It started with a simple conversation with our Bishop, Andrew Williams, in the Fall of 2019. Brian had served in parish ministry for over a decade in an assisting role, with focus on youth and children’s ministries. Bishop Andrew said that he thought the time was coming soon when Brian should transition into leading his own congregation, and invited the Barrys to start exploring possibilities. In the following months, Brian and Jackie found that old dreams, which had been lying dormant for fifteen years, started to come alive again. They were drawn back to Brian’s old home in small-town Southern New Hampshire. Because the general reflex is to start Christian ministries in more populous areas, these small towns are consistently “spiritually under-served.”
We came back to Bishop Andrew with a plan, or, rather, with a shadow of a plan. We would move to New Hampshire, where we had family connections but, otherwise, no team at all. We would buy a home and make it a place of hospitality and prayer, serving and blessing our community in the name of Jesus. We would make space for a new Christian community to grow up in that small place. The bishop enthusiastically supported us and we started preparing for this new work.
As it happened, it was now 2020 and these plans moved forward amidst the pandemic. We moved into an antique farmhouse in October. It was in the middle of Brookline, NH, ten minutes from Brian’s family home. In the heart of the community, this place had been part of Brookline since 1860, but had fallen into disrepair. Yet, through that disrepair, we saw in it a place of hospitality and joy, and began the work of restoration, turning that house into what we envisioned. We removed rusty fences, poison ivy, and other safety hazards. We took down unnecessary walls to make room for people to gather, completely remade the kitchen, planted gardens and an orchard, made animal enclosures and developed a backyard farmstead.
We were concerned to find practical ways to serve our community. Brian started working at the elementary school across the street. Responding initially to a call for substitute teachers, Brian was then hired as a special education para-educator.
In December 2020, the name “Saint Nicholas House” emerged. Saint Nicholas of Myra continues to be remembered for his life of joyful generosity to all and, particularly, to children. As a Christian bishop, Nicholas reflected in his ministry the kindness of the God he served. We began to realize that we had a similar calling, to bring the same joyful generosity to children in our own community. We adopted as our way of life the “Way of Saint Nicholas,” anchored in overflowing joy, quiet generosity, and gentle strength. We would strive to live this way of life and welcome others to experience it with us. Saint Nicholas House was to be a joyful, healing environment for children, a place where children would be welcomed, free of charge, to experience fullness of life, and a whole spectrum of healthy relationships— with the land, animals, one another, themselves, and with the God who made them.
We are still developing the farmstead and working on renovation of the house, but our focus has slowly but steadily moved from preparation to welcome. The house is now regularly full of life, with visitors coming for a variety of reasons—to visit or help on the farm, for a karate class, for a party, for a place of respite, for daily prayer, for spiritual formation, for worship, and for much more.
Saint Nicholas House 