While all CBF field personnel working in the region were uninjured, several families were displaced and threatened by flood waters. Field personnel began assist- ing their neighbors as the death toll from earthquake- induced tidal waves climbed above 160,000 at press time. “Even though our field personnel are not all trained as first responders, some of them are some of the first people entering devastating situations,” said Barbara Baldridge, CBF Global Missions acting coordinator. The focus of CBF relief efforts in tsunami-impacted areas has included assessment of dam- age, clean up and distribution of needed supplies. Field personnel are working through various ministry partners to distrib- ute funds to areas most in need. The Fellowship autho- rized each field unit to spend up to $5,000 in emergency relief. Because the Fellowship is not primarily a relief organization, such a massive relief effort requires part- nering with organizations that have experts. In India, the Indian Evangelical Mission is the Fellowship’s main partner, helping primarily with volunteer coordination. CBF Global Missions field COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP’S MISSION: SERVING CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES AS THEY DISCOVER AND FULFILL THEIR GOD-GIVEN MISSION. Church Embraces Afghan Refugees Volunteers Celebrate with Kenyan Orphans Co-pastors Share Church Starting Vision Virginia Church Connects to Roma Students Vestal Reflects on 21st Centur y Global Missions INSIDE CBF fellowship! COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005 WWW.THEFELLOWSHIP.INFO Partnership Allows CBF to Provide Tsunami Relief in Southeast Asia WHEN DEVASTATING TSUNAMIS HIT Southeast Asia the day after Christmas, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field personnel were in place helping minister to those affected. [continues on p. 2] NEW! April-May "fellowship!" will have a new look to serve you better. Give EVERY DOLLAR DESIGNATED for Asian Response goes to the field to assist in the relief and recovery effort. Gifts should be earmarked #17016, Asian Response and can be mailed to: ASIAN RESPONSE, CBF, PO Box 101699, Atlanta, GA 30392. Gifts can be made by credit card online at www.thefellowship.info/ Landing/Giving.icm. To maximize the impact of their financial contribution, donors can also research their employer’s policy on matching gifts. A tsunami survivor in India receives medicine provided by CBF. Field personnel photo
Transcript
While all CBF field personnel working in the region were uninjured, several families were displaced and threatened by flood waters. Field personnel began assist-ing their neighbors as the death toll from earthquake-induced tidal waves climbed above 160,000 at press time.
“Even though our field personnel are not all trained as first responders, some of them are some of the first people entering devastating situations,” said Barbara Baldridge, CBF Global Missions acting coordinator.
The focus of CBF relief efforts in tsunami-impacted areas has included assessment of dam-age, clean up and distribution of needed supplies.
Field personnel are working through various ministry partners to distrib-ute funds to areas most in need. The Fellowship autho-rized each field unit to spend up to
$5,000 in emergency relief. Because the Fellowship is not primarily a relief
organization, such a massive relief effort requires part-nering with organizations that have experts.
In India, the Indian Evangelical Mission is the Fellowship’s main partner, helping primarily with volunteer coordination. CBF Global Missions field
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP’S MISSION: SERVING CHRISTIANS AND CHURCHES AS THEY DISCOVER AND FULFILL THEIR GOD-GIVEN MISSION.
Church
Embraces Afghan
Refugees
Volunteers
Celebrate with
Kenyan Orphans
Co-pastors
Share Church
Starting Vision
Virginia Church
Connects to
Roma Students
Vestal Reflects
on 21st Century
Global Missions
INSIDE
CBFfellowship!COOPERAT I VE BAPT IST FELLOWSH IP
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005
WWW.THEFELLOWSHIP. INFO
Partnership Allows CBF to ProvideTsunami Relief in Southeast AsiaWHEN DEVASTAT ING TSUNAM IS H I T
Southeast Asia the day after Christmas,
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global
Missions field personnel were in place
helping minister to those affected.
[continues on p. 2]
NEW!April-May "fellowship!" will have a new
look to serve you better.
GiveEVERY DOLLAR DESIGNATED for
Asian Response goes to the
field to assist in the relief and
recovery effort. Gifts should
be earmarked #17016, Asian
Response and can be mailed to:
ASIAN RESPONSE, CBF, PO Box
101699, Atlanta, GA 30392.
Gifts can be made by credit card
online at www.thefellowship.info/
Landing/Giving.icm.
To maximize the impact of their
financial contribution, donors can
also research their employer’s
policy on matching gifts.
A tsunami survivor in India receives medicine provided by CBF.
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personnel are also partnering with Church of Christ in Thailand. In Sri Lanka, the Fellowship is partner-ing with organizations such as World Vision and Baptist World Aid. Other partners in the affected region include Habitat for Humanity International, Buckner Orphan Care International, and Baptist Medical and Dental Fellowship.
As the Fellowship and other organizations provide relief to areas affected by tsunami destruction, financial dona-tions remain the best form of assistance that stateside sup-porters can provide.
The Fellowship set up an Asian Response Fund that had received almost $31,000 online and almost an additional $59,000 by mail, totaling $89,000 as of Jan 6. At press time, the Fellowship had sent more than $100,000 to CBF Global Missions field personnel to use in the relief effort.
“We can assure donors that 100 percent of funds will go to relief,” said Barbara Baldridge.
Relief purchases to date include basic hygiene kits, food and utensils, water purifying tablets, supplies for shelters housing survivors and water purification systems.
Jack Snell, CBF Global Missions associate coordinator for field ministries, said the most pressing need for field personnel is prayer. “The work is slow and the strain on our personnel is severe, but they are totally committed to the challenge of sharing God’s love in a loving response. They need to be undergirded by prayer,” he said.
Some individuals have expressed desire to help by going to Asia, but Snell said people help best now by praying and giv-ing. “You are there through our CBF personnel that you support through your prayer and financial contributions,” he said.
The Fellowship had a presence in Southeast Asia prior to tsunami destruction, and has committed to staying in the region even after immediate relief efforts subside.
Experts predict the rebuilding process will take years, but the Fellowship’s commitment remains. “Our com-mitment is not only to immediate relief but to long-term transformational development and long-lasting relation-ships,” said national CBF coordinator Daniel Vestal.
By accessing the Fellowship’s Web site, www.thefellowship.info,
individuals can make a contribution online, read up-to-date
dispatches from the field or learn of the latest prayer needs.
