A trust fund created by Ruhama Baptist Church in Birmingham will be used to benefit local ministries of the Birmingham Baptist Association (BBA), even though Ruhama has ceased to exist as a congregation.
Ruhama merged with First Baptist Church, Irondale, in December 2001.
Ricky Creech, director of missions for BBA, said the Ruhama Baptist Church Ministry Development Trust was opened Feb. 11, when the first installment of $24,000 was presented to the association by Homer Lloyd, chairman of the Ruhama Baptist Church Transition Team. Lloyd said the initial amount came from bonds previously purchased by the church.
“It is expected that upon the final disposition of Ruhama’s assets the total funding, including the initial amount, will be on the order of $170,000,” Lloyd said.
Creech said most of the funding will come from revenue generated by the lease-purchase of Ruhama’s old campus by Greater Emmanuel Temple Holiness Church. Greater Emmanuel relocated from its previous location in West End to Ruhama’s campus in South East Lake following Ruhama’s final service Dec. 2.
“We’ll be getting regular checks from the fund,” Creech said. “We will never touch the principal, we will just use the interest.”
Creech added the association will wait several years before it taps into the fund, adding “we really want the money to accumulate.”
The money will be used for some 40 local ministries supported by BBA that include Caring Hands, World Changers, Sav-A-Life, the Salvation Army and M-Power.
Creech said the ministries will make requests for money, which will be reviewed by a committee composed of Lloyd, survivors of former Ruhama members and the BBA stewardship committee.
“Ruhama has been a passionate church for missions,” Creech said. “This sends a great message that although they have disbanded as a church, they will still be involved in missions.”
Lloyd said the fund was created by the transition team to meet three objectives in distributing Ruhama’s assets:
To ensure a legacy of Ruhama Baptist Church;
To ensure that the Ruhama name lives on and represents ministry interests the church has held in the past;
That the former congregation will be involved “in the broader areawide Baptist ministry initiatives.”
Lloyd said Ruhama unanimously approved the establishment of the trust fund in November, calling it “an expression of our continuing support of the work of BBA and gratitude for BBA’s devotion to the Kingdom’s work.”
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