Category: Church Ministry Stories

• Tell us about a way you’ve reached out into your community. What happened?
  • This year was a year of transition. Pastor Alexander’s retirement was a bittersweet occasion. Pastor Alexander had become a constant, comforting presence to the congregation and has seen members through good times and bad. The thought of his retirement started a grieving process for many as they anticipated the loss they will feel when he left. The retirement celebrations were designed to express gratitude and appreciation for an individual’s lifetime of service and value to the church and community.
•  What event from the past year most excited you? Why?
  • All of the retirement celebrations were wonderful because it involved both the church and the community. The celebrations involved a multi-generations, and both people from the church and the community. The Community Celebration allowed groups and individuals to come together to fellowship, while at the same time honoring Pastor Alexander. Some of the highlights from the Community Celebration include:
    • Various local singing groups and band
    • Community and Church vendors
    • Games for children
    • Petting Zoo
    • Food, Health displays etc.
• What new thing did you try in mission or ministry? What did you learn?
  • The visit to the orphanage in Liberia that Oasis supports was a challenge this year because of the Ebola outbreak. Eventually the band was lifted and 3 men from Oasis and one from another church traveled and brought joy to the children. When children become 18, the government of Liberia says that they must leave the orphanage. Trying to find housing and advanced schooling for these young adults was a challenge.
• What challenge did your church fact? How is God bringing you through it?
  • The church faced the challenge of a transition from a pastor of 40 years to a new pastor. The church is working through the transition.
• How has your church partnered with another church for ministry and mission?
  • Oasis collaborates and/or partners with the following:
    • Edna Martin Christian Center
    • Community Resurrection Partnership of Martindale Brightwood
    • City Mosaic
    • Brightwood Public Library
    • City Government Tax Program for low income
    • MSD Perry Township
    • Bridal Blessings Ministry
    • Indiana Healthy Family and Marriage Coalition
    • Habitat for Humanity
    • Angel Tree Program
• How has the Executive Minister and/or ABCGI staff been of assistance to your church this past year?
  • Yes, the Executive Minister and/or ABCGI staff assisted Oasis of Hope church this past year by the following:
    • Participated in most of the transition celebrations
    • Carried the invitation to the retirement events in Intersections Newsletter
    • Participated in the commemorative booklet
    • Reached out to the incoming pastor and family

New Era Church has reached out to our community through these various outreach programs and partnerships over the past year;

• City Mosaic Board & Education Initiative Leaders
• Operation More Hope (OMH) After School Program
• SONShiner’s Summer Character Camp (10 weeks)
• Kids Across America (KAA) – Branson, MO
• Elder W. Diggs IPS #42 – Friday mentoring and enrichment
• IndyCAN
• Ten-Point Coalition
• Connection Pointe (Partner)
• Center for Leadership Development (CLD)
• Global Leadership Summit (GLS) – Partner
• CrossRoads Bible College
• Planting Dreams Foundation (PDF)
• Center for Congregations
• Crown of Glory Minister’s Wives Initiative
• Dungy Foundation
• Gleaners Food Bank
• Super-Start
• Midwest Food Bank
• Mind Trust
• Steward Lecture-Speaker Series
• 3 Mission Trips (Ghana, Haiti, and Nigeria)
• Operation Christmas Child
• Dove Recovery House – Women’s Ministry
• Wheeler Mission – Men’s Ministry

Tell us about a way you’ve reached out into your community:

This year the Christian Education board changed their normal schedule of events to coincide with events happening in Wanamaker. The annual Strawberry Festival at the church was aligned with Wanamaker’s annual Pioneer Days and the annual Chili Supper was aligned with Wanamaker’s Christmas in Wanamaker event.

This move proved to be beneficial to New Bethel in that we saw more people at both events and most of those people were not current members of the church. It gave us a real strong opportunity to meet, greet, and serve our community. We are blessed.

What new thing did you try in mission or ministry?

