Category: Church Ministry Stories

For a number of years First Baptist has been worshiping with 2nd Missionary Baptist in Franklin four times a year. For two of those Sundays we go over to their building on a Sunday morning and they come to our building for two Sundays. It has been a joy to build relationships with the congregation of 2nd Baptist which is primarily an African American congregation. We share the worship responsibilities and also a meal following.
 
This last year our congregation started a band that plays at least once a month. Now when we worship with 2nd Baptist we combine our bands. This has added a new flavor to our worship experience and a greater sense of unity. In December we invited 2nd Baptist to join with us for our Christmas program, which we had not done with them before. It was well attended and was a great time of worship.
 
It will be interesting to see how God may lead us this year to expand our ministry together in Franklin. It has been a joy to work with the pastor’s and other leaders from 2nd Baptist.

The year 2015 was the year we truly began to understand what it means to live a ministry of hospitality. The church went from being a place that had people in it Sunday, Wednesday, and Fridays to being occupied by people all seven days of the week!
 
In 2015 we intentionally opened the doors of the church to the broader community, finally getting out of the rut of having to only be open when members were using the building. We made it clear that our building is for the used of the community as a whole and not just the members of the church. After all, it really isn’t our building to begin with – it is God’s.
 
We became the home of a dance school, an art school, the local neighborhood association. We became a place that neighbors would use for birthday parties, anniversaries, and other occasions. We opened the chapel to the family of a homeless man who needed to have a funeral for hi,. We continued our food pantry ministry and partnership with the neighborhood assistance center. We opened the doors to our neighbors who are wanting to learn to speak and read English by hosting ELL (English Language Learners) classes in partnership with IndyReads and Iglesia Bautista Betesda. We have become the meeting place for the east side residents of a west side congregation. We have had become the home of Village of Hope, a new church plant.
 
Our biggest blessing has been becoming the home of Iglesia Bautista Bethesda, a sister ABC congregation. We have become effective partners in ministry and regularly share our worship lives together.
 
None of this would have happened had we not shifted our vision. We are a ministry of hospitality to all of God’s people in the neighborhood. We are living into what it is God has gifted us with. And it is our prayer that we continue to follow the Spirit’s leading into the next year.

In 2015 Cumberland FBC created two arts oriented outreach and mission fundraising events. The first held on Sunday, June 28 featured the locally acclaimed band Irish Airs followed by an Ice Cream Social hosted by the American Baptist Youth. The second event held on November 14, STORIES: Bittersweet featured Indy’s highly sought after storyteller, Sally Perkins followed by a Cake Extravaganza hosted by Community Outreach Ministry East side. Both events drew a good mix of church and community people. The music and storytelling was foot-stomping, heart-touching entertainment. And the funds raised from the receptions went to support the COME food pantry and the youth ministry.

In 2015, the documentary “Alive Inside” inspired us to be part of the Music and Memory program which provides personalized music for persons with dementia. We designated funds to partner
with a local healthcare center that cares for person with dementia. We began collecting IPods and our pastor attended a workshop about the program led by Dan Cohen. Recently, we have met with the activities director of the healthcare center to help them get started with the program. The process has gone more slowly than we anticipated, but we are learning patience as the Lord leads us in small steps. A women’s chorus is going to join us in collecting iPods.
 
Our congregation partnered with FAME in providing healthcare to nine villages along the Amazon River in Brazil last summer. Our pastor and 16 year old Corene joined seven others from FAME for
this amazing adventure. This first mission trip was a dream of Corene’s after she listened to ABC missionaries Taku and Katie Longkumer tell about their work in Nagaland. After the trip, Corene shared stories and photos about the beautiful people of Brazil not only with our congregation, but also with student classes at Warren Central High School. The ripple affect of Christ’s love has touched us and thousands of others through this mission trip.
 
During our fall retreat, we decided to start having a meal together each time we worship on Sunday evenings. We thought this would be particularly helpful for our families with children. We enjoyed this special time of fellowship around the table.
 
Many of our members are involved in ministry with other congregations. One of our members, Lora, brings her knitting to house church each Sunday. She knits children’s sweaters which are given to families who come to the food pantry at Northside Christian Church.
 
Joan and Jay have shared hospitality with our pastor couple which is a wonderful way to feel supported and connected to our beautiful region. The Annual Meeting and weekly newsletters are other good ways of being connected and learning from what others are doing for the glory of God.

