Hope, Love, And Faith At Newtown

By Nancy K. Crevier

Gathered together in the space they rent from Porco Karate Academy at 113 Church Hill Road, the small congregation of Faith at Newtown is new to the Newtown religious community. Pastor Tim Kuhn held his first service there on August 19, and was pleased at the turnout for the independent church that exists to glorify God. “We know it will take awhile [to build a congregation],” he said, and invited all who are curious to try the new church.

“I think we will bring a different style of worship from the other Newtown churches,” said Pastor Kuhn. “Our worship is always God-centered and not man-centered.” The church is driven totally by the Bible and what it says, Pastor Kuhn explained.

Pastor Kuhn and his wife, Cindi, who leads a Monday morning women’s Bible study at 9:30 am at the academy, are presently commuting each weekend from Pennsylvania, where he served as associate pastor at the Faith Baptist Church in Sellersville for 29 years. Both of them have been actively involved in vocational ministry since they were married 30 years ago.

“We are here on faith,” said Pastor Kuhn, adding that the couple hopes to quickly sell their home in Quakerstown, Penn., and find a place to live in the Newtown area.

While visiting friends in Sandy Hook several times over the years, the Kuhns fell in love with Newtown, and felt that it would be a good place to share their mission of worshipping God and sharing with others how to live a life full of hope, peace, and love.

“God put the burden on us to begin a church where we interpret the scripture in a grammatical, historical, and literal manner,” said Pastor Kuhn. “The Bible is our authority. We want to proclaim what that is. A lot of worship today has to do with making people feel good about themselves, but we look to gather together and worship God. There is a right way of exalting Him.”

One thing that Cindi Kuhn believes will differentiate Faith at Newtown from other churches is the way in which their congregation studies the Bible. “We go verse by verse, and that helps us understand as we try to apply it to everyday living,” said Ms Kuhn, “not just what is politically correct or the current issues. Issues change, but God’s word does not.”

Faith at Newtown believes that when God’s word is studied and understood, the answers to all of life’s situations are found.

“One example is Cindi’s life,” said Pastor Kuhn. An operation to remove a tumor from her spinal cord 18 years ago left her paralyzed from the waist down. “God doesn’t always promise healing. His grace is sufficient for what we need, and Cindi exemplifies that,” Pastor Kuhn said. “She never lost her smile.”

The mother of two small children at the time of her ill-fated operation and a kindergarten teacher at the Faith Christian Academy in Sellersville, Penn., Ms Kuhn said that God provided her with the strength to lead a normal life as her children grew. “My children really never thought of me as ‘handicapped.’ I played softball and basketball with them — in a limited way of course — and we traveled and led an active family life,” she said. Both of their children have followed in their footsteps, she said. Their oldest, Stephanie, lives in Florida where she teaches second grade at a Christian school, and their son, Mitchell, is a senior at Clearwater Christian College where he is preparing for the ministry.

Pastor Kuhn and his wife hope to offer a workshop/seminar on suffering and how to work through trials and troubles, once they are settled in the area. “I have found through following the principles of the Lord that I have been able to go through terrific trials without bitterness or anger. I lead a very full and productive life,” said Ms Kuhn.

Pastor Kuhn currently hosts a men’s Bible breakfast each Saturday at 8 am at My Place Restaurant on Queen Street, and hopes to continue to add ministries such as a monthly youth activity and summer vacation Bible school. “We want to be a community-minded church. A church should be a support to the community in all ways that it can,” Pastor Kuhn said.

An independent church, Pastor Kuhn said, is able to be an autonomous church, meaning that the congregation decides with the leaders where money collected is distributed. The group as a whole determines how much goes to missions and so forth, he said, and the church does not operate under the umbrella of a larger entity.

He looks forward to growing a diverse congregation, and reaching out to the unchurched, in particular. “We want to tell them that there is hope, that there is an answer, and that it comes from God’s word,” Pastor Kuhn said.

“I would like to be known as a pastor who lives by faith, is known by love, and is the voice of hope,” Pastor Kuhn said.

Faith at Newtown meets Sunday at 10 am on the first floor of 113 Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center. For more information about Faith at Newtown, visit faithbaptistct.org or contact Pastor Kuhn at tkuhn@faithbaptistct.org.