Photo by Erica Techo.
Chelsea Presbyterian Church Pastor James Daniels and his wife Larissa. Both said they believe serving other is a top priority.
The first purchase Pastor James Daniels made for Chelsea Presbyterian Church was a barbecue smoker.
While some might see that as a strange way to start off a church, Daniels said it keys in on common themes in scripture: eating, together and serving.
“We want to serve; we want to feed people, and you see this over and over again, whether it’s a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name or hospitality,” Daniels said. “I think that’s a huge part of our ministry to others.”
Chelsea Presbyterian was established in late 2017, and for several months, they worked to serve through their barbecue. Daniels and his wife, Larissa Daniels, would cook up barbecue and transport it to schools and community events.
“Ultimately, we’re becoming barbecue famous,” Daniels said, “but my goal is to make Jesus famous.”
Daniels and his wife moved to Chelsea about four and a half years ago, when he took on the position as upper school head at Westminster School at Oak Mountain.
Planting a church is something that Daniels said has been in the back of his mind for 10 or 15 years, but the timing was never right. Recently, though, he felt a pull to take action.
“It was kind of like God was saying, ‘You know that vision I’ve been giving you, of planting a church? … I think it’s time,’” Daniels said. “And I thought, ‘Please let it be Chelsea,’ and God kind of affirmed it.”
Taking that step away from education and into planting a church was scary, Daniels said, but he felt that trusting in God would guide him. The step meant he had to depend on his faith, Daniels said, rather than his giftings in education.
“It was a faith step for us, but we had a lot of peace about it,”Daniels said.
While a lot of people have the perspective that everyone in Alabama attends a church, Daniels said there is still a large population that doesn’t attend a church, and those are the people he hopes to reach through Chelsea Presbyterian.
A large focus of their ministry involves acceptance and not having to be perfect before becoming a Christian, he said.
Spreading that message involves meeting people where they are, Daniel said, and serving the community without expectation.
Giving back should not be about growing a congregation or getting commended for actions, he said, but it should be about working to improve the community and loving your neighbor.
“I think a lot of people think about Christianity being about a way to get to heaven or a way to live a moral life, but really, I think the vision is much more than that,” he said.
Establishing a new church is also not about taking from existing churches, Daniels said, but about working to improve the overall community.
“Our vision for a church in Chelsea is we’re about seeing God work in our community. We want to be a great church, obviously, but more so we want to be a church that serves a great community,” he said.
Formal services for Chelsea Presbyterian are set to start at Chelsea Middle School in January. For more information, email Daniels at james@chelseapres.org.
