together_71403

Posted: 7/11/03

TOGETHER:
Needs-based ministries emulate Jesus

The Baptist General Convention of Texas wants to work with all our related churches to help them be healthy and missional. Eleven characteristics of a healthy church have been identified, and our staff provides resources and links to help any church in Texas be all it can be for the sake of the gospel and our Savior.

One characteristic of a healthy church is that it has a “needs-based ministry” strategy. Churches that are Jesus kind of churches seek to meet the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of individuals and communities. When John the Baptist sent his disciples to question the authenticity of Jesus, our Lord chose to validate his life and ministry not by the crowds that came to hear him preach, but by the people he touched. “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor” (Luke 7:22).

The BGCT Center for Community Ministries works closely with churches and associations to identify and meet physical, spiritual and emotional needs of people across Texas. This may be through one of the 14 hospitality houses and visitor centers that minister to the needs of inmate families as they visit their incarcerated loved one. It may be by providing training and resources to the more than 1,000 Texas Baptist churches that lead Bible studies and worship services in the jails and prisons across our state, recording 1,445 professions of faith.

The Texas Baptist Children's Weekday Education Association helps churches minister to children and families through Parent's Day Out, preschool, after-school ministries and all-day child-development centers available at more than 1,600 churches . Through these ministries, the “mission field” walks through the doors of our churches Monday through Friday, seeking help with family needs.

With Texas being the eighth poorest state in the country, there is a crisis among families. Community ministries to the poor fed and clothed 359,076 people and recorded 4,035 professions of faith. Through the Baptist Literacy Mission Center at Baylor, 257 teachers at 33 workshops have received certified training in adult reading and writing, ESL and tutoring children and youth. Churches are beginning health-care ministries for “working poor” families, offering nutrition and cooking classes or serving as host sites to provide immunizations for children. Help may come from churches that partner with other churches to develop a medical or dental clinic.

There are 1.4 million hearing-impaired people in Texas, of which 436,000 are deaf. Texas Baptists seek to reach and minister to the deaf through 17 deaf churches and missions and interpreted services at numerous churches across our state. Deaf churches and missions minister to the unique needs of the deaf and their families through the Deaf Youth Camp, Texas Baptist Conference of the Deaf, Deaf Pastor's Retreat and Interpreter's Training Program.

All of these ministries are provided by your BGCT Cooperative Program gifts, along with the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions. Together, Texas Baptists are meeting needs, touching lives and sharing Christ!

We are loved.

Charles Wade is executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas