The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
A spiritual catalyst
Pastor hopes to ignite a spark of faith in new church’s members
MIDDLETOWN — If one Sunday morning you plan on worshiping at Catalyst — the newest church in town — be prepared for some rockin’ praise music.
Guitarist Jason Beaudoin, 35, who leads the church’s music ministry band at 720 Newfield St., echoes the church website: “We believe contemporary Christian music can connect and point us to God in a powerful way.” Music at Catalyst can be “relevant, edgy and unpredictable,” he said.
This is not your grandparents’ church. Before a recent Sunday service, worshipers, mostly millennials and young families, gathered — many in shorts, T-shirts and jeans. Casual dress is encouraged.
A 4-year-old girl suddenly ran through the darkening church theater screaming with delight. As the room filled to its 185-seat capacity, the sound system played “Nothing but the Blood of Jesus,” and the praise band took the stage. In the rear of the church two sound men, Joe Bibiusi, 36, of Middletown, and Tony Laterre, 41, of Cromwell, projected song lyrics on two large screens behind stage. Few Bibles were in evidence.
“We’re now living in a digital age,” Pastor Mike Larkin said.
Several worshipers said they felt
“right at home,” and called the church “very welcoming and lively.”
“Being new, I had no expectation or knowledge of what it was to worship at a non-denominational church,” said Danielle Plona, of Rocky Hill, a former Roman Catholic. “All I knew was that last spring when I first experienced praise and worship at Catalyst, I knew it was where I belonged.”
Plona said she and her family of five are so moved by the worship service that she considers them fully committed to Catalyst Church.
On this Sunday, Larkin, 41, Catalyst founding and lead pastor, stood onstage behind a microphone and preached from the Book of Exodus. His message was God’s promises of redemption, adoption and inheritance.
“Your 80 years here on earth is a blip,” Larkin told the faithful. “God is preparing you for eternity. Meanwhile, expect obstacles when you try to do something for God. But know God is always at work for us.”
Behind Larkin on the double screen were scriptural references reminding the congregation that “God’s word is alive, relevant and living. He will never fail us or leave us. As written in the Book of Hebrews: we have a great high priest.”
In the past 10 years, Larkin has relied on God never to fail or leave him. Larkin graduated from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., a Christian academic community in the tradition of evangelical institutions of higher education. A Middletown native, he returned as youth pastor at Fellowship Church in Keigwin Middle School, where services were held.
One day in 2009, during a youth group prayer session about the life of Abraham, God impressed him that his time as youth pastor was over.
“My wife, Rachel, and I started praying about where God would lead us,” Larkin said. “Our hearts were broken over the religious condition of the Northeast and how far Christians have come from the Great Awakening (in the 19th and 19th centuries in New England) and from God.”
In 2016, a Pew Research Center study asked residents of each state how important religion is in their lives. Alabama topped all states: 77 percent of its residents responded “very important.” The New England states took up the bottom five, with Connecticut, No. 47, at 43 percent. Vermont came in last; the study found that only 33 percent of its residents consider religion very important.
“I wanted to be in a place where I could impact even more lives,” Larkin explained. “I didn’t want to start another traditional church, but an environment where people could connect with God. The landscape is changing; people are beginning to move away from formalized religion and toward a relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Larkin and a launch team of 10 began looking at available movie theater space in Middletown and in Berlin.
“During that time we called ourselves ‘Cinema Church,’ ” he said. “We thought we would end up in a movie theater.”
For various reasons, both spaces became unavailable.
While they were searching, Larkin and his band of believers decided they wanted a more accurate name for this new church. Larkin liked the word “Catalyst,” which Webster’s Dictionary defines as “an agent that provokes change in action.”
“That’s what a church does,” Larkin said. Another definition became the aha moment: “A person whose talk, enthusiasm and energy causes others to be friendlier, more ethical and energetic.”
“Enthusiasm comes from a Greek word meaning ‘to be full of God,’ ” said Larkin. “We want our people to be so full of God that it causes the same in others.”
The launch team agreed: Catalyst fit.
In 2012, Catalyst started leasing space in a former Mazda dealership on Newfield Street. The building needed to be remodeled before the church could move in. The price tag for installing an HVAC system was $150,000, but instructors from Vinal Technichal High School did the job for $7,000, Larkin said.
“We prayed about that,” Larkin said. “Every step of the way, God provided people to help us turn this former car dealership into a church.”
Easter 2013 was Catalyst’s first Sunday service after the lease agreement and remodel. The church bought the property in August 2017. It had been listed at $1.4 million.
“We eventually bought the property for $700,000,” Larkin said. “We had to raise $100,000, plus the usual closing costs and legal fees, and take out a loan for $600,000.”
On Oct.1, 2017, the church held its first Sunday service after assuming ownership. Though Catalyst does not support missionaries, Larkin says at some point the church will. Currently, its mission is to feed the homeless in Middletown.
Catalyst is incorporated. It has its federal ID numbers, bylaws and is tax exempt.
There is no formal church membership. Instead, people who decide to join the church are referred to as “partners.” A partner is someone who shares the vision and mission of Catalyst, a church where people are passionate about creating environments where worshipers can connect with God.
“Jesus is at the center of everything we do,” Larkin explained. “Nothing we do matters unless it furthers the message of Jesus.”
People who are new to the church attend “discover” classes to hear about the church’s background.
“We want them to partner with us, rather than become members,” Larkin said. “Once you have members, there’s the matter of enforcement and when and how to take away a person’s membership. Some people feel they have to belong before they believe.”
Tithing is not a must for partners, though Larkin believes in the practice.
“A lot of people have the perception that churches are all about their money,” he said. “This can stunt their relationship with Jesus. So, we talk about tithing without berating people.”
Don’t expect an usher to pass the plates at Catalyst. Orange offering boxes in the rear of the church are available, and people can give online.
Sunday mornings at 10 a.m., there are four different environments for children and teens to participate in. Larkin calls them “safe, fun and all about Jesus, not just babysitting.” During the week, worshipers meet in homes for prayer and Bible study.
Friday nights at Catalyst is Celebrate Recovery, inspired by Evangelical pastor and author Rick Warren. The service is for people looking for freedom from life’s hurts, hang-ups and habits.
“We let God’s grace help us solve life’s problems, and allow Him to release us from our addictive, compulsive and dysfunctional behaviors that have been holding us back from life’s real joys,” Larkin said.
Plona and her family may have found their own joy in this family-welcome church. She said she, her three children and her husband, Garett, met Larkin, Rachel and their five children through youth baseball. The two families became good friends. Though she grew up Catholic, Plona says she was open to other forms of worship. One Sunday last October her entire family decided to attend Catalyst.
“During worship a feeling came over me that’s hard to describe,” Plona said. “I had never felt this way before and was moved to tears. To me and my family, it was what church was supposed to be like. I was never really connected to the Bible before. Now every Sunday Pastor Mike breaks it down in commonsense ways bearing on things happening in my life.”
One of the couple’s more difficult decisions was not to let their 8-year-old daughter, Whitney, become confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church.
“After we started coming to Catalyst, she could hardly wait for the car door to open and rush to her Discover class,” Plona said. “What matters is that she’s happy here and more interested in Jesus.”