BY TIM PLATEK

On December 19, 1606, The Susan Constant, Godspeed and Discovery, carrying 105 passengers, departed Blackwall along the Thames River bound for Virginia.

The Virginia Company of London sponsored what was to become the first permanent English settlement in North America. They came looking for rich minerals (gold and silver), plus to find a quicker passageway to the other sea, which would hopefully provide a return on their investment.

In November 1606, prior to the voyage, the Virginia Company provided the settlers with instructions regarding the chosen location for the settlement, the search for valuable resources, the interaction with the locals, etc. It began with the words,

“Instructions given by way of advice by whom it hath pleased the King’s Majesty to appoint of the Counsel for the intended Voyage to Virginia to be observed by those Captains and Company which are Sent at His power to plant there.

As We Doubt not but you will have especial Care to Observe the Ordinances set Down by the Kings Majesty and Delivered unto you under the privy Seal So for your better Directions upon your first Landing we have thought Good to recommend unto your Care these Instructions and articles following.

When it Shall please God to Send you on the Coast of Virginia…”

The instructions were to provide for their welfare, their safety, and for their overall survival. However, for their best chance to thrive, the Virginia Company left the most important instructions for the end. It’s here they say, 

“Lastly and Cheifly the way to prosper and to Obtain Good Success is to make your Selves all of one mind for the Good of Your Country and your Own and to Serve and fear God the Giver of all Goodness for Every plantation which our heavenly father hath not planted shall be rooted Out.”

What’s most important according to the Virginia Company is the internal condition, which will dictate the external result. If the settlers’ hearts and minds were set on God, and seeing His ways be established, then whatever they did should have reflected the character and nature of God.

“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” – Luke 6:45

Or in other words,

“For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” – Luke 6:43

Unfortunately, that did not turn out to be the case for the Jamestown settlers. There was certainly a measure of the fear of God, a serving of God, and a planting of things rooted in God.  But everything the heavenly father hath not planted was never rooted Out. For the Jamestown settlers, as well as for us all, live in a world that has been corrupted by sin. The Bible says in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” A good reminder that we are all in need of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

On my recent trip to England, I hoped to get to Blackwall to see the departure location of the Jamestown settlers, but circumstances dictated otherwise. One part of the trip brought something unexpected and wonderful, that I could not have imagined. All my trip planning and mapping out sights to see would never have included a small church in Honiton, located in East Devon England. But that is where the journey took me.

The first Rector of Cotleigh Church in Honiton was John De Fordynton in the year 1292. This was 315 years before the founding of Jamestown and establishment of the Church of England in North America. While walking through the church you can feel the history and can only wonder how many people worshipped our God at this location throughout the ages. Their names lost in history, but their legacies of a faith perhaps have carried on even to today.

As Christian Believers saved by grace through faith, we understand the church of God is not a building, but rather a people. As a result of the 16th Century Reformation there are those even today who view historic churches and their furnishings as a form of idolatry. For some I guess they can be. And yet while walking through the door of Cotleigh Church the presence of God can certainly be felt.

Having grown up in the Roman Catholic Church and attending Catholic School for eight years as a young boy, I recall the experience of walking in the church doors and feeling God’s immense presence. There was no sense or feeling of idolatry toward any furnishings, but rather just a young boy feeling God’s magnificent presence in that place. Those were the roots of faith that first drew me to God.

As an adult I spent most of my Christian life attending Protestant churches. Never really gravitating toward being labeled as belonging to a certain denomination, when I was simply a man of God. Saved by grace through faith. Called to share the Gospel wherever God was to send me. But what I have found through years of service, and participation in church life, is many churches in the United States look more like office buildings than churches. That’s not to judge or condemn, as I’m confident God’s people worship faithfully each Sunday in those locations.

But in my journey of faith, walking with God, I have personally found something special about churches that stand apart from society. A towering structure that is unique and set apart from the rest of the town. A place where people know with out a doubt that it’s a church where people gather to worship God! A church structure does not define God’s people, but it stands as a testimony that we are different and not of this world.

One weekday morning while I was having breakfast in Honiton I heard the church bells from the tower ringing. Not just a ringing of a bell as some might think to denote the time of day, but rather a series of bells beautifully rung in harmony with a song that caused us to stop what we were doing to listen. Not only to listen, but to stop and take it all in.

“Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.” – Psalm 46:10

The bells served as a call to come with anticipation and wonder to the church whose doors were open and inviting. I was so struck that it recalled the contrast with a local church in my community where I went to talk with staff one weekday morning, only to find the entire church dark, doors locked, and nobody there.

So many churches in England were open to visitors during the day and held Evensong at night. Evensong with the Church of England combines choral music with prayers and Bible readings.

Photos by Tim Platek

That morning while the bells were ringing, I made my way to the church, a gathering place for the local community. I was staying with friends who went on to explain the bell ringing process.  There were six people pulling down on ropes from the inside of the tower, ringing the bells in unison. Following a particular song pattern that was amazing to watch and hear. The church is small in numbers, but mighty in presence in the community. They only have service one Sunday per month, but I expect they make it count.

My friend was scheduled to do a Scripture reading at the next church service, that unfortunately I was not in town to experience. However, we did talk about the context and content of what he was to read for clarity and understanding. He spent days before the service reading through the text he would be sharing that upcoming Sunday. Being prepared to share was important to him.

The global church of God is not a place, but a people.

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” – Matthew 18:20

John Smith from the Jamestown expedition spoke about their first church.

“When I went first to Virginia, I well remember, wee did hang an awning (which is an old saile) to three or foure trees to shadow us from the Sunne, our walls were rales of wood, our seats unhewed trees, till we cut plankes, our Pulpit a bar of wood nailed to two neighbouring trees, in foule weather we shifted into an old rotten tent, for we had few better, and this came by the way of adventure?…”  

The Jamestown settlers first worshipped under an old sail. No magnificent structure, and yet I expect it was still significant and stood out from the rest of the land where, yet no fort had been erected. A beacon of hope in the unknowns of a new world.

“Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.” – Psalm 139:7-10

The global church of God is not a place, but a people.

But I can’t help wondering if the choice of where we gather matters. Not in the sense of making us more spiritual, more of a Christian, or by the creation of manmade idols. But rather allowing us to experience God’s magnificent presence within the calmness of our souls that can certainly be found in a place like the Cotleigh Church on a weekday morning as the bells toll.