Canaan Baptist Church, Bessemer, on mission

For the second consecutive year, Canaan Baptist Church, Bessemer, sent a team to work in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovs’k oblast (state).

Working with Baptist representatives Mike and Linda Ray, seven people from the Bessemer Baptist Association church spent most of the May 1–9 trip doing medical missions in three villages.

Canaan Baptist hosted medical clinics led by a team member who is a nurse practitioner and a Ukrainian doctor, who prescribed medications.

The team also fitted people with glasses. More than 300 people were treated at the clinics, and 75 of these prayed to receive Christ.

The church is already making plans for its 2010 trip, which will include camps for children in addition to medical clinics.

“We are seeing a real transformation in our church from being mission-minded to missional,” said Senior Pastor Morgan Bailey. “Canaan has embraced our process statement — ‘We are a family of families on a journey loving God, sharing life, serving others, showing Jesus to the world.’ It’s exciting to see our people embrace not only our Jerusalem but also the world.”