By Carla Wynn and Lance Wallace, CBF Communications
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o
THE FELLOWSHIP’S WEB
SITE contains links to
all information on CBF’s
response to the tsunamis
in Southeast Asia at
www.thefellowship.info/
AsianResponse.icm.
Fellowship churches
and individuals are invited to assist the efforts of
CBF Global Missions field personnel and their partners by
taking the following actions:
PRAY
Pray for the needs of the people impacted by the disaster
and CBF Global Missions field personnel working with them.
Prayer updates are available online.
SERVE
CBF Global Missions Volunteer Missions is working to match
the needs with skilled volunteers. For more information, con-
tact Timothy Wood at (800) 782-2451, twood@thefellowship.
info or visit www.thefellowship.info/Global Missions/Volunteer
Missions/asiarelief.icm. A Tsunami Relief Volunteer
Information form is available online.
LEARN
View images online from the areas CBF is providing relief. Also,
hear sound bytes and video relevant to CBF relief efforts.
The CBF Web site contains litanies, hymns, prayers and
other guides compiled by CBF’s Initiative for Congregational
Life to assist congregations in their response to the crisis in
Asia. To access these resources, go to www.thefellowship.
info/CL/FF/CMResources/Disaster.
CBF Global Missions field personnel are giving frequent
reports on their work and the situations they face in
the region. Their stories are available online at www.
thefellowship.info.
Tsunami Response
New Look for ‘fellowship!’ Coming in AprilTHE COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP’S bimonthly newsletter is
being redesigned to better connect readers with the ministries of the
Fellowship. To complement the upgrade of the Fellowship’s Web site
in February 2004, the newsletter will be getting a new look and added
features in its April-May issue that will make the publication look more
like the Fellowship’s Web site and other signature publications, “Who
We Are” and “You Make a Difference.”
The new and improved “fellowship!” will provide readers with a way
to connect to the ministries featured in the stories. Just as each page
on the Fellowship’s Web site offers visitors “Ways to Respond” and
provides the option to “Learn,” “Pray,” “Give” or “Serve,” each article
in the newsletter will have the same options presented.
Be sure to keep your eye out for the new “fellowship!” due out
in late March. For questions or comments, send an e-mail to Lance
w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005
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3The global reach of human suffering in the Indian
Ocean Basin is historic, as is the scope of the global response.
Unlike many tragic events which go unnoticed by most people outside the immediate area, this one was inescap-able. The entire world was focused on the devastation in Aceh, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and elsewhere in the region. From print media to television, accounts from countries around the world reported the unfolding story. For a while, everyone in the world, it seemed, was talking about the same thing.
This worldwide focus is a characteristic of the contem-porary age. I remember walking through a remote village in Asia one night a few years ago and seeing the entire village huddled around a small television with a satellite receiver watching a World Cup soccer match. Last year on a trip that can make a difference,* I sat in a tea café with a group of American pastors in a town on the edge of the Sahara Desert and watched the news along with a large group of robed desert dwellers. Soccer matches and war bring a common focus among people with common inter-ests, although the focus may be slanted by the values of reporters and viewers alike.
The tsunami interrupted all of our lives wherever we live in the world, and reminded all of us just how tenuous life is, and how quickly human plans and priorities can change. Like you, I celebrated Christmas with friends and family, and reflected on a year just past and the prospects for the year to come. Our tranquility was shattered by the tsunami.
CBF personnel returned to work immediately to communicate with all of our people in the area of the tsunami. They prayed and planned to respond to this natural disaster to help make Christ’s presence felt. Our partners were consulted, efforts began to cooperate with Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist and Christians, governmental and nongovernmental agencies alike to bring desperately needed food and water and medicine and shelter to people in need.
CBF field personnel in Toronto and Brussels and San Francisco and other places far away from the Indian
Ocean also responded to the tsunami among people from Indonesia and Sri Lanka and other affected countries they know as students and immigrants. The presence of Christ was exhibited among the grief and suffering due to the loss of loved ones, the uncertainty and lack of information, the stresses felt by many.
We are thankful that CBF field personnel are minister-ing to people in their time of need. They are there because of the prayers and generosity of people giving to the CBF budget and the Offering for Global Missions. Now they are in place to help make long-term, significant contributions to the abundant life promised through Jesus. f!
* For information about “Trips that can make a difference …
going to hard places with Pat Anderson” go to www.thefellow
ship.info/Global Missions/Goingtohardplaces.
By Patrick R. Anderson, CBF Global Missions advocate
Tsunami in a World Without Borders
THE FOLLOWING IS AN EXCERPT from a poem written by Katy,
a CBF MK from Asia. Her identity cannot be given because of
security concerns.
“It came from a part of me that was trying to understand all
that happened, and a part of me that believes a God stronger
than the forces of nature was there during it all. … He will be
there. And that brings hope,” she wrote.
When wave upon wave of water hit shores thousands of miles
from where they began, You were there.
When these waves crashed away everything in their path, You
were there.
When the people You loved enough to die for ran for their
very lives, You were there.
When houses fell and possessions were swept away, You
were there.
You saw as these waves broke buildings, stole lives, left
terror and grief in their wake.
Did Your heart break? I don’t have to ask.
I imagine Your tears would put the waters of tsunamis to
shame.
In the midst of death and destruction, the God of the
Universe was there. You were there.
He was There: A Personal Reflection
THE EARTHQUAKE OF F THE COAST OF SUMATRA and the resulting natural disaster that
destroyed lives and displaced so many people, in one sense demonstrates the reality of a
“world without borders.”
Patrick Anderson
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CROSSROADS CHURCH PASTOR Paul McGovern knew he and his congregation had a heart for global mis-sions. What he didn’t know was that a group of Afghan refugees in desperate need lived less than a mile from the Fremont, Calif., church. CBF Global Missions field personnel Lita and Rick Sample, who had recently joined Crossroads Church, alerted him to the situation.
“When they shared that, I was shocked,” McGovern says. “Fremont is one of the most expensive places to live in the world. I wasn’t aware of the high population of refugees all around us.”
The Samples belong to CBF’s internationals cluster — a group of CBF field personnel who minister to people liv-ing far from their homelands. The internationals cluster is highlighted as part of MissionConnect, the spring emphasis
of the 2004-05 Offering for Global Missions.
