Couple brings Christianity back to its roots

Date: 1/27/2009

By Katelyn Gendron

Reminder Assistant Editor



WEST SPRINGFIELD In September 2007, Pastor Renzo Ventrice and his wife Betsy founded a parish within the confines of their Bernie Avenue home.

Sixteen months later, their congregation grew too large for this location, prompting them to open Christian Life Fellowship Ministries at the Lighthouse Christian Center, 522 Springfield St. in Agawam, on Feb. 22.

"The first 180 years of Christianity was a house church movement," Renzo said in an interview with Reminder Publications. "Most of the churches were underground churches held in homes so we've gone back to our roots."

He noted that he is a bi-vocational minister licensed with the New England District of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and is also in the process of ordination.

"It has been our long-awaited dream come true for my wife and I to plant the first Christian and Missionary Alliance church in Agawam and be free to serve God in the surrounding communities," Renzo said. "Our mission is to teach tried and true Biblical principles for developing great marriages, loving homes, close knit families and better extended relationships."

He added that those who choose to worship with him on Sunday mornings from 9 to 11:30 a.m. will experience a new twist on conventional services.

"We are not your grandfather's church," Renzo explained. "We really appeal to Generation X."

Betsy, a Christian school teacher at the Westfield Christian Academy at the Russian Evangelical Baptist Church in Westfield, explained that she and her husband became born again Christians during their 20s and have since had a passion to serve God.

She noted that they build on their own life experiences as parents of six children and partners in an 18-year marriage as a means of teaching others about the bonds of family.

"We have a lot of experience to offer and we have the word of God and that is absolute," Betsy said.

She explained that she did not always have this same affinity for God and religion.

"I had my religion, not a relationship with God," Betsy said. "When all hell broke loose in my life I kept praying and going to church and nothing worked. One of my sisters left home and came back saved. She shared with me that the Lord is the answer. 'How did I not know that?' [I said to myself]. I've been a faithful Christian all my life."

She explained that it is her mission and her husband's to help others bridge the gap between religion and their own lives.

The Christian Life Fellowship Ministries will officially open on Feb. 22 at the Lighthouse Christian Center, 522 Springfield St. in Agawam, at 10 a.m. Subsequent services will take place from 9 to 11:30 a.m. Discipleship Class will take place from 9 to 9:45 a.m. Coffee and fellowship will take place from 9:45 to 10:15 a.m. and Praise and Worship will take place from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. and conclude with "Practical for Living" message until 11:30 a.m.

For more information about Christian Life Fellowship Ministries, visit www.clfministries.net.