Church Planting has always been a primary mission for General Baptists. Our movement was organized by a church planter who established churches on the American frontier in the 1820s.
Our denominational mission to plant churches is underwritten by the general budget through Unified Giving, but it is also made possible by special gifts such as those received on National Missions Sunday. This year the National Missions Sunday Offering will assist church planting efforts in Florida by helping to more firmly establish the new work of All Nations Church.
This ethnic church plant has resulted from the long-term ministry of Missionary Cecil Green who discipled a young believer in the Philippines nearly 50 years ago. In 1977 Pastor Pete Lapaz was ordained by the General Baptist Church of the Philippines and in 2016 he began work to establish All Nations Church in Jacksonville, Florida.
In a recent report Pastor Pete noted
- the ordination of an associate pastor, Dr. Lito Ibaretta,
- two more new converts ready for baptism,
- two Bible study centers now in operation, and
- two Spanish-speaking families now attending.
A Children’s Ministry will begin soon and the search is on for a larger meeting space. The group has outgrown meeting in homes. A recent attendance of 40 placed them at capacity in their current rented space.
On a recent Sunday in January, those attending worship paused for a photo. Pastor Pete is on the left holding his grandson. Pastor Lito is seated in the front center.
Different churches have different traditions about National Missions Sunday. Some churches include National Missions Sunday in the budget, others take up a special offering to aid these special projects. All gifts received for National Missions Sunday will result in winning many people in Jacksonville, Florida who otherwise will not be won to faith in Christ.
In 1994, I was privileged to speak at the General Association held in Nashville, Tennessee. My scripture portion was from Joshua 1. “Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the Lord said to him: You are old, advanced in years and there remains much land yet to be possessed.”
Christmas is an important time to many Christians around the world. To Indian Christians it is a big celebration. Churches in India have many activities and preparations to do in the months of October and November. The church is painted and decorated with lights, balloons, garlands, paper stars and a Christmas tree. Other than decorating, members can also be involved in caroling.
This year our caroling method involved more planning and work. A couple of new things were going to village elders and asking them to come and celebrate Christmas with their village people, also the Jesus film. Total we went and asked permission from 22 villages around the Siddipet district. Only eight of the 22 gave permission. This may seem like a low number but we were blessed to do outreach in this many villages. Caroling in the villages involved a whole new method of outreach. The event lasted three hours or more and included preaching, a visit from Santa, traditional dancers (told Jesus story in a cultural way), showing Jesus film, and a cake cutting to share with everyone.
Many seeds have been sown this Christmas season. We thank the many supporters who prayed for this outreach. An outreach like this does have risks and persecutions as well. One of the eight villages called Appanapalli had given permission but after the gospel team arrived in the village the elders changed their mind. Only after a Christian family (our church members) went to the police, we got the permission to do the outreach two days later. We are thankful that everyone involved did not get hurt.