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

Our challenge this year is the replacement of our pastor. God has sent us a very good interim and we are working as a team to find the right choice for our continued ministry.

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

– We have a significant amount of community involvement.

-We provide food and gas assistance on a regular basis for those in need.

– Our grounds have been used for Little League practice and other event parking for area resident and schools.

– We have several outside organization using the building. Those groups address drug abuse, alcohol abuse, weight loss, as well as other clubs.

– We have also facilitated grief and divorce recovery groups this year. Most of those involved are from the community.

– Our pastors regularly counsel non-member couple before weddings to help them in forming a well-grounded marriage.

– This year we also hosted the City of Southport’s Halloween event. We had trunk or treat and games. Food and drinks were provided, all free of charge. We had over 3,000 children in attendance, plus adults.

– Making Memories Daycare serves our community daily by providing loving, God-centered care of 100+ children.

Because of the above we are known as a church that will offer help when it is needed, often going above what is expected to be involved.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

2016 has provided another milestone in Oasis of Hope’s 75 plus year history. Our fourth Pastor, John U. Minion was appointed pastor in January 2016.

For the past couple of years Pastor Frank Alexander has been preparing for the next phase in his life, having been lead to retire from fulltime pastoring after 4 years of service. He did not want to see the church embark upon an arduous pastoral selection process and prayed that God would reveal his successor. The congregation in their respect for him, supported the Pastor’s choice of a successor.

Pastor Minion has been primarily focused on the membership; beginning the process of self-evaluation and lining up under a new Pastor and possibly a new direction. “As you engage in this evaluative process” …”that is part of a collective effort to move the congregation forward in fulfilling its mission and realizing its vision.,” as stated by Pastor Mission at a leadership meeting. as we loved through this period, no significant changes have been made. Pastor Minion is taking time to work with the membership in their personal walk and commitment to discipleship. He is also working with the leadership to understand his vision for Oasis.

The challenge of coming under a new pastor – is difficult, but the congregation has been supportive, praying for the new Pastor and his vision as God has given it to him. Our other outreach organizations continue to serve the local community as well internationally through the Hope School in Liberia. To date, there has been no significant impact on giving or attendance.

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

We have committed to going to the Relax Inn to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ each month. Here’s a video of our last outing.

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

We have had lots of babies added to our congregation this year. Our Wednesday night public reading of scripture followed by an hour of prayer has been truly encouraging.

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

We tried to get back to the basics: going out into the world and preaching the true gospel of Jesus Christ. If going into the most needy parts of our neighborhood to minister hope and truth is new, then mostly just that.

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

We face challenges at every level. We face many women in our church who are battling domestic abuse and other awful living situations. We have many children in our neighborhood who don’t have a bed to sleep on. The largest challenge is always the personal holiness of the believers in the congregation and the occasional wolf that is let in, but God preserves his remnant and we rejoice and are molded more closely into His image, and as a result, He receives glory.

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

We get together with the Community Church at Murphy’s Landing in order to partner at different points of the year. We also invite other churches to help us with our VBS each year.

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

Dinner at Joan’s house is nice.

Good things happened at New Bethel Baptist Church in 2016.

The much-needed replacement roof over the Fellowship Hall was installed and new ceiling tiles replaced the old badly stained tiles. Fellowship Hall is once again welcoming and warm.

The annual Strawberry Festival saw a good turnout of church members and neighbors from Wanamaker. The festival coincided with Old Settler days in Wanamaker which always attracts many folk from the surrounding area.

Movie night was started with a movie once a month and as interest picked up the Christian Ed board added a movie for the kids as well. Popcorn and cookies and drinks are enjoyed by all and the movies have been uplifting and thought provoking.

A Young Couples group was formed and meets on the fifth Sunday. This group includes college age and young married individuals. They meet and usually enjoy dinner together and discuss issues of interest to them specifically.

NBBC youth joined with the youth of Zion Church of Christ and the group became the New Zion Youth. The youth led the worship service at New Bethel on New Year’s Day and served breakfast during Sunday School. They led the Easter worship at Zion and served breakfast during Sunday School. They led the Easter worship at Zion and served breakfast as well. They are also participating in the youth fellowship event on Saturday prior to the ABC-GI annual meeting.