While most Afghan families had enough money to pay the rent, there was little for necessary items like laundry soap. The Samples, along with church members, began to help meet these needs.
The Afghans, who are mostly Muslim, were also hungry for friendship with Americans. “We tell them we’re happy that they’re here and that Christians in America care about them,” Rick says.
Other churches across the country are partner-ing with Crossroads Church through CBF’s Refugee Needs Project to provide needed items which many Afghan families lack.
During Christmas 2003, the Samples and
Crossroads small groups “adopted” four Afghan families. They invited about 25 Afghans to Christmas parties in their homes.
“We make it a point to share with the Afghan guests the true meaning of Christmas, that it’s about the birth of Jesus,” Rick says. In 2004, about 125 Crossroads members held 12 Christmas parties for 17 families, reaching 73 Afghans.
As part of Afghan Friendship Week during spring
break 2004, Baylor University students, the Samples and Crossroads members spent a week with the Afghans playing games, touring nearby San Francisco and sharing a tradi-tional Afghan dinner.
Plans are being made to start an Afghan church so refu-gees can learn about Christ in the Farsi language. “This will allow them to come as seekers, to know what the gospel is about and who Jesus is without a high-pressure kind of preaching,” Lita says.
The Samples hope other churches can use this refugee ministry as a model. “We didn’t come to California with these ideas,” Rick emphasizes. “This came out of our partnership with Crossroads Church. They’ve helped us learn how a local church can minister to refugees around them.” f!
For more information about the Offering for Global Missions,
go to www.thefellowship.info, call (770) 220-1653 or e-mail
issue to help meet this year’s $6.1 million Offering goal and
challenge goal of $6.3 million. Or go to www.thefellowship.info
to make a contribution online.
By contributing writer Traci Rylands, Nashville, Tenn.
California Church EmbracesAfghan Refugee Community
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o
Get Connected
CHURCHES AND INDIVIDUALS can
assist ministry to immigrants by
providing:
• Gift cards: Target, Wal-Mart,
Payless, Safeway
• Toiletries: toothpaste,
toothbrushes, shampoo, soap
and bathroom tissue
• Bath supplies: hair brushes,
hand towels, washcloths, diaper
wipes
• Kitchen supplies: dish and
laundry soap and paper towels
• Other: board games, socks and
backpacks.
Send items to Lita and Rick
Sample, 410 Lower Vinters
Circle, Fremont, CA 94539 or
contact rsample@thefellowship.
info.
To order CBF’s new “Walking
Alongside Internationals DVD,”
contact The CBF Store at (888)
801-4223 or www.thefellowship.
info. ($7.50, plus shipping)
As part of Crossroads Church’s outreach to Afghan refugees, 17 families attended Christmas parties in church members’ homes.
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MARLENE GRANT PUTS HER ARMS around Teresia Ngao and helps the little girl cut out figures of Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. Together, the Kenyan orphan and the Texas volunteer are telling the Christmas story.
Teresia and 76 other orphans from the Baptist Children’s Center in Nairobi were joined in early December 2004 by 29 volunteers from across the United States for a “Christmas in Africa” camp sponsored by Buckner Orphan Care International and Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
The camp provided an opportunity for 50 orphans from the children’s center and 27 who live in Buckner-spon-sored foster homes to interact with the American volunteers. Activities included crafts, rec-reation and Bible stories.
Buckner President Ken Hall and CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal, along with CBF Global Missions Acting Coordinator Barbara Baldridge also participated in the Kenya Christmas trip.
“It means so much to the children to know that people
care enough to come from the United States and spend time with them,” says Dickson Masindano, director of Buckner Africa.
During the trip, the Fellowship hosted Buckner staff and African Baptist leaders in a three-day dialogue about
closer cooperation on issues related to children in Africa.
For volunteer Bob Hefner and his wife, Laura, return-ing to the children’s home in Nairobi is a confirmation of the work Buckner, CBF and Kenyan Baptists are doing with the children.
“We have fallen desperately in love with these children,” says Hefner, who is a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. “They are literally the most important children I have run across. They are bright and
they are hopeful and they appreciate where they are and are anxious to succeed. They really want to show apprecia-tion for the help they get and to just grow in their faith.” f!
By Scott Collins, Buckner News Service
Buckner, CBF Volunteers Celebrate Christmas with Kenyan Orphans
Barbara Baldridge, center, and Daniel Vestal sing with the children of the Baptist Children’s Center in Nairobi.
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IN SEVERAL RURAL Southeast Asian
villages, Muslim and Christian women
work side by side making quilts to help
supplement their meager incomes.
Besides the income produced from
quilting, the work gives the women time
to share about their families and faith.
The women use their income to help
meet health needs and pay school tuition for
their children. Each quilt takes eight women
approximately 160 hours to complete.
“For these women, quilting is the only
other work available to them other than
field work which is seasonal,” says one
of CBF’s Global Missions field personnel
who partners with the nationals that run
the quilting ministry.*
Although quilting is not a traditional
handicraft of the people group, some of the
quilts use a traditional fabric called Batik cloth.
Quilting Provides Income for Village FamiliesDoing Missions in a World Without Borders Missions Education Curriculum
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In 1997, the two unacquainted men were full-time pastors in Oklahoma — Edge at Main Street Baptist in Stigler and Matthews at First Baptist Church, Vinita. However, the two had a couple of things in common. Natives of the Fort Smith area, they both “shared a burden” to begin a Cooperative Baptist Fellowship church there.
They discovered this common bond when Rick McClatchy, then coordinator of CBF of Oklahoma, told Matthews there was another pastor in the state who shared his vision for a church start in Fort Smith.
McClatchy contacted Tom Logue, who was serving then as CBF of Arkansas coordinator, and the four men met for lunch in Fort Smith. “We drove around the area and then went back home to pray about it,” Matthews says. “Both of us decided we needed to move back to the area and start a church. Roy Gene and his wife, Cindy, and my wife, Staci, and I resigned our churches on the same Sunday, and Roy Gene and I became bivocational pastors. It was a real leap of faith.”
The couples initially started a Bible study in an office at the steel plant owned by Steve’s father. “It was attended by others in the area who had CBF interests,” Edge says. “We next met in Steve’s home and other homes and then rented a conference room at a hotel in Van Buren.”
When the newly-formed congregation needed a permanent home, Logue put the pastors in touch with a volunteer group known as the Texas Church Builders. “More than 300 adults and youth representing seven states showed up one morning to start building the church,” Matthews recalls. “It was an amazing thing to watch.”
