Sheffield Chapel

John and Audrey Downie and Bob and Mary Anderson left Old Parish Church in Sheffield and joined Hope Church in Lenox in 1972. Pastor Ross agreed to teach a Bible study in the Anderson’s home in Sheffield. The first meeting was Thursday evening, April 27, 1972 with a study of the book of Hebrews.

The Andersons and Downies were joined by Peggy Miller and several others from Sheffield who attended the weekly Bible studies. Because of other church duties, Pastor Ross was unable to continue the class for more than a few weeks. Others were sought to fill in, most of them being professors from Berkshire Christian College in Lenox, MA. Audry Downie, a previous member of Martindale Community Church in NY, knew Pastor John Duchardt and asked him to teach the Bible study. Agreeing to teach, he began on Thursday, September 7, 1972. Duke, as he was called, continued teaching each week thereafter.

As the weeks continued, the little group, led by the Holy Spirit, began to discuss the possibility of starting a local church. One evening someone in the group said, “Let’s do it!”, and away it went.

The group spent many exciting hours planning and dreaming. Pastor Duke suggested and everyone agreed, that the name of the church should be called SHEFFIELD CHAPEL.

At the time Pastor Ross considered Sheffield Chapel to be an outreach of his church. Five people left Hope Church to establish the new work in Sheffield.

On Sunday, January 6, 1974, the members of Hope Church presented a Commissioning Service to Sheffield Chapel in the Anderson’s living room. Pastor Duchardt conducted the 11:00 AM service. There were 25 worshippers present. Bob and Mary Anderson’s son-in-law, Bob Shannon, delivered the message during the evening service with 18 people in attendance.

Each Sunday thereafter for eight weeks, both morning and evening services were conducted by Pastor Duchardt in the Anderson’s living room. Attendance averaged 25 people.

On Sunday, March 3, 1974 the first service was held in the Anderson’s barn, which was converted into a beautiful chapel. The barn-chapel was used for worship services, while rooms in the house were used for Sunday school classes and the nursery. Coming short on space, after two and a half years, the congregation moved again.

“We had been pushing out the barn walls for quite some time,” Mrs. Downie said. Sunday School and worship services were moved to the Sheffield Grange Hall, while plans were coming to completion on a new building. People traveled from Pittsfield, Housatonic, and Egrement, MA and Cornwall, CT and NY state to hear God’s Word and worship Jesus Christ.

Sheffield Chapel moved for the final time into its current building at 1970 North Main Street, Sheffield, in 1984. The pews were filled and some were standing for the dedication service.

On Friday, October 17, 1984, Pastor Duchardt retired as a pastor of Sheffield Chapel. David Moynihan from AMOC (American Mission for Opening Churches) took over the position as a missionary pastor. The Chapel decided to stop receiving support from AMOC and stepped out in faith to be a self-supporting church after about five years. There was an initial vote to have Rev. Moynihan remain as pastor, but Pastor Moynihan felt that he was being led to another work. Before he left, Pastor Moynihan prepared the church to fill his position and initiated a Pastor Search Committee.

At this point the church functioned with guest preachers, Elders and Deacons. Jonathan Arnold filled the pulpit for over a year as Interim pastor.

The Lord steered the Pastoral Search Committee and church to call Pastor Mark Drinnenberg. Attendance went up markedly. Two short term missions projects and men attending Promise Keepers were highlights of his ministry. At the end of 1997, after four years at the Chapel, Pastor Drinnenberg returned to the Chicago area to start a new church.

William Perry, one of the longest standing members and elder of the church, stepped into the position of Interim Pastor after a vote of the congregation. William Perry served as Interim Pastor from January 1, 1998 until July 1998.

Pastor Chet Howes, from Castile, NY, began serving the Chapel on August 1, 1998 after a unanimous vote of the congregation. After seven plus years in Sheffield, in November 2005, Pastor Chet and his family left the Chapel to serve at a church in Ohio. Pastor George Karl began serving as our interim pastor in December 2005.

On September 15-17, 2006, Keith Becker and his wife Marie, natives of New Jersey, visited Sheffield Chapel from Jacksonville, Texas, where Keith had received his Master of Divinity. The Pastoral Selection Committee selected Keith from among 50+ applications to the position. On September 24, 2006 the congregation voted unanimously to have Keith continue God’s work at the Chapel. Keith and Marie have been married for 20 years and have three school aged children. Unfortunately, Pastor Keith could not sell his home in Texas, it was a struggle for him to travel back and forth to his family from our church. In the spring of 2007, Pastor Keith had moved back home to Texas.

Pastor George Karl served as our interim pastor for quite a while, and assisted us with forming another Pastoral Search Committee. On July 13th, 2008, the Pastoral Search Committee recommended to the congregation to extend the call to Corey McLaughlin to become the Pastor of Sheffield Chapel. With a unanimous vote, the members of Sheffield Chapel agreed, and Corey accepted in August 2008.