By Editor Bob Terry
Baptists in other parts of the world have much to teach those of us in the United States about doing missions. One Baptist church in a large South American city illustrates the point. The church has an extensive day-care program in the slums of the city.
In fact, the church is about the only group that can safely send people into the slums. Even then, the windows of the vehicles must be rolled down so the gangs can see who is entering their territory. It is dangerous but still members of the church, who are employees of the day-care centers, go day after day and week after week.
The church also sponsors a drug-rehabilitation program on a farm outside the city. Addicts are taken away from their environment to a facility where they receive medical attention along with strong biblical teaching about making Christ Lord of one’s life. The recovery rate is higher than government-run programs.
Some of the medical personnel who work in the rehab center also work in the medical clinic the church sponsors. Practically every specialty available at a typical hospital in this nation can be found in the clinic. Laboratory equipment and diagnostic tools in the clinic are also typical of what are found in local hospitals.
The church also sponsors after-school care, a program that involves hundreds of children, and a vocational-training program. Young men and women who complete the training program have a skill that will help them earn a living and support a family.
Of course, the church has the traditional ministries — Bible study, missions education, music (including a music academy where lessons are offered for a variety of instruments), evangelism and outreach. All in all, it is a most impressive church, and it is not unusual in this particular nation. Many churches run orphanages or homes for runaway children. Churches provide practically every form of social ministry because they know that God cares about every area of human life.
One other thing — the church described above also runs a telephone-solicitation center. Twelve hours a day, employees call residents of this large city seeking donations for the ministries of the church. Because the church has an extensive television ministry, the church, the pastor and the ministries are widely known. The telephone calls are remarkably successful in raising money to provide the services sponsored by the church.
In Alabama, Baptist churches do ministries differently. Alabama Baptists care for human needs by working together through the associations, national convention and state conventions.
It is by working together with sister churches that Alabama Baptists helped provide water to drought-stricken areas, sanitation projects for refugees, agricultural and job-skills training, nutrition education and much more in 52 different countries in the last year of record. The International Mission Board reported 293 individual projects and spending $6.7 million in these efforts.
Under the auspices of the North American Mission Board, Baptists have an extensive feeding network that includes senior citizens’ feeding programs, soup kitchens, hospitality houses, rescue missions, stocking food pantries and providing food in disaster situations.
Through the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries, Alabama Baptists helped provide homes for 145 children for the last year of record. Another 102 children received foster care through the Children’s Homes. Thirty-five mothers and their dependent children found temporary homes in facilities in Alabaster and Mobile.
Those statistics do not include the children who received emergency care — children caught up in crisis who needed immediate attention or relocation. Neither do they include the countless families that received help through the statewide family-counseling ministry conducted by the Children’s Homes.
Through local associations, Baptists work together to minister to human needs. For example, in Baldwin Baptist Association, churches combine their resources to minister to migrant workers who pass through the area during May and June to harvest potatoes. In Montgomery, churches work together to sponsor four ministry centers that provide assistance with food, clothing and utilities for needy people.
In Birmingham, area churches provide 21 fully furnished apartments for patients and family members coming to the city to receive medical treatment. The list goes on and on. Every day, Alabama Baptists minister to human needs in their local area, their state, their nation and around the world. All of these ministries are possible because Baptists pool their financial resources and work cooperatively to do together what no church could do alone.
In addition, practically every church has some form of local ministry. Although few, if any, are as extensive as the South American church described above.
The difference between the South American church and an Alabama Baptist church is methodology, not motivation. One works primarily by itself. One works primarily in cooperation with others. Each has something to teach the other, and each can learn from the other.
In Alabama, it is possible to think, “If I have given my offering, I have done what is expected of me.” Wrong. An offering is the first step in obedience to God. Giving an offering in no way lessens God’s call to “love your neighbor as yourself.” From the South American church, we can learn the importance of personal involvement in “loving our neighbor,” in caring for needs right around us.
Churches in South America and other parts of the world can see in Alabama the positive results that happen when churches cooperate in ministry efforts. The kingdom of God is not about a single church. It is about making God known in word and deed to all mankind. That can be done best when Christians work together.
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