“It was amazing,” Edge echoes. “The first night, a Sunday, we worshipped together on the cement pad. The
builders led the service and took up an offering in which they gave $20,000 for the new church. The next morning, they put the building up. We worshipped in it Wednesday night and on the next Sunday we had our service there.
“Two weeks later, about 40 people from Trinity Baptist in Conyers, Ga., came down and helped finish out the inside. The Lord has blessed us in so many ways,” Edge adds.
Current attendance at Rena Road ranges from 30 to 60, and the co-pastors take turns preaching a month at a time. The Fellowship has been a great help to the church, Edge says. “We are trying to do more in educating the people about CBF. My
wife does this through things like the missions offering, and we have speakers to show how God is blessing and using CBF in global missions.”
Tom Ogburn, CBF’s former associate coordinator for partnership missions, conducted a workshop to help Rena Road zero in on its missional direction, and national Fellowship Coordinator Daniel Vestal was a recent pulpit guest.
“I personally feel that if CBF is going to be viable for the future, we have to plant churches,” Matthews says. “It was good to hear Dr. Vestal say the same thing. This has been an amazing experience. I never thought I would be a church planter.” f!
For more information about new church starts, contact Phil
to Global Missions/Church Starts at www.thefellowship.info.
By contributing writer Gay Campbell, Nashville, Tenn.
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o
Co-pastors Share Vision forCBF Church Start in Arkansas
WHEN TALK ING W I TH ROY GENE EDGE AND STEVE MATTHEWS , co-pastors of Rena Road
Baptist Church in Van Buren, Ark., the word “amazing” comes up often.
Steve Matthews, left, and Roy Gene Edge share the responsibilities of helping lead Rena Road Baptist Church as co-pastors.
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THE FACES OF INTERNATIONAL Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic, include a Latvian man whose conversion to Christianity cost him his col-lege teaching job, an Albanian who was raised Muslim and a Bulgarian who ministers to Prague’s prostitutes.
These stories are just a few heard by Clarissa Strickland, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s associate coordinator for lead-ership development, during a recent trip to the seminary. Strickland traveled to IBTS to present a worship banner she made on behalf of CBF for the seminary chapel and to gather stories from the international student body.
“Their stories were as varied as their accents,” Strickland says. “Some were raised in Christian homes and others came to their faith later on in their lives. I heard stories of those imprisoned because of their faith, and
those who were alienated from family because they became Christians.”
Founded in 1949 in Ruschlikon, Switzerland, the seminary moved to Prague in 1995. The student body, currently 140 students in six degree programs, is “a good example of Baptists around the world,” says Terry Hamrick, the Fellowship’s coordinator for leadership develop-ment.
The newly-formed Fellowship began sup-porting the seminary in October 1991 after the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board withdrew its funding of
$365,000 over claims the seminary was liberal. Led by then CBF moderator John Hewett, a group of 50 Baptists trav-eled to the seminary in February 1992 to present a check
for more than $235,000. By April, the seminary had received twice the amount of the funds originally promised by the FMB. The first global missions offering contributed $345,000 to the seminary. This year, the Fellowship gave $90,000.
Hamrick says the partnership enables the Fellowship to help train and develop European Baptist leaders. But the partnership isn’t one-sided, Hamrick emphasized. “We learn a great deal from them,” he says. “They are Baptists who have been in difficult circumstances such as persecution.” f!
For more information about IBTS, go to www.ibts.cz.
By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications
International Seminary Unites Diverse Students in Classroom
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ADAM DEJAN OF SERBIA was supposed to spy on Christians
— not become one. He heard the gospel while serving as an
undercover police officer assigned to
infiltrate Serbia’s Seventh Day Adventist
churches, which like other evangelicals,
were considered traitors to the country.
After his baptism, Dejan left the police.
Now Dejan is pursuing a master’s
degree in Baptist studies at IBTS. But he
almost didn’t make it to seminary. In
1999, he crossed a Serbian bridge only
two minutes before NATO aircraft bombed
it. He says he has learned how to forgive at IBTS, where one of
his fellow students is a former U.S. Army officer who worked on
the NATO campaign against Serbia.
“When we met one another for the first time, I didn’t know
what to think,” Dejan admits. “He embraced me by asking could
I forgive him and have friendship with him. Finally, but not so
easy, I said, ‘Yes, you are forgiven.’”
Following seminary, Dejan wants to return to Serbia and
change public opinion about Baptists. He hopes to become a
Magdi Maria Pap receives her master of theology degree from Parush Parushev (left), IBTS director of applied theology and academic dean, and Keith Jones, IBTS rector.
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A FAMILIAR FACE SHOWED UP recently on the campus of the Gandhi School in Pecs, Hungary, which provides educational opportunity for some 270 Roma (Gypsy) stu-dents. The friendly face belonged to Tom Leland, pastor of University Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Va., who along with six team members, traveled to the school to share Christ’s love.
Leland, who has previously led four teams to the school, says the purpose of the trip was four-fold. “We were there to share God’s love with the Gandhi students through two worship/celebration services; to help students with their English; to encourage Penny Mann, one of the new CBF Global Service Corps personnel, who has just started three years as a teacher; and to encourage the local Hungarian Baptist Church to continue its ministry with the school,” he says.
The team complemented the ongoing work of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions field per-
sonnel Ralph and Tammy Stocks. The couple, who are high-lighted as part of the Fellowship’s 2004-05 Offering for Global Missions emphasis, coordinate an array of coopera-tive Christian and humanitarian programs among the Roma in both Romania and Hungary.
“Roma teenagers rarely pro-ceed past the eighth grade in school,” Ralph explains.
“While living in the school dormitory for the week, team members were able to form rela-tionships with the students not only through classroom activi-ties but by hosting a hot dog supper, two celebration worship services and intentional hallway conversations,” Ralph says.
The celebration events with the students attracted more than 70 students who joined the team
for games, songs, a short message and refreshments. “After the Americans led several songs, the students themselves broke into a spontaneous hymn in their own language,” Ralph says.
On Sunday, the missions team sang in the local Hungarian Baptist Church and Leland shared a message through an interpreter in preparation for the Lord’s Supper.
Ralph points out that building this relationship with Hungarian Baptists will help Mann as she works with the church in weekly outreach at the Gandhi School.
