SOUTH BOSTON — Ash Avenue Baptist Church in South Boston is not a mega-church. Worship attendance averages 140. John Eure has served as pastor for eight years and he is the church’s only full-time staff member. Ash Avenue is a congregation like many others that got its start through the assistance of another local church — First Baptist Church in South Boston — and the Virginia Baptist Mission Board.
What may set Ash Avenue apart is a new ministry that may be the first of its kind in the state and one that might be expected of a church much larger.
Members of the Church 2 Church Ministry team include (from left) Eric Hudson, Sandra Lewandowski and Pastor John Eure.
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The members of Ash Avenue Baptist Church studied Experiencing God as its winter Bible study in 2008. In all from 35 to 40 members completed the 12-week study. Henry Blackaby, author of Experiencing God and a dozen other books, provides many illustrations of instances during his ministry as a church planter when he and the congregations he served had to trust God to do his work even when resources were not available. As God provided for their needs, God gave them opportunities and resources to serve other churches and ministries.
At the conclusion of this study, several key leaders approached Eure about putting into action what they had learned by developing a ministry to assist churches experiencing financial challenges. Members felt God had done so much for their church during its formation and growth that they should explore ways of reaching out like Blackaby’s church to those who had challenges.
It was through a process of faith and the collaboration of several committees and teams that resulted in the launch of Church 2 Church Ministry (C2C) — a ministry that will hopefully result in a partnership between Ash Avenue and a church that can benefit from the resources God has placed there.
John Bosiger, a member of the finance committee and now chairman of the C2C committee, remembers that about the time the idea for this new ministry was taking root that a small church in downtown South Boston closed its doors and a Walgrens was built on the site that the church had occupied for 40 years. “It’s a shame to see the ministry of a church, no matter what denomination, struggling and closing its doors like that,” he says. “We just thought that we should try to do more to help.”
Members of the Church 2 Church Ministry team include (from left) Bill Haley, Deborah Rudder and chair John Bosiger.
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Church 2 Church ministry was placed in the budget before the details were in place. Members of the finance committee (all of whom had been part of the EG study) believed that God wanted $10,000 set aside and would show them how to use it.
Then earlier this year the ministry was launched when the church approved objectives, guidelines and the duties of a committee that would work to foster partnership covenants with churches. The C2C ministry is available to all mainstream, evangelical churches that submit an application. The C2C team will examine a church’s basic doctrine regarding God and salvation, as well as their needs. The Baptist Faith and Message (both the 1963 and 2000 versions) will be used as an instrument of evaluation.
Three categories have been designated for assistance: emergency needs which will cover an unpaid bill, pastor salary supplement, disaster/destruction or one-time urgent request; start-ups which may include new church plants or mission churches; and special requests that may include ongoing financial challenges or assistance for a ministry to help a church reach its community.
Applications will be considered one at a time and decisions made in consideration of other applications at that time. Submission of an application may result in an interview with the committee. All covenants must be approved by each congregation before becoming valid. Long-term or short-term covenants will be considered and may be renewed with approval from both congregations.
“The goal of Ash Avenue Church and the C2C ministry is to offer more than just financial assistance, but possibly a covenant of partnership that offers prayer support, human resources such as hands-on work and encouragement in helping each church fulfill its mission for the Lord Jesus,” says Eure.
The church is hopeful as the word spreads that a partnership covenant with another Virginia Baptist church may present itself. But ultimately, “we want a partnership wherever the Lord opens a door. Every congregation in the body of Christ has unique gifts that make it distinctive. We want to partner our gifts and discover ways we can use our gifts to serve with each other,” says Eure.
Ash Avenue sent a mission team to New Life Community Church in Wattsburg, Pennsylvania, in the summer of 2007. The team assisted this new church plant in partnership with Impact Northeast, a partnership between Virginia Baptists and the Baptist conventions of the northeastern United States.
Team members returned having formed many relationships with the new congregation and wanted to stay in contact and explore ways to assist them. Now the Church 2 Church ministry provides a way to covenant with this congregation and has opened the door for some of the gifted members of the new church start to come to South Boston and assist them in a variety of ministries here.
John Eure encourages other churches to pray about starting a ministry such as this. “It’s about priorities,” he says. While Ash Avenue has not met its budget so far this year, members believe that God will provide the resources and the opportunities for Church 2 Church Ministry–just as he did for the churches they studied in Experiencing God.
Applications for C2C may be downloaded from Ash Avenue’s website, www.aabc900.org. Questions about the ministry or churches that might be interested in information on starting a ministry such as this can call John Eure at Ash Avenue Baptist Church, phone 434-572-2006.