HAVERHILL — Change is about to happen in the city's spiritual life, and it involves one of Haverhill's oldest church buildings.
BrookRidge Community Church has bought the former home of the First Congregational Church at 232 Main St. BrookRidge is an evangelical Protestant congregation that has held its services on Chadwick Street for the last four years.
The First Congregational Church building, constructed in 1859, is in the heart of busy Monument Square. The First Congregation membership has dwindled in recent years and the group has had trouble financially. The church was on the market for almost two years and sold to BrookRidge for $700,000, according to records on file with the Registry of Deeds.
The church is at the corner of Main and White streets. It is a Romanesque Revival style building with 17,900 square feet. For decades it had expensive Tiffany windows, which were sold by the First Congregational group two years ago.
BrookRidge's pastor, Stephen Squires, 37, said he hopes his nondenominational church will move into its new quarters in time for Advent Sunday, Nov. 30. He and other church members are looking forward to a "grand opening," he said.
"We had been talking about it since last March," Squires said of the sale. "They were incredibly helpful," he said of Colin Leach, pastor of First Congregational, and members of that church.
The First Congregational group plans to continue meeting at their minister's home, known as the parsonage for now, as they consider their future.
BrookRidge began meeting in Andover, then moved to Haverhill in 2004. The building the church uses on Chadwick Street used to be the People's United Methodist Church.
BrookRidge is a growing church that now has "well over 200 members," said Squires, a leader with an informal style who prefers wearing jeans to a suit and tie.
He attributed this growth to two factors: "The church can meet needs," he said. "People find us relevant." He noted BrookRidge offers recovery groups. The other factor, he said, is "giving people hope."
"The Bible is for all of us," said Squires, and its teachings are "relevant to everyday life."
The energetic pastor — he has two master's degrees, is working toward a doctorate in historical theology at Boston University and teaches at Endicott College, in addition to leading BrookRidge — offers another perspective.
"The church should matter to the community," he said.
As an example of this teaching, Squires and other church members spent last weekend working at Greenleaf Elementary School, which is just across the street from the church's current home.
"We had 10 people on Friday, 10 people on Saturday and 100 people on Sunday," Squires said of the volunteers.
They performed the community service at Greenleaf in lieu of their Sunday service. They painted classrooms, put down new mulch for the playground, installed new tiles on a floor and pulled weeds, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
"We purposely did not call the newspapers," Squires said. They were working to provide service, not gain publicity, he said.
Kids' Connection with Christ, the church's program for children, gave school supplies to the school, Squires said.
"Today, it's not about us," he said of the recent work session at the school.
Noting that "Jesus went everywhere," Squires said future outreach efforts might include adopting a park.
"You feel best about your life when you're not focusing on you," the pastor said.
Squires and the rest of the BrookRidge community are "superexcited" about the move across the Merrimack River to the church on Main Street. He sees some symbolism in going "across the bridge," the idea of "building bridges to faith."
"We're really excited. We'll have more people and great parking," said Judy Mabardy, who travels from Tewksbury to attend BrookRidge. It takes 40 minutes, but "it's worth it," she said.
Stephanie Morin of Woburn has been attending BrookRidge for four years.
"BrookRidge is alive and exciting," she said.
Andrew Martin, also of Woburn, plays guitar for the music ministry. He loves the music they play at BrookRidge, which he described as contemporary rock and gospel.
"I think it's a great community as well," he said.
The musicians were practicing for Sunday's service as well as a Christmas concert. Asked why they practiced for two hours without blinking an eye, the leader of the music ministry, Erin Vulgamore, said, "We love it."
Church on the move
What: BrookRidge Community Church.
Where: At the former People's United Methodist Church since 2005; now moving to former First Congregational Church, 232 Main St., a Haverhill landmark built in 1859.
Membership: More than 200 and growing, according to Pastor Stephen Squires.
Denomination: Nondenominational, but is evangelical Protestant.