University Baptist member Mike Smith says when he and his wife, Amanda, entered their classroom at the end of the week, they were moved to find the students had written them a “postcard” in English on the chalk board wishing them “Good travel at home!”
“We know that many of these students face discrimina-tion in the Hungarian culture, but we also know that God’s love extends to them as it does to all of us,” Mike says. “Our hope is that our brief visit helped affirm them as worthy of God’s love and opened their hearts to the good news of Jesus Christ.” f!
For more information, or to make an online contribution to the
Offering for Global Missions, go to www.thefellowship.info, call
By contributing writer Gay Campbell, Nashville, Tenn.
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o
Offering for Global Missions Strengthens Churches’ Connection to Roma Students
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THE FOLLOWING UPDATE comes from CBF Global Missions field
personnel Ralph and Tammy Stocks:
What happens when 13 volunteers from First Baptist Church,
Jefferson City, Tenn., collide with 150-plus Gypsy kids in a
remote village in Hungary? A whole lot of love! By the end of
the five-day children’s camp, the tears shed at saying goodbye
fell across children’s arms “tattooed” with hearts and crosses,
and splashed across jewelry of colored beads reminding them
of Jesus.
Romany children in Tuzser experienced first-hand the love
of God as team members hugged, played, painted, sang and
taught Bible stories. Teenagers enjoyed playing sports with
volunteers.
Team members participated in an evening worship service
with some 250 Gypsy villagers crowding around the tent. Gifts
of chocolates and flowers for female team members were all
the local community could afford as they extended a heartfelt
invitation for a return visit. Team members shed tears as the
vans rolled away.
Tennessee Volunteers Share God’s Love
Tom Leland, pastor of University Baptist Church, teaches a 12th grade English class.
w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005
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COLLEGE STUDENTS FOCUSED on the theme of “God’s call, the world’s cry, my answer,” during the inaugural Antiphony conference in Birmingham, Ala., from Dec. 29-Jan. 2. More than 250 students and leaders gathered for the event sponsored by Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Global Missions, Passport Inc. and Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond.
During a worship session based around God’s call, speaker Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Waco, Texas, told students the call to Christ comes above any vocational or ministry calling they might feel.
Additional conversa-tion happened in small group discussion times called D-groups, where students further grap-pled with how to hear God’s call. Students also had their choice of more than 25 different topic-based discussion sessions called Chat Rooms.
Musical guest Ken Medema led students in musical responses throughout the conference.
The conference attracted students for a variety of rea-sons. For some, it was not knowing what life after college graduation would bring. For others, it was a desire to ring in 2005 with friends.
During the opening session, Pennington-Russell and Colleen Burroughs, executive vice president of Passport Inc., introduced the idea of an antiphony-style sermon where ideas were shared through a conversation between the two.
Human need around the world was the focus of the second full day of Antiphony. Burroughs told students it was important to understand the complexity of human need. “The unresolved tension of Antiphony is that God’s call and the world’s cry might actually be the very same sound,” she said.
Small group discussion was the conference’s hall-mark, allowing everyone a chance to share their ideas, said Graham Ashcraft, a May 2004 graduate of Baylor University. “It’s not a lecture; it’s a conversation,” he said.
Participants ended the second full day of the confer-ence with a New Year’s Eve party.
Antiphony participants grappled with their response to God and the world during the third full day of the col-legiate conference.
“I needed it to mean a lot, and it did,” said Mississippi College senior Jonathan Barlow. “God had called me into the ministry, and I needed to know what that meant,” he said. Through Antiphony, “God brought to focus what my future ministry might look like,” Barlow added.
Kendall Bumgarner, a University of Oklahoma senior, said her focus on future plans had distracted her from current unmet needs around her. “Now I have this passion to be comfortable with where I am now and be willing to do whatever needs to be done right now,” she said. f!
By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications
Antiphony Conference Helps Students Respond to God's Call, the World's Cry
Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. The seminary
recently received a $100,000 bequest from the late Dorothy
Peace of Greenville, S.C.
Lilly Endowment has awarded BTSR nearly $2 million as a part
of the national Making Connections Initiative. BTSR will use the
funds to build a job-placement system, to assist churches consid-
ering female pastors, to coach ministers in transition, and to fund
seminary staff positions to relate to congregations and alumni.
Campbell University Divinity School. The divinity school has cre-
ated an endowment for Hispanic ministry on a financial gift from
North Carolina resident Ruth Faires.
Central Baptist Seminary. Molly Marshall was named the
seminary’s president in November. She began duties Jan. 1,
as the first woman president of any Baptist-affiliated seminary
accredited by the Association of Theological Schools.
Bozhidar Igov of Bulgaria has joined the seminary as this year’s
missionary-in-residence.
McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University. Lilly Endowment
has awarded McAfee nearly $2 million as a part of the national
Making Connections Initiative, which will create two-year church
residencies for McAfee graduates wanting to become pastors.
The first six residencies will begin summer 2005.
Truett Theological Seminary, Baylor University. The seminary’s
Alumni Association honored Joseph C. Parker Jr., pastor of
David Chapel Missionary Baptist Church in Austin, with its
Distinguished Alumni Award.
Class Notes: News from Partner Schools
A student paints her response to the Antiphony conference during the final worship session.
Car
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TWELVE COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP spiritual formation leaders met recently in Atlanta to discern the future of the Fellowship’s new spiritual formation network (SFN).
The SFN was announced at June’s General Assembly but had not yet taken shape. “We had an idea, but we didn’t have substance,” says Rick Bennett, the Fellowship’s asso-ciate coordinator for faith formation.
Through times of prayer and worship, summit partici-pants began discerning the SFN’s direction, including a definition for spiritual formation, Bennett says. The defi-nition reads, “Spiritual formation is the process of being shaped in the image of Christ by the gracious working of God’s Spirit, for the transformation of the world.”
Summit participants also drafted a conceptual structure for the SFN, which includes leadership by a 12-person steering team, which has yet to be selected. With a prior-ity of achieving spiritual formation through gatherings, print media, partnerships and an Internet presence, the network’s two-fold purpose will be relating and resourcing.
Selected on the basis of experience and involvement in spiritual formation, the 12 spiritual formation leaders join-ing Bennett in the discerning process were:
• Mary Jayne Allen, minister of education at First Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tenn.