The annual Chili Supper was held during the Christmas season in conjunction with Christmas in Wanamaker. It’s always a good time to warm up at New Bethel and it’s been heard that you can’t beat the pie.

God’s Bounty continues to serve the community throughout the year and aids many local families. The numbers wax and wane but the need is always great. The volunteers are tireless and you never work there that you don’t come away blessed.

Undressing and dressing the church during Easter season has become a particularly touching and uplifting event at New Bethel. It’s a new experience for some and touches the heart when you leave after worship on Maundy Thursday silent and thoughtful taking out those beloved symbols.

The biggest challenge for New Bethel has been the continued search for a full-time pastor. The search team has worked tirelessly for over 2 years and while they believed they were close a few times, it was not to be.

We are hopeful as the time is close to voting on the one we believe is called to New Bethel and we will all rejoice to welcome our new pastor if it is God’s will

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

Food Pantry & Clothing Bank – In addition to meeting the physical needs of our community in the name of Jesus, we have seen additional fruit in that one family is now worshipping with us and involving their children in the Children’s ministry.

IMPD Roll Call – The community came together to show their support for our men and women in blue during a time of tension in our Country. We were told that very few organizations host the 5am roll call, so the sacrifice of a little bit of sleep on our part was meaningful to the officers.

What new thing did you try in mission or ministry?

Mission House, James 1:27 – We learned during the Loving Generously sermon series that God loves us and our response to His love is to love those around us sacrificially. When this need presented itself during the sermon series, we felt strongly that God was asking us to live out what we were studying. We learned that there are highs and lows in loving sacrificially.

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

We have continued to engage in our community in the same ways as in the past. We have specific community events such as Easter Egg Hunt, Trunk-or-Treat, Community bonfires, and youth camp. We started a women’s retreat that was successful in bringing regular worshippers and other’s together for prayer and worship. It was such a positive experience they are planning a bigger one this year.

What event from the past year most excited you?

The most exciting event of last year has not truly started yet. A group of 12 of us have gone through Celebrate Recovery, a Christ-Centered program to help people experience freedom from their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. We did not gain new members through this, but we have grown deeper and more aware leaders. We look to start this ministry for the community and other churches in August.

What new thing did you try in mission or ministry?

Our Celebrate Recovery taught us the long difficult path to healing. Though we read of miraculous instantaneous healings in scripture, most lasting healing takes time, presence, intention, support and love.

What challenge did your church face?

We have been challenged in relating and governing our relationship with the Community Center. We are still learning the absolute need for effective leadership, deep moral character, and humility in doing ministry. Having only one or two of these qualities is insufficient.

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

We are happy to have partnered with Church of the Master, Karen Baptist Fellowship and Iglesia Bautista Lynhurst for a Good Friday Service. We also enjoy serving with Drexel Garden Christian Church in putting on Ignite, a bible study at the Lynhurst 7^th and 8^th grade center. Also we continue to partner with Iglesia Bautista Lynhurst in worship, events, and ministry.

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

I appreciate meeting with Jay. I enjoy our discussions, I appreciate his recommendation for books, especially leadership oriented ones. I greatly value his prayers and emails.

We are most excited about God moving us to be more word driven over the past year. God is present in our church family! God has provided a new outreach for all community through our church family. We have officially opened our new facility called “Cedars Activity Center.” This church family has been waiting 20 years for God’s perfect timing and He is faithful. Our prayer is to share the gospel of what our savior Jesus Christ did while on the Cross and then rising for us. We want to share that with as many people as we can. Everyone who enters that building will have an opportunity to know what Jesus did for us. Please keep praying as our new journey begins!

Our church is reaching out to KBCUSA for pastoral training as well as Sunday school training so every teaching will uniform and using the same materials.

By the grace of God, Indiana Kachin Baptist Church is growing year by year. Despite all the members of IKBC are still struggling with the common challenges of first generation in America; such as languages, skills, and cultural and social adaptation, they are doing with their best to make their lives better day by days with the guidance and helps from the host church One Christian Church and ABCGI.