On Main Street in downtown Nashua, just across from the intersection with Canal Street, Gate City Church has been gathering worshipers since the late 1980s. Its motto is "Building bridges to greater Nashua and the world," and the building itself reflects that: a single downtown campus where Sunday services are held in English, Portuguese and Russian, where a Tuesday night prayer service draws a crowd, and where the church's own cafe, Bonhoeffer's, pours coffee Tuesday through Sunday morning. The congregation is non-denominational and describes itself as a "Word and Spirit" church, balancing biblical teaching with openness to the work of the Holy Spirit in worship.
A Word and Spirit Church in Downtown Nashua
Gate City Church was started in 1984 by Pastor Paul Berube and a small group of believers from the "Abbott Loop Christian Center" in Anchorage, Alaska. Berube, a native of Nashua, sensed a call to plant a new church in southern New Hampshire. The congregation met in several rented spaces before purchasing its current home at 43 Main Street in 1989. The building sits at the heart of the city's downtown riverfront, and worship attendance on a typical weekend now runs around 800 people across the various services.
The church's mission is to "boldly proclaim the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" by winning the lost, making disciples, and training them to do the same. Seven core values shape the congregation's life together: respect, biblical fidelity, caring for one another, community and world outreach, orderliness, spiritual gifts, and teamwork. Underlying all of these is a stated "passion to delve into the heart of God" through fervent, persistent, and united prayer, which the leaders describe as the "ethos" of everything the church does. Prayer is not pursued as an end in itself but as a way of "seek[ing] to know God."
The Campus on Main and Franklin
Over the decades the church has assembled a small cluster of buildings on and around Franklin Street, two blocks behind the Main Street sanctuary. In 1995 the congregation purchased the historic Greeley House on the Nashua River for administrative offices, youth ministry space, and a counseling center. In 1997 the Franklin Mill building at 34 Franklin Street, formerly the Nashua Corporation complex, became part of the campus. For many years it housed the Greater Nashua House of Prayer, the Nashua Christian Academy, and partner ministries such as the Crisis Pregnancy Center (now Real Options), Vision New England, and Willowdale Christian Counselors. In 2000 the church bought 55 Franklin Street and converted it into offices, a youth fellowship hall, and meeting rooms used for the Growth and Healing Center.
Bonhoeffer's Cafe, the church's espresso bar at 8 Franklin Street, is the most visible daily ministry of the campus. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and on Sundays from 10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A portion of every cup is set aside to bring hope and relief to children around the world, supporting partners who provide food, shelter, medical care, and education to orphans and refugees in impoverished regions.
Sunday Mornings in Three Languages
Sunday is the church's busiest day. Three services run in parallel, each in its own language with translation for English speakers:
- 8:30 a.m., English. The first morning service for English speakers.
- 10:30 a.m., English. The second English service.
- 10:30 a.m., Portuguese/English. The Brazilian Congregation's translated service. Every second Sunday of the month, the Brazilian community gathers for fellowship and a shared meal after the service.
- 1:00 p.m., Russian/English. The Slavic Congregation service, followed by a shared lunch and fellowship time.
All four services are livestreamed on Facebook and YouTube. A prayer team also stations itself at the front of the sanctuary after each morning service to pray individually with anyone who has a need. Those who cannot attend in person can submit prayer requests to prayerchain@gatecitychurch.org.
Tuesday Nights at the Tent of Meeting
The most distinctive gathering of the week happens on Tuesday evenings. At 7:00 p.m. the sanctuary fills for the "Tent of Meeting," a worship and prayer service modeled on the Old Testament tabernacle. The service blends contemporary worship with spontaneous singing, antiphonal worship, and the public reading of scripture, and the room intercedes for friends, family, the nation, and the world. Baptisms are typically held during Tent of Meeting, and the service is also livestreamed.
The Tuesday gathering grew out of the Gate City House of Prayer, which the church launched in November 1999 in obedience to a call to begin a season of morning prayer. Daily prayer now continues in three regular slots: Friday mornings from 6:30 to 7:30 a.m., Sunday and Monday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. (on Zoom), and Tuesday evenings in person at Tent of Meeting. When the prayer room is in use on campus, the group meets in the auditorium at 18 Franklin Street, named "The Pool of Siloam" after the biblical pool where Jesus healed a blind man.
Three International Congregations Under One Roof
Gate City Church is unusual among New England congregations for the maturity and longevity of its international ministries. Three distinct congregations share the church's campus, each with its own pastor or director and its own language and rhythm.
Brazilian Congregation
In April 2003, Pastor Gilson Souza began gathering seven Brazilian believers in the Nashua area for Bible study, prayer, and worship. On December 19, 2004, the group was welcomed into Gate City Church as the first members of what became the Brazilian Outreach. Today the Brazilian Congregation draws worshipers from many of Brazil's states, including Espírito Santo, Goiás, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina, and São Paulo. The Sunday 10:30 a.m. service is translated into Portuguese and is broadcast on Facebook and YouTube.
Slavic Congregation
Pastor Myroslav Biley and his family moved to Nashua from Ukraine in the fall of 2003 at the invitation of Gate City's leadership. The first Slavic service was held on April 11, 2004, and the congregation has been gathering weekly ever since. The Slavic service meets Sundays at 1:00 p.m., with translation for English speakers, and the meal that follows has become a regular feature of the Slavic community's life together.
