GREENFIELD — The words of the poem lingered with Amy Pike Ladas. The longer she thought about them, the more they clarified her ministry role and pushed her toward a new venture.
Meanwhile, the Rev. Rick Moreland officiated at a wedding in the area in August, down the road from Riley Park and Hancock County Historical Society’s Chapel in the Park Museum.
“It’s just like the Lord put the building on my heart,” he said.
The spiritual nudges that Moreland and Ladas each describe have been part of the birth of a new church, Haven of Hope. It meets at 10 a.m. Sundays in the museum, 28 N. Apple St.
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So far, about 25 people have been attending services, said Moreland, the church’s pastor. The nondenominational church first met in late August. Leaders want it to have a strong service focus, working with groups such as God’s Open Arms to help people who are homeless and supporting events such as the “Love Runs Deep” 5K to benefit Love INC of Greater Hancock County.
“Outreach has been on all of our hearts,” Moreland said. “We give where we can and help where we can.”
That spirit of reaching out is articulated in the poem that moved Ladas. Sam Shoemaker’s “I Stand at the Door” describes a door through which people pass to find God. The narrator talks about helping wanderers find that door, even avoiding walking in too far himself so that he remains close enough to reach out and help those outside.
“The most tremendous thing in the world / Is for men to find that door — the door to God,” wrote Shoemaker, a 20th-century Episcopal priest credited with helping shape Alcoholics Anonymous. “The most important thing that any man can do / Is to take hold of one of those blind, groping hands / And put it on the latch — the latch that only clicks / And opens to the man’s own touch.”
Ladas felt a similar call to be such a doorkeeper for others. About a year ago, she left her telecommunications job of more than 30 years and founded The Latch Ministries, a nonprofit organization designed to foster networking between ministries and to fill in any gaps discovered.
“The vision is that more will place their hand on the latch to Christ,” she said.
She’s been meeting with organizations and churches, gathering data about what types of help are already out there and what needs might yet be unmet. It’s given the congregation ideas about what good works are already going on in the community that they might come alongside in service.
“We want to be a stream … instead of a pond,” Moreland said. “As we grow … our main focus is going to be outreach to the homeless and people who are in need.”
Ladas said the congregation, though small right now, has great enthusiasm to give and serve.
“It’s not about the volume … or the amount,” she said. “It’s the heart.”
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The services: They start at 10 a.m. Sundays. There’s music, a time for people who want to share testimonies to do so, and Moreland’s message. "We’re non-denominational — just preach out of the Bible," the pastor said. He emphasizes there’s no dress code; come as you are.
The singing is to recorded music for now. Moreland said he’d welcome a musician.
The setting: The Chapel in the Park is a museum operated by Hancock County Historical Society. Haven of Hope rents it from the society on Sunday mornings.
The building originally stood in Philadelphia west of Greenfield and was home to Philadelphia United Methodist Church; when that church built a new building, this one was moved to Riley Park in 1981.
Other churches have met in the structure since it was moved. Park Chapel Christian Church got its start (and its name) there in the mid 1980s. Anglican Church of the Holy Spirit met there for a time. King James Bible Church met there from 2005-2009.
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