At the 2002 Fall Session, messengers to this Bicentennial gathering of Savannah River Baptist Association adopted 10 initiatives, given by God, to focus the attention of its member churches. they agreed that, by December 31, 2009, the Savannah river Baptist Association churches shall have cooperated to make these ten initiatives a reality. At the 2009 Fall Session, messengers and guests gathered to celebrate what God did among our churhces through these Kingdom Initiatives. (click here to see more photos)
The following lists the 10 initiatives and the results of pursuing them.
Results
1. Transformation: Lives of people, and the churches, in the Low Country are being transformed daily by the power of Jesus Christ. It is evident in 2,800 baptisms over 7 years.
2. New Churches: Seven (7) new churches have been started in the SRBA.
a. All Nations Church (2002, prior to adoption of TKC initiatives). This church disassociated with SRBA in 2005.
b. Crosspoint Church (2007). This new church was established as a hub church. The hub serves as a mechanism to train and send planters to establish new congregations.
c. The Link (2008).
d. South Bay Church (2008). A congregation planted in the San Francisco area through Crosspoint/ARMS.
e. The Journey Church (2008). A congregation planted in the Greenville, SC area through Crosspoint/ARMS.
f. VIDA Church (2009). The new Hispanic congregation in Bluffton. Currently meeting in Bible study and plan a soft launch early 2010.
We have a planter in the area looking to plant a church to reach motorcycle unchurched enthusiasts (i.e., bikers).
3. Mission Teams: Mission Teams, comprised of various members of SRBA churches, engage quarterly in mission service projects in at least one of the following areas: in the association, in the state, in our nation, and/or internationally. This leads to 840 mission events over the last 7 years.
Twelve SRBA churches indicated that they were on mission over the past 7 years; 5 of those churches utilized an Acts 1:8 approach (they were involved locally, in South Carolina, across North America, and around the world). These churches reported 331 mission events comprised of 3,922 team members (it is assumed that not all of these were different individuals; many people participated in multiple mission events).
Local involvement included 40 different areas in Jasper and Beaufort counties. South Carolina areas included Aiken, Allendale, Barnwell, Blackville, Connie Maxwell, Gap Creek, Georgetown, Greenville, North Greenville University, North Charleston, and Orangeburg.
North American locations included Alaska (Anchorage, Nikiski, and Palmer); the Appalachia Region; Arkansas; North Carolina (Asheville, Charlotte, and Raleigh); Georgia (Atlanta, Brunswick, Glen, and Savannah); Birmingham, AL; Canaan Valley, WV; Kentucky (Corbin, Inez, and Lynch); Florida (Jacksonville, Miami, Tallahassee, and West Palm Beach); Louisiana (including New Orleans); Mississippi (Gulfport, Long Beach, Natchez, and Pascagula); New York City; Nova Scotia; and Salt Lake City, Utah.
Countries impacted by SRBA mission events include Austria, Belgium, Bermuda, Central Asia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Poland, Liberia, Bulgaria, Nicaragua, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Italy, and Trinidad.
4. Racial Acceptance: The majority of SRBA churches (15) have become ethnically diverse by sponsoring multi-language services, and SRBA sponsors annually a cross-culture conference on racial understanding and acceptance.
Four SRBA churches report having language groups meeting in their facilities (three Spanish and 1 Chinese). Additionally, four churches report that 5% or more of their active congregation represent a different ethnic group other than the predominate group.
5. Moral Standards: SRBA works with social agencies to inform and educate the members of our churches and the citizens of our counties on moral issues which confront them, and to motivate in them attitudes and actions consistent with high moral standards.
SRBA and its member churches strive to uphold and encourage a high moral standard in each community. Formal partnerships with area social agencies to inform and motivate high moral standards were not established. However, through partnerships with the Boys & Girls Clubs, local schools, and area business, high moral standards were upheld, modeled and encouraged.
6. Market Place Ministries: The laity of SRBA churches actively minister in the market places within our counties.
Six SRBA churches report marketplace ministries in nursing homes, resort areas, schools, multihousing areas, a car dealership, within military posts, and at a local restaurant.
7. Equipping Disciples: SRBA provides workshops and training seminars, equipment and technology to equip and empower the churches to penetrate and reach people in this postmodern culture with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Equipping People In Church (EPIC) was offered in partnership with the South Carolina Baptist Convention in 2004, 2005, and 2006. These one-day, multiple workshop events focused on equipping disciples in a wide-range of church service.
Strategic Training in Evangelism and Missions (STEAM) was conducted in 2007 and 2008). These one-day, multiple workshop events focused on equipping disciples in evangelism and missions through multiple avenues in church life.
Laugh Out Loud ’08 (LOL ’08) was a youth evangelistic event that trained Christian youth how to reach out to their peers and share the Gospel.
Intentional Missionary Training was led in three locations in 2009. This eight-week process equipped Christians to see, pray, and act like missionaries in the six mission fields they are in daily (home, work/school, local community, the wider world, their leisure life, and church).
LeadersEdge Training was offered in 2008 and 2009. This discipleship effort focuses on ministers and church planters.
Other equipping events were offered in disaster relief, church and community ministries, Olympic ministries, chronological Bible storying throughout the seven years.
8. Good News Crusades: SRBA facilitates an area “Evangelism Team” to plan and to provide annual area-wide evangelistic crusades to reach the unchurched of our region.
A task force was put together to plan an area crusade. After several meetings, it was determined a crusade was not feasible at the time due to the number of congregations without pastors. There was waning support among the task force for a crusade.
9. Good Samaritan Corps: SRBA led each member church to establish a Good Samaritan Team to locate (identify) and to minister to needy persons (through such deeds as simple household repairs, lawn care, medical transportation, nutrition, etc.).
Fourteen SRBA churches are actively involved in Good Samaritan-type ministries including food pantries, meal deliveries, clothing, financial assistance, home repair, yard maintenance, childcare with special rate for low-income families, transportation, drug and alcohol dependency ministries, healthcare, advocacy, and nursing home ministries.
10. Church Renewal: SRBA established, trained and commissioned a “Dream Again Team” who serves as consultants to renew life and health in plateaued and declining churches who request their ministry.
Dream Again Teams were never established within the association.
