribed from excerpts of an unpublished article entitled, "In the Beginning," written by Louise Worcester.
In the northern Maine area, where I used to live, the Church of God first became known in the mid thirties....
Somewhere in the vicinity of 1933, the first Church of God family we knew came to our town. They had intended to go into Canada but had been turned back at the border in Calais. The town of Prentiss was about eight miles off Rt. 6 and about half way between Calais and Bangor.
They must have made some inquiries and learned there was a Pentecostal church there. They were made welcome and given food and lodging. They stayed awhile and took over the services. People traveled those days on very little money and a lot of faith. People everywhere always opened their homes to other Christians. Hospitality was their trade mark. Not only did they share but enjoyed meeting, getting acquainted, and fellowshipping.
Our church was in a real decline. We had not had a regular pastor in over ten years. We welcomed anyone and were thankful that they had chosen to stay with us awhile. Many came and went. I think we accepted anyone who was Pentecostal. We didn’t have as many differences as today.
In 1935 a young couple from the church came from Portland. Their names were Hubert and Rita Flowers. They came in early winter. Someone gave them the use of a log cabin. She was a very gifted piano player, and they both sang. I never saw the inside of the cabin, but I know now they must have had to do without any of the things we take for granted today. I do remember her saying that she stuffed rags into the cracks between the logs to keep some of the cold out. I think they stayed maybe two months.
In late summer of 1936, a man [Millard E. Littlefield], his wife and his grandmother arrived in town. He went to the lady who had the keys to the church. When she first saw him she was not impressed and did not think he looked like a preacher. But the first words he said were that the Lord had sent him. He wanted to know if she would allow him to have the keys and start services. When he said the Lord had sent him, she said she could not refuse. She had prayed so long to have someone sent by God.
He stayed a year. Some were saved. Others that had not attended church regular became very active. He established the church and took in members. They left Prentiss to go to Prince Edward Island to start a church over there.
We were so blessed, for the next pastor and his family were much loved by people far and near. Through all the decades since, this family has a very special place in my memory. His name was
James Theodore Murray. His wife used to call him Theodore. Her name was Lillian, and they had two little girls named Audrey and Pauline.
The Murrays came from Cleveland, Tennessee. They left job, friends and relatives. They knew little about the cold winters and inconveniences they would be called upon to endure. They just accepted it all and went to work.
The parsonage was small. It had been a building that we had used summers to feed people who came to conventions. The former pastor, Brother Littlefield, had taken and made it into a place to live. There was no indoor plumbing, no electricity, and the only fuel we used then was wood. The wood had to be cut, hauled home and split. Of course the men in the church helped with this. But Pastor Murray was never afraid of hard work. They had no well, and water had to be carried from a neighbor for everything.
Depression times and people were not very well off. Sometimes the mid week offering would be less than a dollar. About five [fifty?] percent of the members were women who did not work. So tithes were not much. They depended a lot on food the people would bring in. In the country where people have gardens and animals, food is easier to give than money. Sister Murray used to sew a lot. She made clothes for the girls and her own dresses. Not having a sewing machine, she used to use my mother’s. Sometimes she would stay nearly all day cutting and sewing. Pauline would play around the house and in the yard....
They [the Murrays] left Prentiss in the spring of 1940. Their destination was West Enfield. It was a small town about thirty-five miles away. Brother Murray took a full time job in Howland. It was just across the river from where they lived. So things were easier for them there. That is where their oldest child Audrey became very sick. I do not remember the year she died. They took her back to Cleveland for burial. A few years there he established a new church.
Then they moved to Lincoln Center. There was already a nice church building there. The man who had built the church had died. His daughter had gotten to know the Murrays. After they moved there they bought a nice home. They were there for several years. My mother died in 1960, and they were there then. Through those years they lived close enough so we still were good friends. When they left there, they went to Portland, and we sort of lost contact with them....
There are a lot of testimonies of how those first newcomers lived by faith. How God supplied the different needs they had. How He protected them and took care of them when they were traveling hundreds of miles with small children and little money to go on.
I remember a Brother MacNevins, who was on one of those long journeys. They had five children. I heard him give this testimony, and it just stuck in my mind. Their car broke down, and they were miles from anyone they knew. He drove into a garage, and the owner told him he was closing for the night and couldn’t do the repairs until the next morning. They were desperate. It was very cold and only the car to sleep in. So he explained the situation to the owner. He still would not do the work then. He told them they could drive their car into the garage, that it would be plenty warm. So they spent the night in the garage. He said there was a school bus in there, and his wife slept in the long seat in the rear of it. He always was so thankful to God for having that nice warm place for his family. He called it the place the Lord had provided.
There was another church much closer to Bangor than ours. It was in the town of Exeter. This was a very active church even before ours. I went there once to an all day meeting. There was a wonderful move of the Spirit among the young people there. They were a group that really knew how to worship. They were real prayer warriors and prayed with people. The only other girl in my church, who was near my age was married. So I enjoyed the fellowship with the girls in Exeter. I had been saved during a six weeks Bible session in the town of Appleton. It was a girl from the Exeter church who prayed and wouldn’t let me give up the night I received the Holy Ghost. She was sixteen years old.
The church in Bangor started somewhere around that time. Two women came. I don’t remember their names. They rented a place on the third floor, just off Maine Street. I don’t remember the name of the street. Today there is a park and a water fountain there.
So in the beginning there were four churches north of Bangor. Two of them still remain. The Lincoln Center church is still the same building. This was truly a mission field. Thank God for those early pioneers who had such a love for souls that they were willing to sacrifice so much. But with hearts full of love, faith in their God and a vision for the future they came. Brother Murray spent the rest of his life and was buried in Maine. Many of them are now with Jesus, and great is their reward for their obedience and faithfulness. They answered the call. Today we continue to carry on what they started and see souls lost born into the kingdom.
The purpose of New England Fire is to encourage dialog relevant to the history of the Church of God (Cleveland, TN) in the New England states.
