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Virginia church uses It’s Time grant to help build mission partnership
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Melissa Fallen. “We came to understand what it meant to establish relationships with mission partners rather than picking a different place to go each year. The study encouraged us to look at this holistic approach to missions.” In 2007, the church decided to begin building relationships with the Hyaets community in Charlotte, N.C. Hyaets, meaning ‘tree of life’ in Hebrew, is an intentional Christian community started five years ago by graduates of Baptist
Photo courtesy of Huguenot Road
our years ago, Huguenot Road Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., began an overhaul of its missions programming that included using the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s It’s Time study, which helps congregations understand what being missional means for them. “It’s Time fanned a spark that had begun in our congregation to seek ways to be more missional,” said associate pastor
Members of Huguenot Road Baptist Church used funds from a CBF It’s Time grant to convert a shed into a clubhouse at Hyaets, an intentional Christian community.
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Theological Seminary in Richmond, a CBF partner. Members of the Hyaets community seek to be the presence of Christ by living in and becoming part of Enderly Park, a low-income neighborhood. “Our partnership with Hyaets gives us an opportunity to address the needs of the entire person — from hunger to emotional connection to spiritual emptiness,” Fallen said. “At the same time, it gives us a chance to involve many people in our congregation. We have taken everyone from toddlers to 80-year-olds to work on varying kinds of projects. Our people have used their gifts to minister in a holistic way and have opened themselves to growth opportunities.” Finding its mission at Hyaets, Huguenot Road applied for and received an It’s Time grant from CBF, which is available to churches that have completed the study. With grant funds, the church converted an old shed into a new clubhouse for Hyaets and formed an intern exchange program. Molly Carr, 16, from Huguenot Road served this summer as the first intern at Hyaets and helped open the new clubhouse. “Now that the clubhouse is furnished and air conditioned, we have a place for children to play, eat lunch and dinner, and have Bible study, so we don’t have chaos inside the main house,” Carr said. “When it’s time to go home after lunch, I literally have to push people out of the clubhouse so we can clean up. It has become the hot spot to hang out in the neighborhood. It truly is a blessing.”
It’s Time: A Journey Toward Missional Faithfulness is an eight-week church-wide study that includes sermons, small group studies, personal devotional material and other resources designed to help churches and Christians be the presence of Christ where they are. This is a good starting place for churches seeking to understand what missional means for their congregation. To learn more about the Fellowship’s It’s Time study, visit The CBF Store at www.cbfstore.info. In 2006, the Fellowship received a grant from the Christ is Our Salvation Foundation. A portion of that grant established the “It’s Time Missional Ministry” grant to help CBF partner churches carry out missional ministries. Grants are available to qualifying churches whose application meets a committee’s approval. Grants are awarded on a one-time basis. To learn more about It’s Time grants, go to www.thefellowship.info/grant.
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October/November 2010