• Sheree Jones, pastoral educator at First Baptist Church
in Aiken, S.C.• Rick Jordan, congregational life coordinator for CBF of
North Carolina • Jeanie Miley, spiritual formation author and retreat
leader• Devita Parnell, associate coordinator for congrega-
tional life for CBF of Georgia• Sandi Rogers, pastor of faith formation at Columbia
Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va.• Royce Rose, theological education for Baptist General
Convention of Texas• Ann Ross, layperson at First Baptist Church in
Madison, Ga.• Rachel Shapard, associate minister at First Baptist
Church in Gainesville, Ga.• Marjorie Thompson of Upper Room Ministries in
Nashville, Tenn.• Alta Whitt, college minister at Forest Hills Baptist
Church in Raleigh, N.C.• Howard Williams, minister of spiritual formation at
Weatherly Heights Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala. f!
For more information about spiritual formation, contact Rick
CBF-endorsed Chaplain Receives Legion of Honor Award
Keith Ethridge, left, with George Pickle
THE FELLOWSHIP’S ANNUAL General Assembly has added keynote speakers Albert Reyes, Baptist General Convention of Texas president, and Carolyn Staley, asso-ciate pastor of Briggs Memorial Baptist Church in Bethesda, Md. This year’s meeting is June 29-July 2 at Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas.
Reyes, the first Hispanic BGCT president, also serves as president of Baptist University of the Americas in San Antonio. He will be the keynote speaker during the Thursday evening session.
“Albert is a powerful and inspi-rational preacher. I can’t wait for the rest of the CBF fam-ily to discover what we in Texas already know — Albert Reyes is one of the most gifted individuals in the Baptist family,” said Philip Wise, chairman of the General Assembly program committee.
Staley will deliver interpretation of this year’s theme, “Being the Presence of Christ … In All the World,” at general sessions on Thursday and Friday. Staley has held numerous church staff positions. She was acting director for the National Institute for Literacy in Washington, D.C., from 1994-2002.
The Fellowship’s national coor-dinator, Daniel Vestal, will be Friday evening’s keynote speaker.
Other General Assembly highlights
are Friday morning’s communion service, new Global Missions field personnel commissioning Friday evening, and the choice of 70 workshops throughout the event. There will also be a Hispanic leadership conference and “Companions in Christ” training in English and Spanish. Dove Award-nominated composer Joseph Martin will be the event’s guest pianist.
Departing from the traditional midday Thursday through Saturday morning schedule, this year’s assem-bly will run Thursday morning, June 30, through Friday evening, July 1, with auxiliary events being offered Wednesday, June 29, and Saturday, July 2. f!
See p. 15 for a pre-registration form. Online registration and
hotel reservations can be made at www.thefellowship.info.
By Carla Wynn, CBF Communications
w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005
2005 GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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2005 General Assembly Schedule — June 29-July 2
Wednesday, June 29 Auxiliary Events
Thursday, June 307:00 a.m.-8:45 a.m. Auxiliary Events
8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Resource Fair Open
9:00 a.m.-10:10 a.m. Workshops (five of our very best)
10:30 a.m.-11:40 a.m. Business Session
11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. Lunch and Auxiliary Events
2:00 p.m.-3:10 p.m. Workshops (includes Business Breakouts, too)
3:45 p.m.-5:00 p.m. State Meetings
5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Dinner and Auxiliary Events
6:45 p.m. Pre-Worship Gathering
7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Worship
8:30 p.m. Resource Fair Event
Friday, July 17:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m. Auxiliary Events
8:30 a.m.-7:00 p.m. Resource Fair Open
9:00 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Communion and Community (Business Session)
11:00 a.m.-11:45 a.m. Fellowship Time
11:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. Lunch & Auxiliary Events
2:00 p.m.-3:10 p.m. Workshops
3:30 p.m.-4:40 p.m. Workshops
5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Dinner and Auxiliary Events
6:45 p.m. Pre-Worship Gathering
7:00 p.m.-8:30 p.m. Worship
8:30 p.m. Resource Fair Event
Saturday, July 2 Auxiliary Events
CBF Adds Reyes, Staley to List of General Assembly Keynote Speakers
Albert Reyes
Carolyn Staley
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1 The church is exploding around the world. The growth of the church is greatest in those places where the unchanging truth of Christ is adapted to the language and culture of the people. Whether it is in China, Latin America or Africa, the Christ that is proclaimed and embraced is not a western Christ, or an American Christ, or even a Baptist Christ, but the crucified, living One that transcends all of our categories.
2 The globalization of the church means that partnership is the future of world mission. The day of “colonial missions” is over. The day when western countries and western denominations impose their culture on other parts of the Body of Christ is past. But the day when Christians from all over the world in mutual trust and respect work together for the sake of the gospel is just beginning. Partnering is woven into the very fabric of our faith and it is being discovered and re-discovered in fresh new ways around the world.
3 The overwhelming needs in our world require new collaboration like never before. One of the tendencies in cultural and denominational fragmentation is for local churches to think that they can fulfill the Great Commission without cooperation with other Christians. They retreat into a kind of “go it alone” mentality and reject partnership. This is a tragic mistake. We are living in a world where human need is so great that we simply cannot afford duplication, competition or isolation. About one-half of the world’s population, nearly 3 billion people, live in poverty on the equivalent of $2 per day or less. There are still a billion people who have little access to the gospel story. There are now 40 million people world-wide living with HIV/AIDS. These kinds of needs require collaboration and partnership.
4 Justice and reconciliation are part of the mission of the church. The central theme in the teachings of Jesus is the Kingdom of God. Jesus is the incarnation of that Kingdom and we are to be a continuing incarnation. We are to do this not only in our personal and congregational lives, but when we confront the wrongs of the world, we are to speak and act prophetically. We are to live and speak from a Kingdom perspective, not only with mercy and compassion, but with justice and truth. In our commitment to 20 of the
poorest counties in America, we are discovering that for true transformational community development to take place, major changes have to occur. Changes must take place not only in individual lives, but in institutions, government and culture. This takes time and is tediously slow, but I believe Christ can and does transform entire communities.
5 The Great Commission to all peoples will be fulfilled through dialogical witness, suffering love and the power of the Holy Spirit. What I mean by dialogical witness is that we enter into real conversation with people of other religions. We really listen to them. We seek to learn from them. We try to find common ground, and in that context, we give our witness to Jesus Christ. We are unapologetic of our convictions and commitments, but we share them out of friendship and earned respect.
