2007 Bridges of Hope Mission Offering
Goal: $125,000
Five new recipients are included in the 2007 mission offering: Edna Martin Community Center, a tutoring center in Indianapolis, IN; Hyaets Community, an inner-city hospitality center in Charlotte, NC; National Farmworker Ministry in St. Louis, MO; Seeds of Hope, a web resource project in Waco, TX; and Seminario Bautista de Mexico, a training center for pastors and laity in Mexico City.
Advent Spirituality Center, Mars Hill, NC: $3,000
The center is committed to connecting Baptists with others who search for a growing life in God. Each summer, the center sponsors a "Gathering of Baptists and Others Interested in Spirituality." Our funding provides scholarship assistance for seminary students to participate in the Gathering and other spiritual formation retreats during the year.
Alliance of Baptists of Brazil $10,000
Organized in 2005 in the face of a rising tide of fundamentalism in Baptist life, the Alliance of Baptists of Brazil (Aliana de Batistas do Brasil) is our newest international partner and plans to use its 2007 Mission Offering allocation for basic institutional development, including its pursuit of self-standing legal status from the government. One of the most energizing aspects of this new partnership is that we are fostering relationships among our friends in Brazil with our partners in Cuba and other emerging movements of progressive Baptists throughout Latin America.
Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe $10,000
Zimbabwe is a nation buffeted by hyperinflation, rampant unemployment, widespread hunger and a frightening incidence of HIV/AIDS. For the better part of the last decade, the Alliance Mission Offering has provided the principal means of support for the BCZ. Its churches are building bridges of hope in a devastated land whose longsuffering people have been thrust into an otherwise hopeless situation. Our Zimbabwean friends ask not only for our continuing financial gifts but our prayerful support as well.
Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe $10,000
One of Zimbabwe's beacons of hope is the Baptist Theological Seminary, whose principal or president Henry Mugabe is an internationally renowned scholar who also teaches adjunctively at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond and the Divinity School of Wake Forest University. Through its on- and off-campus programs, BTSZ provides much-needed stability to the witness of Baptists in this troubled nation in southern Africa. Nowhere is Alliance Mission Offering funds better invested than here.
Baptist Seminary of Mexico $3,000
A first-time recipient of an Alliance Mission Offering grant, the Baptist Seminary of Mexico (Seminario Bautista de Mxico) is described by President Javier Ulloa as a school "without walls engaged in the mission field, changing the lives of indigenous people in rural and urban settings." Such a holistic and imaginative approach to theological education resounds with the Alliance Covenant and Mission Statement, a key factor in its approval for inclusion in the 2007 offering. Founded in 1946 by an American Baptist medical missionary, this school is undergoing a profound transformation we are privileged to be involved in through our gifts and prayers.
Baptist Union of the Republic of Georgia, Tbilisi, Georgia $5,000
Our funds will help set up a student center at the Betheli House in Tbilisi to assist students from poor families get an education. At the center, students will be able to learn computer skills and study languages. Our funds will be combined with funds from the American Baptist Churches in the USA and from a foundation in Switzerland to meet the total project cost of $25,000.
Calvary Baptist Church, Washington, DC $3,500
This church's Latino ministry works with immigrants who are living in poverty with limited access to adequate social services. A strong and viable childrens program is at the heart of this ministry. In 2006, Alliance funds were used to support a Christian education program, summer vacation Bible school, and to pay a translator for two services a month when Spanish- and English-speaking members worshipped together. The ministry also used Alliance funds to purchase wireless transmitters so that Latino adults can hear simultaneous translation, and bought new hymn books that have songs in Spanish and English.
Edna Martin Community Center, Indianapolis, IN $2,500
A faith-based community center serving an inner-city neighborhood, EMCC includes regular programs for children and senior citizens, and also offers special assistance to families such as clothes, rent and utility payments, and job referrals. Alliance funds will be used in the "We Will Succeed" program designed to help children improve their performance in school.
Emmaus House, Raleigh, NC $2,000
A long-time recipient of Alliance funding, this ministry of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church provides a supportive living environment for up to seven homeless but working men striving to overcome substance abuse. The Alliance grant enables Emmaus House to keep the rent for residents stable and reasonable.
Face-to-Face $5,000
The goal of Face-to-Face is to offset the major stateside travel expenses for our partners from Cuba, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and Brazil who are coming to our 2007 convocation in Washington, DC. The grant will make it possible for them to travel to more Alliance churches.
Farley Community House at Ginter Park Baptist Church, Richmond, VA $1,500
Five students/spouses from the schools of the Richmond Theological Consortium form an intentional community for reflection and spiritual development; engage in outreach in the community aimed at drawing the community into the church and the church into the community; and involve themselves in the life of Ginter Park Baptist Church through service and leadership.
Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba $20,000
No partner group mirrors the Alliance quite like the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba (Fraternidad de Iglesias Bautistas de Cuba), founded in 1989 only two years after the Alliances organization in the United States. Throughout our 16 years as institutional partners in countries hostile toward each other for nearly half a century, the Fraternity and the Alliance have provided a powerful witness to the unifying effect of the gospel. Hundreds of Alliance people whose churches are engaged in congregational partnerships have rendered such witness and both governments have noticed.