In June and July we held Tuesdays Together. It was a time to gather in the backyard of the church and be together. Children, teens, and adults all played Frisbee and other games, talked, and had snacks. Many of the kids and teens who live around the church joined in the fun. Each week we had an interactive lesson that linked with the message of the worship service on Sunday. Tuesdays Together helped to build community within the church and with our neighbors. We look forward to doing it again next summer.

As a community-focused fellowship, our group has spent many hours over the past year helping others. One of our youngest members continued her five-year tradition of asking for donations of peanut butter and cereal for the Edna Martin Center in lieu of birthday gifts at her birthday party. Our entire congregation, along with additional friends and family, gathered together for a Work Day at an elderly relative’s country home; painting, cutting down trees, mowing, raking,
and generally winterizing and improving; more than fifteen people assisted. During the holiday season, our group continued our annual dedication to adopting poverty-stricken children through the Children’s Bureau Hope for the Holidays; more than $800 was raised and five children were adopted. Any remaining funds were once again donated to the Edna Martin Center. These and smaller activities ensure our members are connected to our local community, as well as our mission-driven donations.

We have reached out into our community through two ministries: One is My Friend’s Clothing Closet, which offers free clothes for men, women and children to whoever comes when it is open twice per week. Our records indicate that we served at least 220 people in 2015. The other is the Second Thursday Supper, a monthly free meal, prepared at the church, and served to whoever comes for food and fellowship. We had an average attendance of 20 last year.
 
Our biggest challenge in 2015 was changing the way we are governed. We previously had a number of committees that reported to a Leadership Board. With our declining and aging membership, we were faced with the fact that we no longer had enough able-bodied people to fill all of our elected positions. Our Leadership Board discussed the issue for several months and determined that a one-board governing system would serve our needs best. We were ably assisted by ABCGI staff, especially Jan Goodyear, who showed us how such a system worked in their churches. Jan cautioned us, however, that we needed to mold the system to serve the specific needs of Calvary Baptist Church, and that transition to the system would not happen overnight. As 2016 began, we were in the midst of switching over to the one-board system.

After MCLE we have made attempts to reach out to the neighbors for a better way of sharing our gifts and talents with them. We put a program together to help prevent crime by passing out light bulbs and asking neighbors to join us in lighting the area – “Lighten the Hood”. We added lights to our parking lot and all around the building, hoping to help light the very dark streets for protection and safety. It does seem to have helped, preventing people from meeting and parking in our lot. For a long time it seemed we had cars almost appearing to hide, this is no longer happening due to the new lighting over the past 3 years. During this activity we worked with Community Hospital East and The Community Heights Neighborhood Association.
 
Our church is very small and we have hoped to be able to be a church that was used to help with offering the use of our building for other organizations like AA, Community Heights Neighborhood
Association, A group called the Funtastics, a group of mentally challenged folks and Indy Tres Dias (A retreat group that meets 4 times a year – 2 men and 2 women’s weekend preparation time).
 
As for the ministry Council and MCLE group, we are the ones that do the majority of the work. This is because we have such a small number of people.We have only a couple of younger people and they are unable to help because of job situations, most of the time. We have beautiful people in our church family and they all do what they can, but many are dealing with major illnesses and age. Those who set on the board are those that are able to do the most. We do not have a youth group as we do not have but one 13 year old and she does not come on a regular basis due to her mother working on Sundays.
 
We are hoping to find either a planter church or hoping to connect with one of the other churches in the area to joint together. We are not giving up, but we are few in numbers and cannot do all that is
needed.

1. Wednesday Night’s Community Connection for children. This ministry
continues to grow as we reach out to children from challenging and
unchurched homes.

2. 150 year church Anniversary.

3. Approved position of money for new Worship Leader. Waiting for God
to provide.

4. Declining attendance. Continue to try to reach community.

5. Franklin Township Ministerial Assoc., joint food pantry, Good Friday
and Thanksgiving service. Hosted New Bethel Church Search Committee.

6. Spoken to church, willing to work with Pastor for church for invisioning.
Hosted Pastor and wife dinner.

2015 has been a very blessed year for Indiana Kachin Baptist Church. The ministry went very well. Since all members came to the US as refugees, the first things they have to do for their lives has been building up their lives in Christ. In this regards, all the members of IKBC have been making progress in transforming their living in Christ in this country during the previous year.
 
As a member church of ABCGI, IKBC is involving in the ministry of ABCUSA with their possible ability. And at the same time, IKBC is taking a major role in assisting the ministry of other Kachin Baptist Churches in the US and other countries in abroad as well. Even if there are times that IKBC had to face the challenges, by faith we are overcoming all the challenges with the help of our Lord through ABCGI and the foster church such as One Christian Church.