Indian Outreach
The Indian Bible study is the oldest of the international ministries. In 1998, Steven and Deepti Vuppula launched a small Christmas outreach for Indian families in the area, which grew into a Friday-night Bible study. Today the group numbers around seventy members, gathers every Friday at 6:30 p.m. at 14 Franklin Street, and hosts a Thursday night prayer time on Zoom at 7:30 p.m. Members have served on mission trips to Guatemala and South Africa, and once a month they prepare and serve breakfast at the Southern New Hampshire Rescue Mission.
Children, Youth, and Young Adults
Gate City's children's ministry runs throughout both morning services and covers children from ten months old through eighth grade. Classrooms are organized by age, from a nursery for the youngest children through classes for fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders. The teaching program uses the Answers Bible Curriculum, a four-year chronological sweep through the Bible that emphasizes how every passage points to Jesus Christ and includes apologetics material where appropriate. Every child and volunteer is checked in through the KidCheck secure check-in app, and every adult leader has been background checked.
The youth ministry, "CityLights," historically served both junior high (grades 6 to 8) and senior high (grades 9 to 12), but the regular youth meetings are currently on hiatus.
The Young Adults group is aimed at believers aged 18 to 32 and meets every Thursday from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. in the back room of Bonhoeffer's Cafe.
Men's and Women's Ministries
Faithful Men, the men's ministry, anchors its teaching in 2 Timothy 2:2, "entrust[ing] to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also." The group meets on Saturday mornings and Thursday evenings, with smaller Quad Groups continuing through the summer. Men's ministry also includes "Anoint with Paint," a fellowship-oriented paintball outreach that invites both men and women, friends and co-workers, into a casual environment.
The Women's Ministry is built around the women of the church studying the Bible together across age groups. The current study, "Take Courage," walks through God's promises to those feeling stuck or held captive, and is grounded in Romans 12:2's call to be "transformed by the renewing of our minds." Women's Bible studies meet at the church and are open to women of all ages.
The Greater Nashua Growth and Healing Center
Housed at 14 Franklin Street, the Greater Nashua Growth and Healing Center is a nonprofit sponsored by Gate City Church that runs semester-length support groups led by trained volunteer "peer caregivers." Programs include Love and Respect (a ten-week marriage study), Boundaries and Beyond Boundaries (studies based on the work of Drs. Henry Cloud and John Townsend), Anger Management, Financial Freedom (a five-week course built on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover), GriefShare, and DivorceCare. Most courses run on weeknights and carry a small materials fee. The center does not provide professional counseling but connects participants with peer-led support.
Local Outreach Partners
Gate City Church channels much of its community work through a handful of partner organizations. Hope and Life, a ministry of the church based in Nashua, supports projects around the world that reach children living in poverty, exploitation, or orphanhood, partnering with in-country organizations to provide shelter, clean water, food, education, and job training. Real Options Pregnancy Center, a Christian non-profit hosted in the church's campus buildings, offers life-affirming support to women in unplanned pregnancies. The Southern New Hampshire Rescue Mission, a branch of the Association of Gospel Rescue Mission, serves the hungry, homeless, abused, and addicted in the greater Nashua area. The church also runs a Meals Ministry that provides food to families during times of need.
Erev Shabbat and the Jewish Roots of the Faith
Several times a year the church gathers on a Friday evening at 7:00 p.m. for "Erev Shabbat," a worship and prayer service rooted in the Jewish Shabbat celebration that the first followers of Jesus would have observed. Erev Shabbat is held in the main sanctuary at 43 Main Street and includes a time of intercession for Israel and the Jewish people. Pastor Paul holds the conviction that "Shalom Aleikhem" ("Peace be upon you") remains Jesus' greeting to his disciples today, and the practice of meeting on Friday evening is a regular, if not weekly, feature of the church's calendar.
What to Know Before Visiting
Gate City Church is located at 43 Main Street, Nashua, New Hampshire, with the main entrance on the side of the building. Parking is available behind the church and at the Triangle Credit Union lot across the street during Sunday services. First-time visitors are invited to fill out a short First Time Visitor Form, and a welcome center is staffed at the back of the sanctuary before and after each service.
Children's ministry classes are open during both English morning services, with classes from the nursery through eighth grade. Sunday School registration and check-in run through the KidCheck app, and parents with young children may also use the family room if they prefer to stay with their child. The 8:30 a.m. service is generally the smallest and most casual; the 10:30 a.m. service is the largest and most attended.
Visitors who want to attend a Tuesday night prayer gathering should plan to arrive at 7:00 p.m.; the service typically runs about an hour and a half and includes extended time for worship and prayer. The Friday evening Indian Outreach Bible study at 14 Franklin Street is another easy entry point for newcomers who prefer a smaller, study-focused gathering.
Online giving is available through the church's giving partner, and tithes and offerings may also be dropped in the boxes at the sanctuary entrance or in the deposit box on Franklin Street next to Bonhoeffer's Cafe. The church's mobile app, "Gate City Church," is available for both Android and iOS and includes sermon podcasts, event updates, and the weekly bulletin.
Visitors and members alike are welcome to stop by Bonhoeffer's Cafe, the church's espresso bar at 8 Franklin Street, for a coffee and a conversation.