Fulaa Lifeline International (Sudan Feeding Program) $2,000
Ravensworth Baptist Church in Annandale, VA, is the Alliances primary connection to this program that seeks to feed Sudanese refugee children. The children participate in a program at a church in Nimule, Sudan, that fosters spiritual development, provides basic education, health care, food, housing and clothing, and offers support conducive to personality and social development. During the past year, Fulaa built three huts to house 25 boys and girls. Fulaa is also now building a childrens center that will accommodate up to 100 children.
Hyaets Community, Charlotte, NC $2,000
a poor and often violent neighborhood in Charlotte. Alliance funds will enable Hyaets to offer specific programming where boys and girls (separately) can learn to confront problems of violence in a safe environment. Hyaets means "Tree of Life" in Hebrew.
Interfaith Ministry in Morocco $5,000
This is a Christian student ministry led by Karen Thomas Smith, who serves as chaplain to Christians on campus and represents Christians at university and community functions in a mainly Muslim community. The goal is to practice Christian ministry with integrity and transparency, in full cooperation with local hosts and neighbors. This ministry receives no other funding.
International Center of Bethlehem $8,000
Alliance funds will support the Summer Academy which offers an alternative for children during summer vacation to help them overcome the traumas of living in a violent community. The children, ages 6-14, are from every background boys and girls, Christians and Muslims, kids from refugee camps, small villages and cities. In 2006, 350 children participated in the summer academy. Another 500 were turned away because of lack of space and resources.
JourneyPartners, Franklinton, NC $3,000
This organization connects resources, people, challenges and opportunities around the world and at home with a focus in three main arenas: clean and available water, education and resources, and health and medicine. In 2007, JourneyPartners will send two mission immersion teams to Zimbabwe, will sponsor the fourth Church Leadership Institute in cooperation with the Baptist Seminary of Zimbabwe, will ship more than 500 nursing and medical textbooks to nursing schools in several developing areas, and offer mission opportunities with Baptists in the Republic of Georgia.
National Farm Worker Ministry, St. Louis, MO $2,500
NFWM is an interfaith organization that supports farm workers as they organize for justice and equality. Our funds will be used to update and expand the organizations social justice curriculum called Blessing the Hands: Farm Worker Issues in a Biblical Context, first released in 2004.
Oakhurst Baptist Recovery Center, Decatur, GA $3,000
This program, a ministry of Oakhurst Baptist Church and long-time recipient of Alliance funds, helps male substance abusers recover from their addictions by providing them a safe and supportive living environment. Orantes Ministry, Santa Ana, El Salvador $2,000 Ruth and Alex Orantes are pastors of two separate congregations in Santa Ana, Shalom and Shekina. Our funds will provide monthly pastoral support and also be available for other ministry initiatives as they arise. Central Baptist Church, an Alliance-affiliated congregation in Wayne, PA, has a long-standing relationship with the community.
Rauschenbusch Metro Ministries, New York City $2,000
Our gift will support an after-school program called Page Turners, which addresses the literacy needs of elementary-age children, most of whom come from immigrant families. This is a ministry of Metro Baptist Church.
Sabbath House, Bryson City, NC $1,000
Sabbath House is a spiritual retreat center that addresses the need of clergy for rest, rejuvenation and consultation in a safe environment. A new lodge has just been built and two bedroom wings to house 16 will soon be added. Alliance founder Jim Strickland is director.
Safe Places, Little Rock, AR $2,000
Formerly called the Center for Healing and Hope, this ministry assists faith communities and clergy in their work with individuals and families whose lives have been devastated by sexual and/or domestic violence. Our funds are used to offset expenses of an annual symposium on violence intervention and prevention for clergy.
Seeds of Hope Publishers, Waco, TX $1,000
This organization offers information and inspiration for church leaders who want to lead their congregations toward responding to the realities of hunger and poverty. Our funding will assist in the development of a web-based resource called "A Place at the Table: Sermons about Hunger and Hope.
Shalom Childrens Center, Ghana $2,000
This center opened in 2004 after Christiana Owusu, a member of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Waco, TX, returned to her village of Twifu-Hemang. The nurture center for village children is open 10 months of the year and provides a place for preschoolers to learn basic educational skills and receive a nutritious lunch. In 2006 our funds to this center paid primarily for food. In 2007, they will be applied to the urgent need for transportation, particularly a van to get children from the town to the center, approximately one mile away.
Sri Lanka Baptist Union $10,000
Following an uneasy truce that lasted four years, the southern Asian nation of Sri Lanka once again is on the precipice of a civil war whose roots are regional, cultural and religious. In the midst of the chaos, a tiny minority of Sri Lankan Christians proclaim peace to the warring parties. Among these outposts of hope are some 20 congregations that comprise the Baptist Union, or Sangamaya. God has blessed the Alliance to be that bodys U.S. partner. Throughout this year we pray for peace in Sri Lanka and for our partners in the gospel on that island.
STRIVE, Chicago, IL $4,000
This ministry of Ellis Avenue Church in Chicago provides free educational and recreational opportunities for children on the citys poor south side, thereby enabling them to get into Chicagos better high schools and have a chance to go to college. Strive seeks to address issues of social justice.