This is Pastor Tim’s newspaper article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Tuesday, Nov 25, 2025
I think this is an appropriate week for me to introduce you to someone I just met. His name is Christopher Jones. He was born in Essex, England around the year 1570. He was the captain of a freighter who piloted freight up and down the English coast for most of his career.
But we know him for one particular voyage that he made with some very special cargo. In 1620, he pointed his ship to the west and set sail across the Atlantic ocean for a voyage that lasted 66 days. His cargo? A group of 102 Pilgrims along with 30-40 crewmembers. He set sail for a place known as the New World. His boat was called the Mayflower and on November 11, 1620, those passengers set foot on Plymouth Rock
I had never realized that the boat had anyone other than Pilgrims on board, but Christopher Jones and his crew were not pilgrims. Once they arrived in the New World, sickness had taken a toll on the passengers and the boat was badly damaged. Once the crew was healthy again and repairs had been made, the Mayflower returned to England and was once again used as a freighter until Christopher Jones fell sick and died a little over a year later.
The Pilgrims were a group of people who wanted to establish a new church in the New World because they no longer wanted to be under the authority of the Church of England. The Church of England was established in 1534 when King Henry VIII got mad at the Catholic Church for not granting him a divorce. This church was closely linked to the state and therefore became an oppressive force on Christianity in England. The hope for most of the Pilgrims was to start a new church in the New World that was not controlled by either the Church of England or the Catholic Church. The Pilgrims became the first established settlement on the American Continent.
Truth be told, not all of the people among those first 102 Pilgrims were all religious refugees. There were some who wanted to come to the New World for financial opportunity or to escape various situations in England. Since many of these refugees had skills and abilities that the Pilgrims would need, they were welcomed to take the trip.
Unfortunately, the winter of 1620 was very harsh and half of the Pilgrims died during that winter. Since Christopher Jones and the Mayflower had already left, there was no escape for the Pilgrims nor was there any hope of provision or reinforcements coming from England.
Once the weather improved in the spring and crops were planted and provisions were made, there was a harvest in the fall of 1621. The Pilgrims invited the Native Americans from the Wampanoag tribe to share in the meal with them. They did not use the term “Thanksgiving” but that was the purpose of this very special Harvest meal. They wanted to express gratitude for God delivering them. It was also a peace offering to the local Native tribes to establish trade relationships. They realized as harsh as the winters were, the Pilgrims would need help to continue to survive.
In 1691, over 70 years after the Mayflower dropped the Pilgrims off, there was a royal charter for Massachusetts Bay colony, which had supply lines from England making sure they had provisions. This much larger and much better organized colony welcomed the Plymouth settlers to join them.
Less than 100 years later, that colony would declare its independence from England, that is how rapidly it grew.