The church congregation was fortunate to have the opportunity to hear two of our ABC returning missionary couples. The church has a ‘mission festival’ that included dinner and meet/greet each missionary. Ann Borquist was with us on October 20 and shared the ministry she and her husband had just completed in Brazil. They would soon be leaving to minister throughout southeast Asia. It was inspiring.

On October 25th, our Mission Festival continued on Sunday evening as we welcomed Bill and Ann Clemmer to our indoor annual “picnic.” No one can stun us, in their humble ways, like the Clemmers. Their South Sudan mission dodges the flames of the devil like none other. When the remote hospitals, which he had built and directed, were destroyed by militants, Bill’s simple response was, “The buildings are destroyed, but we still have the people who have been trained and who can rebuild.” what FAITH!

How has the Executive Minister and/or ABCGI staff been of assistance to your church this past year?

September 27th, after a short sabbatical, we picked up the Vision process. We all realized how important it would be to the pastor search process for a new minister to have our core values identified and to know, as a congregation, where we wanted to go in the future and who we wanted to be. Jan Goodyear from ABCGI met with the new Visioning Team and provided us with packets of information to help us move forward.

Together, as one body, we started to discern New Bethel’s future. We sought God’s answer to our question, “God, what would you have us do now?” The team asked members and businesses in the community various questions to help them discern what we should be doing. Then the team took time to think about, argue about, compromise, and work together to write the vision for New Bethel. We were led every step of the way by Jan Goodyear. She prepared us and equipped us. She taught us, and she may have even despaired of us, but she stuck with us and guided us to the point where she sort of said, “You are all grown up and can complete this work on your own.” And we did complete that important work. New Bethel has a new vision, four core values, a purpose, and a hope for the future.

1.  With the help of partner churches and organizations we collected and donated 541 cases and gallon jugs of water, combined to help aleviate the water crisis being experienced by the residents of Flint, Michigan.
2. After fire and water damage destroyed our daycare academy in 2012 August, we completed building and opening a new state of the art facility to educate children in July 2015.
3. Our Christmas dinner theatre was a wonderful experience as children, youth and adults participated in the play “Not so Silent Night.”
4. We celebrate with Sis Joyce Johnson in the earning of her D. Min. degree from United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio with a focus on biblical story telling, this past December. On first Sundays throughout 2015 we commemorated 10 years of biblical story telling at Mount Zion by having a variety of members, of various ages, tell the serman scripture by heart.

During 2015, the leadership of First Baptist Church of Indianapolis used the following five words to illustrate our ministry and mission.

Inspired
Our Sunday worship themes included:

• The First Words of Jesus
• Questions Jesus Asked
• Drawing Outside the Lines
• Great & Small: Smaller Books of the Bible with Great Things to Share about God
• A Light for All People

We rejoice in the weekly intergenerational and multicultural expressions of our worship life together. We share communion and worship on the first Sunday of the month with First Karen Baptist Church.

Curious
In 2015 we became curious about the arts as a way to express our relationship with God and our own spirituality. We enjoyed “CREATE!” (A weekend focused on the Arts, Photography and Faith) under the leadership of Brad Berglund. We spent the summer in a new venture (FBCINDY Reads) with a special focus on the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird. With the leadership of the Ministry Resource Team we began to explore the challenges of our current building needs with an eye towards financial sustainability.

Welcoming
In 2015 we welcomed Beginnings parents and children to an updated facility, as well as to a much-needed, extended hours, child care program. We welcomed the Nora community to a new sidewalk and safer walkway along College Avenue. First Baptist Athletics continued to expand their program offerings as “The Place for Good Sports” to over 3000 participants. We continued to host and provide facilities and support for First Karen Baptist Church and the Burmese Center for Community Education. Every Sunday we welcomed new friends and provided warm hospitality to all.

