Mission Marker #5 - Embracing Partnerships

We're in the home stretch as we reach the fifth week of Mission Edge Church content in the Overflow and take a deeper look at the "mission markers" Faith Baptist has been studying on Sundays. If you missed last week's message about Embracing Partnership you can watch it here or listen to it here.

If you didn't catch it before, here is the explanation what the Mission Edge material means by embracing partnerships:

Mission Edge Churches seize on the truth that God is already at work all around us, and He is inviting us to join Him in what He is doing. People of these churches therefore embrace partnering with others who are similarly moved by God’s agenda, whether that’s sharing in hosting an Alpha gathering, providing after- school tutoring for children, coaching a minor hockey team. ‘Embracing Partnerships’ can mean welcoming others to join you in what God is leading you or your church to do; or it may mean your partnering with them in what they are doing. Partnerships not only multiply impact but facilitate friendships, and these friendships can naturally become fertile grounds for sharing the Good News Story.

For this Overflow entry I wanted to lay out some of Faith Baptist's existing partnerships. Many people may not be aware of the different connections we have to other organizations and ministries already. It might be helpful in our visioning and planning as a congregation to see who some of our recent and current partners are! I hope you'll take a few minutes to become a little more familiar with the relationships that matter to our church.

The Canadian Baptists of Atlantic Canada (CBAC)

The CBAC is the larger denomination (family of churches) that Faith Baptist belongs to. There are over 400 other CBAC churches across the Atlantic Provinces, and there are related (but independent) groups called the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec and the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada.

Belonging to the CBAC means quite a few things for us. For one thing, they own the building where we meet (which is unusual and a long story), which we rent from them at a very modest rate. The CBAC staff also create and run different programs and resources that can benefit all member churches. The Mission Edge process is one example, which comes from the Department of Congregational Renewal. The Department of Leadership Development runs things like a new Leadership Development Initiative (a program with monthly online training and twice-yearly mini-conferences) that I'm enrolling in to help me grow. I'm also part of the "LeadFresh" spiritual formation program that is part of the Department of Clergy Formation and Wellness.

The CABC operates our pre-authorized debit offering system (at a much lower cost than a financial institution would), they administer the pension and benefits program for pastors and other church staff members, they provide guidance to church treasurers on accounting matters, give examples of how to create Child Protection Policies, run conferences for youth and do training for youth and children's ministry leaders, give grants to churches for new initiatives of different types, encourage church planting, and many other things. We contribute a portion of our offerings each year to send to the CBAC to support this work and benefit from the resources and connection to other churches.

Canadian Baptist Ministries (CBM)

Those three groups of Canadian Baptists I mentioned above all cooperate in certain kinds of work through their support of Canadian Baptist Ministries. CBM is our mission organization, doing the kind of work we've talked about in Mission Markers 3 and 4 according to their mission statement: "embracing a broken world through word and deed." CBM does recruit, train, and support Canadian missionaries to go and do work across the world in areas like leadership development, theological training, emergency relief, education, prison ministry, and more. One of our new mission partners, Kathryn Scott, is an example of this. But CBM itself is also about embracing partnerships, working with local churches and organizations to support and enhance what they are doing. CBM works in 26 countries in partnership with nearly 1000 local churches. Thanks to long-standing partnerships in several parts of the world many of CBM's initiatives are now headed by local field staff who CBM has helped train and empower to work in their own contexts. On Palm Sunday we'll hear more from our Atlantic CBM representative, Rev. Randy Stanton, about CBM's work and the Grow Hope project that we be supporting this year through our Easter offering.

The Halifax Region United Baptist Association (HRUBA)

At a more local level we are also part of an association of Baptist churches here in the Halifax area along with about 40 other churches. The HRUBA puts on occasional events to bring churches together to share what is happening and provide training and encouragement to those who attend. The HRUBA encourages cooperation among churches in support of some other important ministries, such as Bayside Camp and Halifax Baptist Hospital Chaplaincy ministry. They also operate a licensing committee to help assess prospective leaders (normally people working their way to becoming pastors) and a home missions committee that helps give funding to new churches or churches launching new initiatives. Faith Baptist pays dues to belong to the HRUBA, contributing a certain amount for each member of our church. We also received home missions grants several times over the past 20 years.

Beacon House

The Beacon House Interfaith Society was formed in 1985 by a collaboration of local churches to help meet the material needs of people in the Sackville/Bedford/Hammonds Plains/Fall River areas. Faith Baptist was one of the founding partners. Over the years the work of Beacon House has expanded, and the current food and clothing bank and retail store on Cobequid Road serves 600-700 families per month. These operations aren't government-funded, they are supported through donations by churches, individuals, community groups and businesses, as well as the profits from the retail store.

Recently Beacon House also become the organization responsible for the Sackville and Area Warming Centre, which has rapidly expanded its operations to house vulnerable people at night through the winter as well as serving a site for micro-shelters and distributing clothes, food, and other items. The Warming Centre employs a full-time social worker to help connect clients with other services and supports that they might need and has become the main resource in our part of Halifax addressing homelessness.

Faith Baptist supports Beacon House through regular food donations, contributions toward their Christmas hampers, we direct our Christmas offering to their work, and several members of our congregation volunteer at the main Beacon House site and the Warming Centre. Pastor Erica also goes to the warming centre one evening a week to provide spiritual care there.

Freedom Kitchen and Closet

Freedom Kitchen and Closet formed a few years ago in response to growing needs in our community. They coordinate weekly meals for anyone who wants them on Monday evenings and give out food, clothes, and other supplies at their new building in front of Knox Church on Sackville Drive. Many local businesses donate to their work, along with various community groups and churches. Faith Baptist has sent donations to Freedom Kitchen and had people volunteer with their work at different times, as well as encouraging individual donations, particularly during the pandemic.

Other Honourable Mentions

• Alpha is a growing organization that continues to help provide Alpha Courses to introduce people to the core of the Christian faith as well as a variety of other work in evangelism. We have run several Alpha courses over the past decade.

• Atlantic Baptist Women (ABW) kind of falls under the larger umbrella of the CBAC and CBM but I wanted to list them separately due to the history of women's missions groups doing very valuable work that continues today both by supporting projects across the world and by doing things like hiring teams to help smaller churches in Atlantic Canada run Daily Vacation Bible School programs each year. We distribute the ABW's regular newsletter for those who want to keep up with their programs.

• The Horizons Training Program is one of Faith Baptist's ministry partners who we support with a modest donation each year through our budget. Run by former CBM missionary Jeff Carter this ministry of the Baptist World Alliance provides online training for people doing ministry work in places where they don't have access to Christians schools and institutions.

• The Evangelical Fellowship Of Canada (EFC) is an interdenominational organization that focuses mainly of advocacy work. Faith Baptist doesn't support them directly, but I have benefited from their research and perspective on different social issues, such as MAID (medical assistance in dying). The EFC is a good resource for those who want to learn more about the intersection of Christian faith and public policy and law in Canada.

• Acadia Divinity College (ADC) and Crandall University are our Atlantic Baptist institutions for higher education and seminary training. Crandall, in Moncton, has grown to become a significant University offering undergraduate degrees in many disciplines in a Christian environment. ADC in Wolfville trains pastors and those who want more education in Christian theology.

I imagine I've forgotten at least one worthy organization or partner group here, so I apologize in advance for the oversight. But hopefully those who made it this far learned a little more about our church and the networks we are part of. It can be a real blessing to be connected to some of what's happening outside of the local church level and there are lots of opportunities to be involved with the work of the CBAC, HRUBA, or several other acronyms if you are interested. If you'd like to know more feel free to reach out!