The First Baptist Church of Redlands
T A PE S T R Y
Oct 2019
Wo v e n To g e t h e r I n L o v e : C o l o s s i a n s 2 : 2
Issue No. 10
Good News
A Message from Pastor Shawn Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. – Jesus (Matthew 28:19-20)
One aspect of being a disciple of Christ is “making disciples.” Jesus called us to share the good news of the Kingdom of God wherever we go in the world. As we read the stories in Acts we see that the early Christians took this very seriously and traveled all over the Mediterranean world and beyond, sharing about Christ, establishing communities of faith and sharing the values of the Kingdom of God. As the First Baptist Church of Redlands we trace our heritage and our mission back to Jesus as we seek to follow Christ in our world today. Though we are involved in the work and support of this mission to share the Good News of Jesus Christ in our church, neighborhood, and world throughout the year, it is in October that we focus on the work that is being done internationally. As I have grown up in the American Baptist family and have met and known missionaries over the years, there have been times that I have known about issues in other countries from them before I have heard or read about those issues in the news. Other times I will see something come up in the news and I will soon find out that our missionaries and global servants are already involved in ministering in the context of those same issues. One such issue has to do with refugees. All around the world, because of war or conflict, there are places that become uninhabitable for people. They lose their homes and means of making a living. They are threatened by violence and death. They leave their countries, often with
only what they can carry, facing dangerous situations, searching to find lives of peace for themselves and their children. We have heard these stories from our global servant, Melanie Baggao who serves alongside the churches in Lebanon as they minister to those who have come from war-torn Syria. The stories of Christians in Lebanon, with family histories of conflict with Syrians (most of whom are Muslims), now welcoming those who would be considered enemies, are moving examples of the reconciling power of the Good News of Christ. On a closer front, we hear about refugees from Myanmar (formerly called Burma) who have been resettled by our government in various cities around the United States. Many of these refugees were considered “ethnic minorities” in Myanmar and were persecuted and displaced from their homes by the Burmese army and government because of their ethnicity, but also because of their religion. We hear in the news about the Rohingya people who have fled into Bangladesh, having been persecuted and denied civil rights because of their Muslim religion. For years, and even still, there are Kachin, Karen, and Chin people in Myanmar who have been displaced across the borders into Thailand, or even into IDP camps within Myanmar. Many of these people are not only Christians, but Baptists, who are persecuted for their ethnicity and their religious faith. Over the years our church has been the “retirement home” of missionaries that have served in Burma (until missionaries were expelled from there in 1965). Betty Lue Johnson, who recently died at the age of 101, was one of them. She, with her husband, served the Chin people for decades. Chin Baptist leaders, who are now in the U.S., officiated at her memorial services, sharing the stories of Betty Lue’s ministry and bringing the Gospel message. That weekend over 300 Chin churches around the world remembered their “last missionary,” Betty Lue Johnson. The largest American Baptist church in the state of Indiana is a Chin church.