Engaged
Our outreach team sponsored “Serve 2015” encouraging members to serve 2,015 hours OUTSIDE of the walls of FBC in the community. We heard many stories of how God is calling us to ministry beyond the doors of the church and the difference this makes in the lives of people all around us. The Crow Mission Team returned to Lodge Grass, Montana. Ten people served as delegates to the American Baptist Mission Summit in Kansas City, KS. And over 30 folks participated in an All Church Work Day where we cleaned and repaired church facilities both inside and out. We saw FBC members and friends engaged in mission from Kenya to Nicaragua to Green Lake, Wisconsin.

Generous
In April, we celebrated the legacy and generosity of members who remembered our church through financial gifts as part of their planned giving through wills and bequests. We intend for this Life Gift Sunday to become an annual event. In the fall of 2015 we introduced a new stewardship emphasis and noted the generosity of so many members and friends who are excited to say “I Am First Baptist!”

First Baptist Church continues to generously support ABC of Greater Indianapolis and ABCUSA in United Mission and American Baptist Mission Support through four special offerings: America For Christ, One Great Hour of Sharing, World Mission and the Retired Ministers and Missionaries Than You Offering.

We look forward to ministry in 2016!

April Giannini

Communications & Marketing Director, FBC of Indianapolis

Tell us about a way you’ve reached out into your community. What happened?

This last year we have been focused on moving much outside. While we do a lot of ministry that brings people in, we rarely move into the neighborhood. This last year we did two outdoor worships and a community bonfire. We had food and music, and a short message. We were surprised by the neighbors and local leaders who came out. The powerful part of the night was that we had many church members interacting with many neighbors in one on one conversation. We believe being outside enabled people who stand far from the church move a little closer and begin these conversations. We plan to do more this year.

What even from the past year most excited you? Why?

Our preschool moved up to level 3 Paths to Quality and became eligible for the On My Way to Pre-K program. This helped grow our Preschool/Daycare. We see this ministry as an integral part of our church. In our community we serve many single parent low income homes. Now with children being in our building and around our staff daily, we are able to share God daily to more children.

What new thing did you try in mission or ministry? What did you learn?

This last year we have opened our doors to Narcotics Anonymous. I believe there is more we can do as a church to help addicts. We have up to 50 people Friday night, and 70 on Saturday night. We have not connected as a church with these groups as closely as I would like. Still we have seen several addicts, and recovering addicts joining us for Sunday and Wednesday worship as a result. We learned that addicts need more than a group, they truly need Christ.

What challenge did your church face? How is God bringing you through it?

We are struggling with connecting to our newer members. Many of our new members are in survival mode and their commitment level is once or twice a month. This makes it hard to get to know people and build relationships and discipleship. We are currently trying a Women’s Retreat to jump start some relationships and discipleship program.

How has your church partnered with another church for ministry and mission?

We have partnered with Westview Baptist and Church of the Master for our God Friday Service. We have partnered with Drexel Gardens Christian Church on a Sunday lunch discussion on “What does it mean to be the Church.” We are also partnering with them, Chapel Rock and others to move into Lynhurst 7th and 8th Grade Center and begin a Christian based group. We are also partnering with Campus Crusades to look at getting into Ben Davis High School. We are happy to partner with Youth Works this Summer, and Mission Indy.

How has the Executive Minister and/or ABCGI staff been of assistance to your church this past year?

Through prayer. Joan coming and sharing her trip to Burma, and receiving a scholarship to enable Pastor Ben to travel to Burma. Through discussions with Jay Kennedy and recommendations of books and encouragement.

We have been so blessed to serve in ABCGI and are thankful for all the support you and the region have supplied. Iglesias Bautista Hispana Lynhurst has been both up and down. This year we averaged 12 worshippers, with 5 young children. Our small church is made up of young believers and young families. We have endured one deportation and two others who are in the process of deportation. We also worship in a transient community that has led to our fluctuating congregation. however we believe we are not only leading people to Christ, but creating true disciples. Jesus Torres was part of our congregation for one year and baptized before he was deported after being in the US for 15 years. During his deportation process he was able to share the gospel in prison, and continues to share the gospel in Mexico bringing his family to Christ. We are also excited about Juan Ramos who was baptized lat year. We have seen Christ rescue him from drugs and alcohol and he has become a leader in our church. Juan is beginning to work with other addicts and disciple them to recovery and lead them to Christ. We also have Pastor Genaro Valdez worshiping with us who is witnessing and working as a chaplain in the Indianapolis jail. We have enjoyed partnering and working with Lynhurst Baptist Church along with them at food pantries and other ministries. Maria has started and is in the process of developing a women’s ministry, meeting twice a week with devotionals, prayers, and daily practices of discipleship. We are int he process of joining with other Hispanic churches in ABCGI to worship together on a monthly basis. We also continue to work and partner with Lynhurst Baptist Church and look forward to continuing working with them and doing more joint services.

We reached out into the community through evangelism, revival, visitation, special events, connection with organizations and we have more people coming to church.
 
We are excited about giving away bibles which brought in 4 more families to join the church.
 
This year we had an invitation where one family would invite another family to revival.
 
Our challenges this year was that we started from zero and God helped us more than we expected to grow the church.
 
With Emerson Avenue Baptist Church we have a good partnership that helps both churches to grow.
 
The ABCGI office staff has been excellent in prayer and financial support. They have helped us in everything.

Over the last two years First Baptist Greenwood has been in transition, due to the departure of our senior & associate pastors, as well as an unsettling time of searching and waiting for the hiring of a new senior pastor.
 
In January, 2015 Rev. Henry Hawkins began his leadership of FBC Greenwood as interim pastor. To further the process of the congregation’s healing, Pastor Henry developed Healing Groups. Each small group of about 15 people meet with him to “connect the dots” of our past circumstances which brought us to our present as a faith community in Christ. These groups have been instrumental in helping us move forward together.

L.E.A.D.-Lead-Equip-Adapt-Deepen: Garfield’s leadership formation project provides the leadership tools and training that Garfield leaders have self-selected. L.E.A.D. began with interested persons doing their StrengthsFinder survey which assists individuals and the church to understand where our various strengths lie. L.E.A.D. has offered workshops in study the Bible, spiritual discernment process, as well as honoring and utilizing volunteers. The goal is to help persons discover leadership potentials already within them and to guide persons in experiencing ways to lead that come deep from their faith system; that are adaptable to the ever changing face of our church; and that call them to continue to discern God’s call on their lives.
 
Benefits of ABCGI staff: Garfield Park has been blessed by Congregational Life Facilitator, Jay Kennedy’s, wisdom and leadership. Jay has assisted with board development. In April 2016 he will lead the while church in a re-visioning discernment process. we deeply appreciate Jay’s presence with us!
 
For the second year in a row Garfield Park Baptist Church has won “Best Float” in the Southside’s Miracle Mile Parade. The historic parade experience rebirth in recent years. Garfield Park Baptist has participated every year since the parade was reformed. We shine the light of Christ by having fun with our community!
 
In the Fall of 2015 Garfield Park Baptist welcomed new church plant, Iglesia Cristiana into the Garfield family. other churches share the Sunday School hour with Garfield worshiping prior to Sunday School and Iglesia worshiping afterward. Christmas Even was a shared service! Nearly every portion of the service was offered both in Spanish and English. “Silent Night” was sung bi-lingually! Following that traditional singing with lighted candles, persons were sent out with the words “Merry Christmas! Felizs Navidad!” Immediately Iglesia Cristiana’s musician began to play that lively traditional Mexican carol. People swayed their candles to the beat of the music. Some even danced in the aisles! We are blessed to experience the gift of being church together! We welcome Iglesia Cristiana!
 
Garfield Park has formed numerous community partnerships. The purpose is to find ways to work with others for the improvement of lives in our community. Some partnerships have moved forward quickly while others launch at their own pace. We’ve learned to community and adapt expectations as we negotiate share opportunities. As of February 2016, the senior art class at nearby Christel House Academy has begun to create a mural in the church’s children’s area. The mural will be painted by the students and church folks will have opportunity to add to the mural with “prayer leaves” and sun rays that lead t the love of Christ among us all.