The Great Commission will be fulfilled only in suffering love. As we identify ourselves with and
involve ourselves in the sufferings of people, we bear our greatest witness to the One who suffered the greatest, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in 1944, “It is not the religious act which makes the Christian but participation in the sufferings of God in the secular life.” I believe an acid test of the Christian faith is what we do with our pain and the pain of the world.
As we witness and as we suffer, God works in beautiful, mysterious and powerful ways to convict people of sin and draw them to Christ. God heals bodies, minds and spirits. God restores broken relationships. God transforms character. God answers prayer. In the power of the Spirit, God works among His people in the world. I’ve known some people to come to faith in Christ because of visions and dreams. Others come because of a strange warm feeling or an unexplainable presence. Most often, I’ve known people who came to faith by seeing an exemplary life or hearing the gospel story. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. f!
To read more of Vestal’s commentary, go to “News & Views” and
“Vestal Online”at www.thefellowship.info.
By CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o
Reflections on Global Missions in the 21st Century
Daniel Vestal
Sta
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Lea
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w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o FEBRUARY/MARCH 2005
ALABAMATHE ALABAMA CBF Spring Conference will be held March 4-5 at Mountain Brook Baptist Church in Birmingham with the theme “Present Hope for Unseen Hurts.” CBF National Coordinator Daniel Vestal will be the keynote speaker for Friday evening. Chuck Bugg, the Kenneth L. Chafin Professor of Preaching at Baptist Theological Seminary of Richmond, will speak on Saturday. Workshop topics to help congregations will include: mental illness, at-risk children and youth, respite care, AIDS, addiction, divorce, grief and eating disorders Register online at www.alabamacbf.org or call (888) 245-4223.
FLORIDATOMMY DEAL has been chosen as associate coordinator for CBF of Florida. Deal, who was director of operations and volunteers for the social-service agency Christian Service Center for Central Florida in Orlando, began his duties Jan. 1. Deal previously served churches in Texas, Georgia and Virginia. Deal is a CBF-endorsed chaplain.
The CBF of Florida annual meeting, The Gathering, will be April 22-23 at the United Methodist Retreat Center, Leesburg. CBF National Coordinator Daniel Vestal will be the preacher. Go to www.floridacbf.org for details.
GEORGIATHE CHRISTIAN Fellowship Baptist Church of College Park hosted the 2004 Fall Convocation of the CBF of Georgia. Carolyn Gordon challenged participants with sermons on the theme of “Being ‘in’ the Presence of Christ.” The Meridian Chorale provided music for the services attended by more than 500 people. Special recognition was
given to Touching Taliaferro With Love (TTWL) — a partnership begun in 2002 between CBF of Georgia and Taliaferro County to improve the quality of life for families. Participants met Angelica Harper, the 2004 recipient of a four-year scholarship to Shorter College, thanks to a partnership between TTWL and the college.
The CBF of Georgia General Assembly will be held March 4-5 at First Baptist Church of Rome. Charles Poole will be the featured preacher. For additional information, contact CBF of Georgia at (478) 742-1191, x 21, or [email protected].
The CBF "Convergence: The Minister as Leader" seminar began Jan. 24 in Georgia with 65-70 hours of intense training over four levels, plus three self-development projects. To learn more about the seminar, go to www.healthychurch.org and click on “Leadership Development for Clergy,” or contact Dawn Hall at (336) 716-9722 or [email protected].
For more information or to register for March Mission Madness in Americus March 11-13 and March 18-20, contact Scott Ford at (770) 860-0473 or [email protected].
PASSPORTkids! summer camp for children completing grades 3-6 will be on the campus of Wesleyan College in Macon, June 29 – July 2. For more information, go to www.passport- kids.org or call (800) 769-0210.
Baptist Women in Ministry of Georgia is accepting applications for the Sara Owen Etheridge Scholarship and the Distinguished Churchwoman of the Year Award. Applications and nominations must be received by March 15. To receive a scholarship application form, contact Bonnie Oliver at (770) 808-5160 or
[email protected]. For more information about the churchwoman award, contact Reneé Bennett at Morningstar Family Based Services, P.O. Box 4933, Macon, GA 31208; (706) 773-2298 or (478) 746-9868.
MISSOURICBF OF MISSOURI has named Jeff Langford as its new associate coordinator. Langford, 35, comes to CBFMO from the International Publishing Management Association in Liberty, where he served as general manager. Langford follows Leslie Limbaugh, who
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Fellowship Roundup News from CBF’s states, regions and national offices
previously served CBFMO for more than three years as associate coordinator in the St. Louis area.
NATIONALCBF’S INITIATIVE for Congregational Life will sponsor its fifth annual “True Survivor” conference for Christian educators, age-group ministers and church education staff March 7-9 at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. Leaders Diana Garland, Dave Odom and Bo Prosser will focus on the theme, “Missional Leadership: The Island of Intentionality.” Cost is $50. For more information, contact Toni Draper at (770) 220-1654 or [email protected].
The Fellowship’s ecumenical task force recently changed its name to the Task Force on Ecumenism and Justice. The group wanted to acknowledge that, although they are composed only of Baptists, they are uniting to do the work of ecumenism, justice and interfaith dialogue. The task force discussed creating tools for interfaith dialogue with religious groups including Jews and Muslims. Plans are also underway for developing an ecumenism resource kit for pastors and churches.
SOUTH CAROLINAFOUR LONG-TIME leaders in Baptist life were at First Baptist Church, Greenville, on Nov. 8 for the Fall Convocation of the CBF of South Carolina: Foy Valentine, former director of the Christian Life Commission; Duke McCall, former president of Southern Seminary; Carolyn Weatherford Crumpler, former executive director of Woman’s Missionary Union; and Jimmy Allen, former president of the Radio and Television Commission. Jeff Rogers, pastor at FBC, Greenville, moderated a panel discussion among the four leaders, and each one also preached. About 300 people attended the Convocation. For tapes of the speakers,
contact Josh Gribble at the CBF Resource Center in Atlanta at (770) 220-1633 or [email protected].
CBF of South Carolina will hold its spring General Assembly April 22-23 at Timberlake Baptist Church in Myrtle Beach. A poverty simulation workshop will be a part of the meeting.
