Saints Church Celebrates Three Years In Severna Park

This Easter Sunday, local churches will celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ along with roughly 2.7 billion Christians worldwide. But for Saints Church, Severna Park’s newest congregation, this Easter will also mark their third birthday as a young church plant.

Several years ago, South Shore Church in Crownsville had a good problem on its hands: More people were attending than they had space to accommodate. So, they commissioned two of their lay pastors – including Alex Bouffard, who lived in Shipley’s Choice as a child and now serves as Saints Church’s lead pastor – along with a core group of about 40 members to begin a new gospel-centered church a few miles away in Severna Park.

Saints Church first formally gathered on Easter Sunday of 2021. Since its inception, members have met each weekend at the Severna Park Elks Lodge, and participation has grown to a regular attendance of roughly 100.

Church members meet on Sundays at 10:00am for about an hour. Services are “reverent in posture and casual in dress.” Bouffard explained that the worship sets are a mix of contemporary songs and classic hymns, and the preaching style is expositional, meaning that they study each book of the Bible verse-by-verse in their sermons. Kids are welcome, and child care is offered for children under 5.

“We’re pretty simple,” said Bouffard, a graduate of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “Right now, it’s just your neighbors gathering to worship Jesus. We’re just a normal Baptist church.”

Though there are many young families – several of whom are expecting babies in the coming months, Bouffard noted – Saints Church comprises a diverse congregation. “Our church leadership – us three pastors – all of us are younger than 30, yet our average age is actually older than us. We’re not reaching just solely a younger crowd, but rather families in search of gospel community in Severna Park,” said Brooks Nagel, who serves as an ordained lay pastor at Saints Church. Nagel, who works full time and pastors on a volunteer basis, was part of the initial church planting team sent out of South Shore Church and is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity in Christian ministry.

Members of Saints Church have celebrated many milestones over their three years together, including sustained growth, the inception of small groups that meet throughout the week, community engagement through annual events, and more. But the biggest highlight for Bouffard has been the dozens of baptisms they’ve witnessed.

“We’re only 100 people and we’ve celebrated over 30 baptisms, which has been a huge blessing,” he said, referring to the practice of believers’ baptism in which individuals publicly identify with Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, often by being immersed in water. “They’re mostly people who had no experience with Christianity prior to their baptism. … We’ve had a lot of people who came in just because there was something new and they were interested in checking out what was going on, and (they) heard the gospel for the first time.”

Saints Church identifies as independent in denomination but Baptist in tradition. The church and pastors voluntarily affiliate with the Southern Baptist Convention in part to support the global work of the International Mission Board, to which they give 10% of their budget. They are also affiliated with TIMES12, an Annapolis-based network that equips new pastors and has helped start over 40 churches throughout the mid-Atlantic.

As Easter approaches, Saints Church invites the Severna Park community to its free annual Easter egg hunt, which it hosts in partnership with the Elks Lodge. The hunt will include breakfast and a visit from the Easter Bunny, and is scheduled for Saturday, March 23, from 9:00am-11:00am at 160 Truck House Road. Free tickets can be reserved through the Saints Church Facebook event page.

Church members also welcome the community to join them for service at 10:00am on Easter Sunday, or any weekend.

Nagel emphasized what Saints Church is about at its core, saying, “The gospel of Jesus Christ is at the center of everything we do. We truly live in community with each other, seeking God’s glory and each other’s good.”

To learn more about Saints Church’s services or beliefs, go to www.saintschurchmd.org.