Ginger Barfield has been installed as director for Baptist studies at Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia. The Baptist studies program began in fall 2004. Barfield is also adjunct professor of Greek and New Testament at the seminary.
TENNESSEEFIRST BAPTIST Church of Jefferson City will host the 2005 General Assembly of the Tennessee CBF on April 22-23. John Kinney, dean of the school of theology at Virginia Union University in Richmond, Va., will speak. A Nashville native who recently returned from her work as one of CBF’s Global Service Corps field personnel and who cannot be identified because of security reasons will also report on her unique ministry. Seminar leaders will include Gene Wilder, pastor of First Baptist Church, Jefferson City; Bill Blevins, professor at Carson-Newman College; Valerie Burton, regional coordinator for CBF’s Initiative for Ministerial Excellence; and Steve Frye, adjunct professor at Carson-Newman. Worship will feature the A Cappella Choir of Carson-Newman College, a mass choir with members from east Tennessee churches, and a jazz ensemble from Emmanuel Baptist Church, Jefferson City. A fellowship dinner on Friday night will be $8 for adults and $4 for children. Additional information about the program, housing and registration will be included in the next issue of the “TCBF NEWS.”
The sixth Church Staff Roundtable will be held at Fall Creek Falls State Park on Feb. 3-4. National CBF Coordinator Daniel Vestal will lead worship sessions
with an emphasis on spiritual formation. Church staff teams will be invited to provide models of ministry and there will be time for affinity groups, recreation and fellowship.
WASHINGTON, D.C.WALTER B. and Kay W. Shurden of Macon, Ga., have donated $100,000 to the Baptist Joint Committee, a CBF ministry partner that advocates religious freedom and separation of church and state, to establish an annual lectureship. The Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures on Religious Liberty and Separation of Church and State will be held at Mercer University every three years and at another seminary, college or university the other years.
COOPERATIVE BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP w w w . t h e f e l l o w s h i p . i n f o
Graduate of ____________________________ Year ________ I am: Laity Clergy/Church staff - Position_______________________
Student - School________________________________
Anticipated Grad. Date______ Degree________________
CHURCH LAITY POSITIONSI am currently serving in/as: Self Spouse Missions Education Preschool Children Youth Adult Music Ministry Preschool Children Youth Adult Sunday School Director Preschool Teacher Youth Teacher Adult Teacher Christian Education Ministry Specify:____________ Evangelism/Outreach Missions Volunteer/Advocate Other ___________________
Registration for the Children's Assembly, Youth Assembly and other auxilary events will be available in early March.
SPOUSE INFORMATION Name____________________________ Please register my spouse Yes No Work Phone_______________________ Email_____________________________ Birthdate mm / dd / yy Spouse’s first Assembly Yes No
Highest degree earned______________
Graduate of_______________________
____________________ Year ________ Spouse is: Laity Clergy/Church staff Position___________________ Student
School____________________
Degree____________________
Anticipated Grad. Date________
MISSIONS INVOLVEMENTHave you ever volunteered with CBF Global Missions? Self: Yes No Spouse: Yes No
If yes, in what ministry area did you or your spouse serve? Construction Medical/Dental ESL/Education Technical (IT, Ag., Engineering, Art/Music Technology, etc.) Other VBS/Backyard Bible Club
CHURCH INVOLVEMENT I am currently serving as/on: Self Spouse Church Clerk Deacon Missions Committee Finance Committee Personnel Committee Stewardship Committee Denominational Relations Committee Other _________________________
Thanks. This information helps us plan for future Assemblies.
General Assembly Pre-RegistrationJune 29-July 2, 2005 • Gaylord Texan Resort, Grapevine, Texas Please complete one form per person or couple. There is no registration fee for CBF’s General Assembly. However, separate pre-registration or advance reservations and costs may be required for some auxilary events.
Return this form to: CBF General Assembly, Attn. Laura Domke, PO Box 450329, Atlanta, GA 31145-0329You may also pre-register online for any of these events at www.thefellowship.info.
P.O. Box 450329Atlanta, GA 31145-0329
Address Service Requested
Richmond Church Activates New Discipleship Model
IMAGINE A CHURCH where members corporately dreaming what their church could be. Imagine a nearly 42-year-old church scrapping its organizational structure and starting something new. Imagine this from Derbyshire Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., where members are implementing a new discipleship model developed by Marty Canaday, the church’s minister of Christian formation.
The Teaching/Learning Discipleship model is a church-wide attempt to establish a theological foundation for the church’s practic-es. “We’re trying to help our people to think theologically and grow their own ministries,” Canaday says. “It’s not a quick fix program. It’s a long-term process based on quality theological education and proper organizational structure.”
With this model, a theologi-cal basis will focus all the church’s ministries and activities. “Many churches are doing church without thinking theologically about their practices — what they do and why,” Canaday says. “We’re about renovating our church, which means building on the good that exists through theological reflection. We’re not just wiping every-thing out and starting all over.”
The staff conceptualized the model, received member feedback through listening sessions and launched the model June 20, 2004. In September, the 1,200-member congregation entered a 10-week exploratory phase, called “Imagine a Church,” where members worked together through Canaday’s manual, “Foundations for Theology and Practice.”
Derbyshire formerly had more than 40 committees. The model has reshaped the church’s organizational structure to a new 10-person council on ministry that includes lead-ers from each of the following ministry teams: Christian vocation and service, church and family health, fellowship,
instruction, leadership development, missions and social ministry, outreach and assimilation, prayer and spiritual practices, resource support, and worship and music.
These teams represent the “essential areas of spiritual formation in the life of church,” Canaday says. Each team will eventually have between five and seven members.
These leaders will be the “eyes, ears and brain for those areas” while the congregation becomes “the feet that live out God’s call,” Canaday says.
Also during this exploratory phase, the church has weekly sessions dealing with the model’s components, including Canaday’s five essential practices to healthy church life: discipleship, teaching and learning, participating, intergenerational connecting, and reflecting and experiencing.
Israel Galindo, a Christian educa-tion professor at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond, consulted with Canaday about the model.
While the model won’t change every member of the congregation, some members “will find deeper and more authentic ways of responding to their call,” Galindo says. “A good formation process like this leaves room for the Spirit’s movement and guidance. When that happens, amazing and powerful things beyond our imagining tend to be realized.”
